crescent & vine

Crescent & Vine
2503 Ditmars Blvd @ Crescent Street
Astoria, NY 11105
(718) 204-4774

The Passport blurb: Tin ceilings, wood floors, brick walls--old world style for a new world clientele. Jazz is the music of choice with libations from ten craft beer lines and an extensive wine list; paninis, cheese and meat plates make it the right choice for a quiet "date night" or a fun night out with friends.

The deal: $3 pour of Lagunitas

The bar: This is a chill wine bar in my 'hood, and is the only location I managed to visit during Craft Beer Week proper. Unfortunately, they were out of the featured pour so I wasn't able to imbibe a NY State beer...but their solve, which was giving me a $3 pour of Delirium Tremens instead, effectively managed to deflect my disappointment. The bartender was friendly, chatty, and happens to be the person who pointed out to me some deals in the Passport are good all year. The year-round special at Crescent & Vine is a free panini with the purchase of any pint, and I plan to go back again to take advantage of this because I so enjoyed my initial visit.

The atmosphere is cozy, warm, and inviting. I went on a Tuesday around 8:30PM and it was buzzing but not super busy. The space itself is smallish with a long bar, a few tables and booths by the window. The night of my visit the windows were open and people were enjoying the new fall breeze by the light of candles flickering on each table. Jazz music played on the speakers at a pleasant volume- loud enough to be discernible over ambient chatter, but conversation at normal vocal volume was possible.

I sat at the bar and ordered a meat & cheese plate to go with my beer. For $8 you can choose to combine any 3 from a pretty decent list of both. I decided on a salami, a Parmesan and a Gouda. Tasty pitted olives and a glass of water (which was always refilled as soon as it became 1/2 empty) appeared immediately after my beer was set down, then warm toasted bread accompanied the meat & cheeses when those arrived. The food was good and fresh, the service was great.

The narrative: I sat there for awhile and pretended to be Very Busy and Important with my iPhone since I was alone (which is the default for all NYC-ers I think), but was soon engaged in conversation with 2 regulars (1 guy, 1 gal) also sitting at the bar. I overheard the guy guess the music being played was Ethiopian jazz featured on the Broken Flowers soundtrack and the bartender confirm he was right. I'm a simple creature(geek) and was therefore crazy-happy to realize I was sitting in a bar with movie buffs plus Tremens on tap. Right after that I chatted them up. We were by default also neighbors, therefore eventually moved on from movies to gossip about the 'hood. We debated such important questions as: where is the best taco truck? would you ever swim in Astoria Pool? don't you want to go all Wile E. Coyote and throw a box of tacks at the motorcycles that race around Astoria Park?

The verdict: It was a great experience that really took the edge off a hectic day. I'd go again, maybe I'll see you there. Cheers.