beans and vines

Beans and Vines Coffee and Wine bar
4842 Broadway
New York, NY  10034
beansandvines.com
212-544-2326

Northern Manhattan’s local  cuisine, which had much in common with Chelsea’s has been changing. It has already moved from medium to haute cuisine, and is changing again, morphing, inhabiting converted stationary or hardware stores..

For the month of June, it is also becoming an expanded art space.  The annual community arts festival held in Washington Heights and Inwood, the Uptown Arts Stroll, has just had its kickoff and local artists are showing their work in local business and institutions.   We will be covering local restaurants and the shows mounted on their premises throughout the month, and will be encouraging you to attend local events of interest.   for the full events listing, please refer to www.artstroll.com.

A fine example both of the new culinary esthetic and of the new Arts Stroll arts space: is a high concept tiny vest pocket place on Upper Broadway called  beans and vines, in a  locale formerly  defined by Albert’s Mofongo House.  It  is now nestled between an animal hospital and an upstairs ladies’ nail spa.  Clearly the neighborhood has arrived. And the food, despite the titles, has the same down home feeling to it that its predecessors had.

beans and vines is truly minute- it holds only 8 tables. (Less of an issue in the evening, when it turns into a wine bar, but possibly problematic on a Saturday afternoon).  Plus an equally minute reading nook for your laptop or where you can sample real printed matter.   It is haute cuisine but with a totally unpretentious, neighborhood ambience.  No attitude.

The décor is dark, easy on the eyes, Spanish- dark wood tables, side tables.  Brown flag stones. A large and beautiful faceted mirror and bottles of wine and glass vases of corks, but it also boasts charming idiosyncratic decorations  of little framed pieces of aluminum foil, and little framed leaves, which by means of the frame become art.

The food is upscale but does not break the bank. And it is delicious and so ample that one could readily take a tub home for the next two meals.  I had the jumbo grilled shrimp and arugula, which also included shaved parmesan, champagne vinaigrette and spiced mango salsa.   Elsewhere in Manhattan the plates would have been gigantic and the portions tiny.  Not here. The plate, about a foot square, was full to overflowing—it is hard to imagine eating too much arugula but I came close.   The grilled shrimp, uncurled, would have been easily six inches long and required much  dicing with the knife.  The sauces were wonderful, especially the spiced mango salsa. My friend had the tuna cranberry and fujii apple panini and pronounced himself very satisfied- and since he eats tuna salad virtually every day of his life, this was high praise. It was a lot of  food and  very good food.   (For the sake of completeness I did look for sliders and  battered clams, but luckily they were nowhere to be found.)

A couple near us were drinking champagne and exchanging their bios, while we were focused solely on our lunch—nobody was crowded out.  The service was friendly and charming and solicitous.

In short,  this was a new trendy spot but also the classic home away from home. A place that helps to define its corner of Broadway.  I loved it!  – even though it is going to be even harder to find ink for the printer and a mop for the kitchen.

And I will be back for their version of my favorite dessert in Chelsea, the caffe latte and the beans and vines homemade flan.  Maybe tomorrow…

No sooner said than done.  We came back for the new art show, but also for the flan– which was  substantial, creamy and delicious,  drizzled as  advertised with caramel and dotted with giant blueberries.  It was perfectly paired with a substantial caffe latte.  Well worth the return trip.

As was the art show.  The bright images, particulary a series of birds,  come from a collection of artwork made by children and teachers participating in the ESSUBI arts program at New Hope Uganda in 2010.     As the website explains,

“Our mission is to take creative journeys with children living in Ugandan Children’s Centers. By learning how to explore their world through creative lenses, children with orphan hearts will increase their self-confidence while opening the windows to imagination, curiosity, and self-expression.”

The exhibit will be on site through June 13th.