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Grape and Grain

Grape and Grain   LOST GEM 1 American Bars Beer Bars Brunch Wine Bars Alphabet City East Village Loisaida

Anyone who has lived in New York long enough has likely experienced the nostalgia-infused anxiety of shuttered businesses in their area. Julia Howe, general manager of Grape and Grain, sympathizes: “When your favorite restaurant or your favorite bar or venue or whatever gets bought out… You’re like, alright, well, there goes the neighborhood. What’s coming next?"

Therefore, in May 2018 when TJ Provenzano, co-founder of neighboring sushi restaurant Mayanoki, took over ownership of Grape and Grain - which had been established twelve years prior in 2006 - he decided to use the same name and neighborhood feel to keep at bay the community-crushing experience of serial shutdowns and never-ending newness. Advertising an embellishment of olden days, Grape and Grain designates itself “An East Village staple with a renewed focus.”

Unofficially, Provenzano gives a different description of Grape and Grain. “[We are] a punk rock wine bar,” he declared with pride. Grape and Grain’s punk-rockness is uniquely tied to its Americanness. Only wines grown, crushed, fermented, pressed, tanked, barreled, filtered, bottled, and aged in the US meet the bar at Grape and Grain. A consequence of its local exclusivity are unconventional flavors like orange wine that have become some of their most sought-after products. “In America, we can do whatever we want. We’re not bound by that same kind of rigid boundaries [as in Europe],” Provenzano explained. “We are free to experiment, so we consider Americans kind of the punk rockers of wine-making.”

Punk rock, Provenzano notes, is also very characteristic of the old East Village. Hence, while punk rock wines are a relatively new addition to Grape and Grain – they have only been served since 2018 – the wine selection references the community history that Grape and Grain strives to hold onto.

Grape and Grain’s local wines are a clear example of the careful balance that the restaurant strikes between preserving the past and improving the present. Another expression of this balance comes across in Grape and Grain’s food.

Originally, Grape and Grain was more bar than restaurant, but as Provenzano and his team adopted Grape and Grain, they listened closely to community feedback to determine how best to adapt the space to the neighborhood’s needs. One of the most frequent requests called for more food options. In response, Julia, who is also one of Grape and Grain’s bartenders, shares her space behind the counter with Dave, one of the chefs at the time of writing. Every day from scratch, Dave dishes up duck breasts and Belgian waffles and pan-roasted chicken and handmade pastas on the five induction burners in the back of the bar.

Although Dave lives in Brooklyn, he grew up in the East Village and therefore has a respect for what he remembers of the way things were. Nevertheless, Dave’s cooking is not restricted by what is already on the menu. As with the rest of Grape and Grain, Dave introduces the new to the old by flavoring the past with a sprinkling of himself.

“A fair amount of items on the menu… customers know and enjoy… but also, TJ expressed that he wants the chef to feel like this is as much my doing as everyone else,” Dave says. “That entails me getting creative… us getting creative and feeling like our fingerprints are all over everything we do here.”

Highlighting the other end of their past-present, old-new equation, Provenzano mentions that the new ownership “didn’t wanna give the impression that these hipsters from Brooklyn were comin’ in and runnin’ over their neighborhood, but we wanted to listen to them, and we wanted to give them the experience that they wanted.”

Even the music accommodates to the mood of the customers rather than being a tool to construct a particular environment or vibe.

“We’re like ‘hey man, everyone in here seems to be really feeding off each other’s energy. Let’s play this,’” Julia described. “Or like ‘hey, it’s a rainy, quiet Tuesday night. Let’s put on some jazz and just pour some red wine and just chill out.’”

In general, Grape and Grain maintains a mellow atmosphere.

“A lot of people come here, and they’re looking for a place to have a nice, quiet evening without feeling trampled on or pressured in any way,” Julia remarked.

Part of the quiet character of Grape and Grain comes from its incredibly local clientele. Howe estimates that about seventy percent of the customers are from between Avenues B and D between 1st and 8th Streets. The majority live just across 6th Street or upstairs. Many customers stop by every day to grab a glass of wine on their way back home.

Because of its provincial spirit, Howe knows the names of almost everyone who comes through. She loves to see when neighbors, previously unknown to each other, meet for the first time at Grape and Grain. Such intimacy, Julia believes, can only be found on a side street.

“You get to see relationships form, and I think that would be less likely to happen if we were on a busy avenue,” Julia reflected. “It’s cool to see so many people who probably wouldn’t connect outside forming relationships. You get to be a part of that, and it’s so great.”

Grape and Grain aspires to maintain the aspect and ambience of what it sees as an East Village institution, and yet, the neighborhood around it continues to change. Many of the regulars are in their early-to-mid twenties and new to the neighborhood. Julia sees their presence at Grape and Grain as an opportunity to share stories about the East Village that she grew up in, even when that means being seen as the creepy old woman behind the bar who starts all of her sentences with “‘when I was your age.’”

Julia admitted that being on 6th Street, just a little too uptown of the J train and just a little too downtown of the L train, it can be tough to attract customers from other parts of the city. However, Provenzano maintains “we are a side street business, and we’re proud of that. We wanna be the place that is a little underground.”

Overlooked but under our noses, Grape and Grain is delicious and different and local, just like its wines.

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Grape and Grain   LOST GEM 1 American Bars Beer Bars Brunch Wine Bars Alphabet City East Village Loisaida
Grape and Grain   LOST GEM 2 American Bars Beer Bars Brunch Wine Bars Alphabet City East Village Loisaida
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Masami Hosono’s mother worked in fashion. Growing up in Tokyo, she always knew that she wanted to work in fashion herself, but something was missing: socializing. “I love to talk and meet people, ” she explained to me with an amicable smile. In a white, modern space with a rack of clothing on her left, Masami shared her story. When she turned eighteen, Masami met a “very great hairstylist, ” with whom she would work and learn for the next four years. Her passion for hair, style, music, and socializing ultimately led her to quit her job in Tokyo and board her very first plane to New York in 2012. “I was like, I don’t speak English, but I can cut hair, ” she recounted. “Maybe I can do it. ”The New York Masami had heard about back home could not compare to the one she arrived in. She told me, “Japanese people love New York City, but they only know cool fashion, cool hair, cool music. 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' And I asked them, ‘Can I cut your hair? ’” Little by little, through about 400 free cuts a year, Masami began to learn English, and build a community of friends. “Musician clients would say, ‘I’m playing tonight, you should come. ’ So I go, and they introduce me to more musician friends. I met one designer because I cut his girlfriend’s hair, and he makes music videos, so he asked if I could do the hair for the music video. I’ve met so many very cool people who are musicians, artists, skateboarders... all these artists who can hang and make creative stuff together. ”In 2015, Masami moved from Williamsburg to the East Village to work at Assort International Hair Salon. There, she took the final leap: She told her boss she wanted to open her own store. In April of 2016, Masami and her boss went into business together as Creative Director and Founder, respectively, of Vacancy. 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Most recently, Masami has produced a zine (a self-published, miniature magazine) featuring her own hair and makeup designs and pictures by her friends in photography. She is currently working on a second zine. To bring everyone together, Masami often hosts “book and zine events” in the Vacancy space, where her friends can gather and share their work. “People can come and hang out and, well, drink, ” she added with a laugh. With so many friends and projects in her repertoire, one might think she would be ready to call it a day, but this is only the beginning of Masami’s vision for Vacancy. While she will always be cutting hair, Masami dreams of an entire Vacancy building just for artists. “I want a full coffee shop, and maybe a bar. I want shared studios where the artists can make art. We can have an exhibition. We can have a music studio downstairs and live shows. Like an art house. ”As she moves into the future, Masami Hosono makes sure never to lose sight of her roots. As she guided me on her journey from newcomer to centerpiece of New York’s artistic community, what became increasingly clear to me was her awareness of the potential that her prominence in a new country gave her to make change back home. No matter how well-known Masami’s work becomes, her queer identity has always been, and will continue to be, the center of her narrative. Masami has made the decision to return to Japan this summer, and potentially begin a regular practice of working in both countries. She has already booked an interview with a Japanese magazine and looks forward to bringing New York’s culture of openness back to her homeland in whatever ways she can. “When I have a magazine interview or work in Tokyo, I want to talk about it more, little by little, ” she said. “I will change the culture if I can. ”

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