Wallace Is the Wine Bar Prospect Heights Has Been Waiting For
Alumni of BlackMountain Wine House take on Vanderbilt Avenue.
Wallace, a gorgeous new wine bar, soft opened last week in Prospect Heights. Located right next to the old Olmstead space, and a few doors down from Canyon Coffee and it’s day-long lines, it’s going a long way to removing the curse of Vanderbilt Avenue. (Knock wood.) Wallace comes from two of my favorite people in the business of vino – Brian Guay and Robert Spence, the lovely chaps who were most recently running things at Black Mountain Wine Bar on Hoyt and Union.
The wine bar takes its name from the main character of a book Brian and Robert read when they first began working together at Black Mountain. “Robert and I wanted a name that was sentimental to the both of us, and when we met we started a book club. The first book we read together we loved, and it’s called “Real Life,” by Brandon Taylor. The main character’s name is Wallace.” You’ll find the last page of the book framed and and hanging in the bathroom, as a kind of homage.
At Wallace you’ll find gently-priced wines ($13 +) that are representative of more than just the usual French and Italian varietals. Their longer than usual By the Glass list reflects their desire to democratize wine. You’ll find bubbles, whites, oranges, roses, and reds from New York State to the Czech Republic, France, Austria, Greece, Italy, and Spain. “We want to make wine accessible to everyone, and when you have so many different wines open at once, it gives the opportunity to taste outside of your comfort zone (if that’s what you’re looking for),” Brian said.
Their By the Bottle list runs the gamut from very natural “cool kid’ wines, to traditional, classic styles. “We’ve really tried to bring in wines for every palate, and wines that represent a diversity of wine making styles and techniques,” Brian told me. “It’s not too large, at the moment we’ve limited it to about fifty bottles, and we intend to keep it that way.” Like their By the Glass list, it will rotate constantly, so there will always be something new to try.
Brian is also a stickler for a good martini, so he keeps the freezer behind the bar stocked with frozen glassware, and pre-prepped sidecars “so every martini feels just as indulgent as they should,” he said.
To snack on, there’s a tidy menu of drinking fare that will expand a little in the future, but for now they’re doing Castelvetrano olives, bread service with churned butter and fennel pollen, Boquerones served with yuzu olive oil and sourdough, and a selection of really nice cheeses and meats along with a Ploughman’s plate.
The bar is warm and inviting, with wide windows, polished wood tables, schoolhouse lighting, and a long red marble bar built for lingering. Pop in on your own or settle in at one of the tables with friends. Wallace is built for a glass anytime you’re in the mood for a place to call home.
Wallace is located at 663 Vanderbilt Avenue.
Hours:
5-11pm Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
5-12am, Thursday and Friday
1pm - 12am, Saturday
1pm - 11pm, Sunday.