Niche Niche Is A Place You Should Go

Not to be an actual pain in the ass, but I believe dining at a restaurant instead of at your poorly assembled kitchen table from Target should be an experience. If I’m going to spend my freelance income on an evening in an establishment, it should feed more than my belly. But like also my belly, nom nom.

I recently went to a restaurant that I almost hesitate to call a restaurant. Niche Niche is more like being in your coolest friend’s new apartment where she’s enlisted her most accomplished and inspiring friends in wine and food to handle refreshments for the evening and everyone is attractive and the Spotify playlist isn’t pre-made.

The premise behind Niche Niche is “a dinner party every night.” The wine line up (wine up) changes nighty, curated by members of the wine community and friends of Niche Niche owner Ariel Arce. You’re not drinking wines you’ve seen before, or would even know to order. You’re being introduced to new shit—and you’ll like it. The “host” when I went was Grant Reynolds of Pasquale Jones, Legacy Records, Charlie Bird, basically only restaurants where you take inspiration photos for your living room.

The food changes, too, and is paired to the wine, not the other way around. Dishes just kind of show up while you’re nose-deep in a Zalto glass and asking to take photos of the bottle. And the food is good—really good. In my perfectly designed utopia the cheese and charcuterie plate that was put in front of me would be its own food group. You can just do the wine for $40, or wine and food for $80. Do both.

It was amazing to just sit down and know that I was in for my kind of an adventure. One that’s less about putting my body in physical danger and instead delights my senses and maybe only slightly endangers my liver. Putting trust in people who know their shit and love to share it is a really fun feeling. If you’ve been to Tokyo Record Bar or Airs Champagne Parlor (same owner), you know how nice it is not to fuck around with a menu, but instead to just sit back and sip.

Visit Niche Niche, soon.