UD | A Stunning New Tango Palace in NoHo. See It Now..

	Tango Unchained
	Three Ways to Use Malbec and Tango House
	VITALS Malbec and Tango House 428 Lafayette St (between Astor and E 4th) New York, NY 10003 212-419-4645 official website Wine-cork walls. Tango-themed choking posters. Veal Milanese with foie gras. Passionate rhythmic bodily gestures. Guys named Tato. Flamed gin/brandy cocktails. Wine barrels. Singing human alarms. These are the things that comprise Malbec and Tango House, an immense, bi-level lair of wine, Argentine deliciousness and furious dancing, now soft-open in NoHo. This is how you’ll harness its power... Start simple, with dinner upstairs.It’s like being inside a wine barrel—some walls are treated wood, another’s made of 18,000 corks. You’ll start your date here (and yes, there’ll be a date) with some hamachi and a bottle of Argentine, oh, let’s say... malbec. Maybe you work your way up to the two-person cut of lamb. Or skip that and hit the basement entrance.Down a basement stairway next to the main entrance, past a wine-crate wall, is a bar. Tato Giovannoni (the South American Sasha Petraske) did the cocktail list, so avail yourselves of that. Eventually, an a cappella singer will break into song to let you know the performance is on. Oh, right, the performance.In a couple weeks, nightly tango theater will be the thing here. Beyond the downstairs bar, there’s a theater, complete with graffiti wall and curtained VIP balconies. It’s where the world’s best tango dancers (freshly imported) will put on stagings produced by a 25-time winner of the Martín Fierro award—basically the Emmys of Argentina. Which makes him the Kelsey Grammer of South America.

From Musk till Dawn A New Zealand-y Date Spot in Nolita

Things you know about New Zealand:

—It’s got more sheep than people.
—Lord of the Rings.
—The people are called Kiwis.
—And it’s responsible for your dinner tonight...

Specifically, the New Zealander at The Musket Room, which is just what you’d like to imagine a large, rustic, brick-and-wood dining room in New Zealand to be, opening tonight in Nolita.

Your chef here hails from NZ. And on his way here, he also did some fine work at Public and Saxon + Parole, where it appears he ruminated on the art of the flawless date spot. Hence: this place. You’ve got candlelit nooks with blue leather banquettes, garden views, walls of wine and... delicate plates of whole quail.

The power move here is the nook. Some people might try to sell you on the back dining room with all its sunniness and herb garden adjacency. (Those edible flowers with your scallops: they’re from there.) And... well, sure, that does sound pretty great. But go with the nook.

The nook’s just past that walnut-tree bar you passed on the way in. Just six cozy two-tops where you’ll get to know a fetching fellow human being over fried bone marrow with citrus and uni, bottles of sauvignon blanc and venison flavored with gin.

Note: it’s also okay not to pass the bar

The Musket Room 265 Elizabeth St (between Prince and Houston) New York, NY 10012 212-219-0764 official website