In Florence, beginning in the 16th century, noble wine-producing families sold their wines from humble windows, opening out from their palazzos, known as buchette del vino (which literally translates as “wine window”). The tradition started when Duke Cosimo de Medici decreed that wines sold direct to consumers would no longer be taxed. Wine windows took off across Tuscany, and endure as a feature, unique to the region, today.
Recently a New York wine window opened in a Renaissance-style tower in the heart of Times Square, one of the least Tuscan places on earth. When I approached the slim window at the corner of West 43rd Street during the opening festivities, an arm reached out, handing me a glass of fine Italian white wine, transporting me from the heart of Midtown to the banks of the Arno River.
As I sipped my wine outside in the urban piazza—a pedestrian triangle at the corner of Broadway—the sky opened up. Seeking shelter from the passing storm clouds, we were all ushered into the Lambs Club, the luxe restaurant right around the corner. New York’s new Buchette del Vino, which dispenses panini along with well-priced wines by the glass, isn’t just an accessible taste of Tuscany, it’s also a clever bit of marketing for the restaurant behind it. The Lambs Club, a fixture in midtown since 2010, changed hands recently, passing from its founding chef Geoffrey Zakarian to a new team that includes chef Jack Logue (who once lived in Italy), sommelier Chris Miller, and nightlife impresario David Rabin. Its innovative wine window was an intriguing sign it might deserve a second look.
The restaurant, inside the Chatwal Hotel, a Stanford White designed building from 1905, is named for a bygone members club for Broadway actors that was the talk of Midtown a century ago. “I want to bring the Lambs Club back to its glory days,” Logue told me, when I visited the restaurant for dinner a few weeks after the wine window washout.
The handsome restaurant features dark green walls, beautiful red banquettes and framed portraits of old Broadway stars circling the dining room—a timeless design by Frenchman Thierry Despont. Logue, 38, a veteran of some of the best restaurants in New York, began his career at Daniel and Betony. His time at Daniel Boulud’s flagship, between 2008 and 2012, was particularly impactful. “It was a supernova time, when Daniel got three Michelin stars and I was the youngest cook in the kitchen of 21 chefs,” he told me. “Each one of us went on to have our own restaurants.”
He later spent a few years on the other side of the world, cooking at Rockpool, in Sydney, one of Australia’s most iconic fine dining restaurants.
Today, running his own kitchen, he’s crafted an exciting menu of globetrotting flavors. A rich corn pudding appetizer features Australian black truffles. A tender lamb saddle comes paired with Indian-style lamb samosas and a potent green chili sauce. And he has a particular affinity for the Australian beef he encountered during his time Down Under— his wagyu strip steak is a standout. Miller, Logue’s front-of-house partner here, has his own glittering resume, having worked as wine director at two-Michelin-starred Atera in Tribeca and at a series of top steak-centric restaurants. He’s helped turn the Lambs Club into one of the city’s great, under-the-radar, wine value restaurants. For the second year in a row, his 500-label wine list earned a “Best of Award of Excellence” from Wine Spectator magazine.
Miller takes pride in his prices, with more than 100 bottles on the list under $150. Many of those are top California Cabernets and Bordeaux blends. And for serious collectors there are great values, too, at the high-end, including seven vintages from top Napa producer Dominus, going back to 2001, barely priced above retail, at between $595 and $795 a bottle. Other treasures include 2007 Joseph Phelps Insignia at $695, 2007 Shafer Hillside Select at $795, and, for real high-rollers, 2001 Harlan Estate at $2,995. The list is well stocked with Burgundy too, with some 200 red and white vintages, all priced well below their restaurant competitors. There are some great values here for billionaire wine lovers, so many hard-to-find bottles: Domaine Leflaive, Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru 2021 at $2,895, Domaine Leflaive, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru 2021 at $2,495, Domaine Armand Rousseau, Chambertin 2020 for $3,095. These bottles would be hundreds if not thousands more at other top New York restaurants.
Rum Split (with four types of rum, crème de banane, crème de cacao)
Sherry Colada low ABV cocktail
“The portraits with the faces of the old Lambs encircling the dining room are a reminder of what this club was really about,” Logue told me. “We are discussing putting up faces of the newer generation of Broadway actors, directors, and producers with whom we’ve become friendly, now that we have entrenched ourselves into the theater community.”