Claret?

Claret, that's the name of the new wine bar on my corner. You may recall, a few months ago I tried to come up with a name for it (see, here). I had lots of good options, for example: The Bloody Virgin, Stems, The Cellar Door, The Crimson, etc. Apparently, none were good enough because Claret it is. Sure, they don't have a sign, but the menus all say Claret, the AM New York blog says Claret, so, that's that, it's Claret.

It's a cool spot. Brand new touches all around. When you step in, you'll never believe that it used to be a run-down pharmacy. Frosted glass tiles in the bathroom, smooth metal bar top, fold-in, retractable windows, deep, dark wood floors, similarly dark wood furniture shipped from Indonesia, 70+ bottles of wine at your disposal, roughly 30 by the glass, beer on tap, beer in bottles, classic sodas in miniature glasses, artwork by local artists adorning the walls, lots of dark places for doing dark deeds, and the part-owner is a personal friend. He's also my barber. He's been cutting my hair for over 4 years, and when I found out he was opening a wine bar in the neighborhood, I thought, great, I finally know a bar owner. I always wanted to own a bar so I could drink there for free. This is almost as good. I can drink there. Just not for free.

As far as I know, it's the first wine bar in Sunnyside. In other words, Sunnyside, is officially on the map. Astoria has its beer garden. We have a wine bar. Astoria has tons of wine bars. We have a wine bar. Astoria has lots of great ethnic food. Did I mention that we have a wine bar? From now on, whenever someone asks me where I live, and I say, Sunnyside, I fully expect them to know that Sunnyside is in between Long Island City and Woodside on the 7 line. I fully expect them to know that Sunnyside is immediately southeast of Astoria. I fully expect them to be jealous and wish they were me. I fully expect them to know that we have a super-duper retro art-deco arch, a 24-hour White Castle, and a wine bar. It feels good to get in on the ground floor of these suburban, outer-borough bubble explosions. It's like being the first guy to move to Bushwick and a week later everyone started calling it East Williamsburg.

So get on the train, come to Sunnyside, and go to Claret. Who knows, maybe you'll want to stay.

Jared

P.S. To get to Claret, take the 7 train towards Flushing-Main St., get off at 46th-Bliss St., walk north from Queens Boulevard two avenues to Skillman Ave. Claret is on the southeast corner of 46th and Skillman.

P.P.S. Maybe I'll stop by and take some pictures and upload them so you can all see what I attempted to describe.

P.P.P.S. Thanks Bogdan.