Terroir Tribeca

The original Terroir was conceived as a clubby annex to chef Marco Canora and co-owner Paul Grieco’s restaurant Hearth. But Terroir Tribeca is a larger, stand-alone operation, with 65 seats (all at various bars and dining counters), an expanded menu, and a darkly polished, bottle-lined interior that gives the room a subterranean Bat Cave feeling even on the brightest summer evenings. The food menu is built around wine-drinking: There are 14 types of cheese available; a profusion of sandwiches, salads, and assorted finger foods (try the fried risotto balls with oxtail); and even a steak entrée, cut from dry-aged Creekstone beef. It’s not designed to be transcendent, but if you choose wisely, it’s possible to put together a decent meal. The tasters at my table enjoyed the frisée salad (interspersed with shreds of crispy duck confit and shallots) and the lamb sausage (under “Fried Stuff”), which the kitchen wraps in little packets of frizzled sage. If you’re in the mood for a more substantial feast, I suggest the veal meatballs (softened with ricotta).