Ruffian Wine Bar & Chef’s Table
“It's an intimate place with the sort of friendly atmosphere I've been missing since our last favorite EV restaurant closed!”
“The east village is lucky to have such an establishment and hopefully it will stay open for a long time.”
“A chicken liver mousse with apple slices that is simply the best I've ever had.”
Ruffian Wine Bar & Chef’s Table
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Happy Hour: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
5 reviews
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Damn did I have a fun time here. Everything about this place is charmingly quirky and interesting, from the space to the food to the drinks. The space it about as New York as you can get: it's one small, narrow room. They don't even have a kitchen in the back or anything, which is neat because you can watch them prepare all the dishes behind the bar. I didn't try any food, but it looked tasty, lots of fun little plates and cheeses.
Special kudos to one of the coolest (read: most hipster) menus I've seen: they're made from old books, and the covers have been repainted (so they're all different).
The wine list is amazing and the bartenders are super friendly and helpful. He made sure we ordered drinks we would like – which actually mattered because we got the risky, unusual things I'd never had before, like super sour beer and orange (!?) wine. Turns out orange champagne is delicious! We'll definitely be returning.
Unquestionably 5 stars. This place is little and a gem. It's tiny inside and all food is prepared right behind the bar in front of you, so there is no kitchen. That makes the experience even better.
Because it's small, you get hands in service. The staff is accommodating, knowledgable, attentive and nice overall.
While I was here with a small group, you should definitely come here on a date with someone who loves trying wine and isn't a picky eater.
Get here before 7 to try happy hour food specials. Loved the hand made samosa.
This place helped cheer me up after a particularly rough work day.
It's one long wraparound chef's table, but there is limited seating. I wouldn't come here if you have a party larger than 2, or it'll be difficult to have a conversation. I found it to be a nautical cozy yet open space ; conducive to private conversations without getting too loud.
Now, I love liquor related happy hours, but good happy hours are even better. $5 happy hour for select dishes (score). But no wine happy hour here.
Came here with a friend, both of us went starving but we could eat. We ordered :
– 2 glasses of orange wine : really interesting and dry, glad I got this even though I don't usually like non-reds
– bread with bagna cauda : so good we ordered two. It's a delicious anchovy butter spread that we couldn't get enough of. Just the right amount of salt
– beets with creme fraiche : this was a larger dish, and we actually got it for $5. I don't like beets, but this was something I really enjoyed. The beets are a little more toned down, tender and the creme fraiche was a little thick so it stood up to the beets.
– saucisson sec from cured meats : super flavorful and expertly sliced. Super thin, so the fat melts in your mouth.
– pan roasted quail with lightly crisped mushrooms : deboned except for the leg. Not gamey, perfectly cooked. Loved the flavors and didn't feel heavy.
We did have two rounds of bread, so left feeling full. Not overly so, but not bad for the quality and the price!
Definitely recommend coming here.
This is a newly opened tapas/wine bar place that has some REALLY good food and service.
It's got the same chef's table layout as many of the super-high end restaurants but is a completely "walk in without reservations" type of deal.
The main dining area is pretty small with maybe about 20 seats total.
I would HIGHLY recommend getting there before 7pm so you try their selection of five menu items for $5 a plate vs their regular prices of $15-18 a dish – which to me is a bit on the higher end for their tapas portions.
I liked that they have almost a full page of by-the-glass wine selections. They seemed to start at about $13 a glass and the staff will happily let you sample some before deciding.
If you're a fan of moscatos and sweet wines, definitely try a glass of their Michele Capdepon,Methode Ancestrale Limoux. This stuff was awesome.
Unfortunately on the drink side, they don't have their license to do specials yet.
Food-wise, you could tell the ingredients were fresh.
The menu changes all the time but these were my favorite MUST try dishes when I went.
1. Bread and butter – a full warm loaf of bread, perfectly crisp, with one of 3 types of butter spread. We tried the onion butter and it was perfect.
3. Cauliflower & Miso Soup with Lemon Oil – It didn't look or taste like miso soup whatsoever. Really great cauliflower taste and the lemon oil gave it an interesting and almost foamy texture.
3. Chicken Liver Toast – I'm normally not a fan of chicken liver but I could eat this every day. The apples and chicken liver make a perfect sweet and savory combo.
This is definitely the type of place you'll want to keep coming back to to try their ever rotating menu of dishes.
I'm lucky I got to try this place before it becomes impossible to get a seat in a few months.
What a hidden gem!
It's a small place in East village next to the Big Gay Ice Cream.
I went here for date night with my wife and she wanted to go to a wine bar, I've been meaning to go to Ruffian and haven't had the chance so I told my wife that we're gonna go here and it turned out to be memorable.
We got a bottle of Chateau Massereau 2005, and it was quite awesome. The sommelier/server/host/probably the owner 🙂 was very knowledgable and passionate about wine. It's rather contagious!
Food were awesome, we ordered some small plates to go with our wine. Enough to keep us going. The only wishful thinking that I had was the burnt onion butter was too big in my opinion, I love fat/butter, but eating a giant heaping of them in one sitting can be a bit much.
The chicken liver mousse was excellent, steak tartare was really awesome and the best part the service was very attentive. Highly recommend this place.
If you're looking for a nice date night try to avoid weekends…but if you're the type of don't mind the super loud crowd once the drink two glasses of wine, then you'll be fine.