ABV Wine Bar Almost Ready to Start Pouring and Cooking
In booze-speak, ABV stands for alcohol by volume. It’s also the name of the East Harlem wine bar slated to open next weekend around the corner from Earl’s Beer & Cheese, whence come ABV chef Corey Cova and co-owner Mike Cesari. Compared to the diminutive Earl’s, the 60-seat ABV is practically palatial, with a wine bar, a food bar, and three communal tables. Here, Cesari has teamed up with childhood friends Noah Shannon and his wife, Alexis Kahn, the former director of beverage education at the French Culinary Institute. Her user-friendly list plays with the concept of volume, offering wine by the glass (starting at $7), the half-glass, the half-bottle, and “by consumption,” meaning you pay for whatever measure you drink.
And cheese savant Cova hasn’t forsaken his signature dairy — there’s Sprout Creek Ouray on the sirloin-tartare pizza, aged Cheddar on the pocket burger with fried-egg sauce, and Bayley Hazen Blue purée on the sirloin steak. For dessert: fried blueberry pie. Here’s a look at the space and some of Cova’s latest creations.
ABV Wine Bar, 1504 Lexington Ave., at 97th St.; 212-722-8959
Earlier: Earl’s Beer & Cheese Branching Out All Over the UES