When I visited Bar Prima in the early afternoon, I was expecting a wine bar preparing to open for evening hours. Instead, I found a bright, cheery space where people could come to sit and work or meet up with a friend for a cup of coffee. Chatting with Kelly Brokx, the events manager, and Jacqueline, the general manager, I learned that during the day, the ambience is very different. Bar Prima provides the neighborhood with a casual, yet classy lunch spot until the evening, when the space transitions into a candlelit, chic wine bar. Kelly added that since the surrounding blocks are filled with young families, Bar Prima is especially popular with mothers, hosting various "mom's night out" events, and doctors from the nearby medical community. Smiling, Kelly and Jacqueline pointed out that though the bar fosters a coffeehouse environment during daylight hours, customers are still welcome to order wine beginning at 11am.
Bar Prima's origin is one of the most touching stories I have heard while walking on the side streets of Manhattan. The owner, Sanil Manalavan, opened the bar in 2014 as an homage to his wife, Roberta. She was Italian and a great lover of wine. She used to ride her bike to different vineyards when she was a young girl, helping to deliver the bottles into town. Sanil met Roberta when they were in medical school. They both became doctors, married, and had a daughter, who was twelve years old when we visited. Sadly, Roberta passed away, but to honor her passion for wine, Sanil launched Bar Prima. Every type of wine sold in the cafe is Italian as a reference to her heritage. "This bar is family based," Kelly stated, adding that on most days, Sanil's daughter stops in after school, as this is where her father comes to collect her.
"Everything has a backstory, here," Jacqueline pointed out, relating the story of how many of the small production wines can be traced from the farmers handpicking the grapes to Sanil himself. The coffee is single origin and the menu, which has a lot of small bites, includes paninis, salads, and pizzas. The most popular item, a pizza with roasted potatoes, fontina, and rosemary, is made from one of Roberta's old family recipes and is called, simply, the "Roberta Pizza."
The more I heard about Sanil, the more impressed I became. He is Indian, but grew up in Africa and speaks fluent Italian. Though he has retired from his medical practice, he continues to run Healthstar, which connects American doctors with Indian patients. His goal is to alleviate the patient to doctor ratio. The staff at Bar Prima refers to him as a "humble man" who only tells his personal story to curious regulars, but Kelly and Jacqueline assured me that "Bar Prima is where he's most comfortable. It's his passion."