Lai Rai - Google Maps
Even winos like me agree, New York needed another wine bar like a hole in the head. So why recommend this particular wine bar? Because the narrow Lower East Side space, spilling merrily out onto the sideway, skips the usual dutiful olives-and-Parm-chunks playbook for something more interesting on the food front. How many wine bars do you know that make their own headcheese in the back, musky and zippy with Vietnamese peppercorn? Or fry up their own chicharrones? Lai Rai is a collaboration between two of New York’s better Vietnamese restaurants, Di an Di in Greenpoint and Mắm nearby. Though Lai Rai’s menu is short, I found its snacks tastier and more satisfying than a good number of full meals I’ve had lately.