WINE AND FOOD FINDS IN NEW YORK CITY In “The City that Never Sleeps”, travelers can always find unique meals at a price that won’t break the bank.  But on a recent trip there, my wife and I enjoyed meals at 3 well-known places that combined great food and wine with unique ambiance, all at a price that made us feel like we had gotten our money’s worth.  How often can you say that about a dining experience?  We hope that our “finds” in the diverse categories of fine dining, bistro and friendly Italian will help you in your next trip to New York. We started with a dinner at Veritas, a restaurant on E. 20th in the Flatiron district that is owned by wine collectors who figured out how to let customers enjoy the unique wines that they had collected.  Both of the market and reserve wine lists have wines that are priced well below the usual restaurant mark-up and there are many interesting wines by the glass.  The wine lists can be viewed at the restaurant’s website, www.veritas-nyc.com. and it is easy to see why the restaurant always makes the lists for best restaurant wine lists.  The food is equally fabulous and the fixed price menu ($68 for 3 courses, with some specials requiring a small supplement) offers many choices (how often do you see venison on the menu?).  For example, our only supplement was for a delicious fois gras appetizer.  Finally, the after-dinner drink list is innovative, both as to country of origin and type.  Lunch was at Artisanal (Park and 32nd), a bistro that features cheeses from around the world, as well as having a cheese market for to-go eating.  While many diners opt for the fondue, there is always a “cheeses of the day” offering that allows the resident cheese-monger to put together a tasty cheese plate with 3 cheeses and plentiful fruit and nuts. The bistro nature of the entrees was highlighted by the bone marrow dish (actually more of a short rib meat dish in pie crust) that was the equal of anything found in France.  This restaurant, too, offers a fixed price menu as one option and it looked particularly appealing for brunch.  The wine list features wines by the glass, many from up and coming wine areas of the world.  If you can’t get to Artisanal, be aware that many of the unique types of cheeses that it sells are also carried in Dallas, in the cheese markets in Central Market, Whole Foods and Eatzi’s, and presumably these cheeses would also be found in other large cities. Our final stop was dinner at Becco, a noisy (but in the friendly, Italian way) restaurant on West 46th in the Theatre district.  The owner is Lidia Bastianich of Food Channel fame and the rustic and hardy food that she cooks on air is showcased in her restaurant.  The tender osso buco came complete with the largest marrow bone I had ever seen.  Delicious!!  The fixed price menu of unlimited pasta (the chef cooks up a different 3 each day) and a bountiful antipasto plate is one of the bargains of New York City at $20.  There are 2 wine lists, one with bottles from around Italy for $20, and the other for more expensive (approximately $40) wines.  For aficionados of obscure Italian wines (and after dinner drinks) this is the place to go.  The website www.lidiasitaly.com/restaurants/becco is highly informative, with its menu and wine list.  Questions or comments about this article can be sent to him at schase@airmail.net . Do you have any questions, comments or suggestions? Email: jwdineline@aol.com Copyright © 1998 Inter Active Media Solutions. All Rights Reserved. The interactive components of this site require that you use a current browser version of Explorer; be sure to maximize your window out so you can see the entire page. This page was created by Inter Active Media Solutions.