Tuesday night is a slow night for many Montclair restaurants. The week is new; the energy subdued. But at Laboratorio Kitchen this past Tuesday night, most tables were full and nearly all held bottles of wine. “Tuesday is one of our busiest nights,” said Laboratorio Kitchen chef and owner James DeSisto.
Laboratorio Kitchen James DeSisto with his team.
Our table was sandwiched between two lively groups of wine-drinking diners: a table of eight women fortified with four bottles of wine, three red, one pink and two couples sharing three bottles of red. While drinking may be declining nationally, the consumption was definitely conspicuous at Laboratorio that night.
Good Food, Great Wine and a Full House on a Tuesday Night
Chef James DeSisto
Although most diners were wine drinkers, a surprising number don’t realize most of the restaurants in Montclair are BYO, DeSisto said. Most of these unwitting diners are from out of town – New York or California and Florida – and are often guests of the nearby MC Hotel. DeSisto often relies on The Wine Guys to deliver bottles to diners (I described my experience with the service in last week’s column). I’d visited The Wine Guys in person earlier that day.
I found Wine Guys owner Ricky Patel behind the cash register, dispensing both dining and wine recommendations. “People ask me what’s good around here,” said Patel who rattled off a list of his favorites which included Laboratorio. I told Patel Laboratorio was my destination that evening; did he have a favorite wine?
“Italian, “Patel replied and moved to the nearby Italian wine section to show me some favorites. Maybe a Brunello or a Barolo or even a more modestly priced Barbera, Patel suggested. Did he sell a lot of Italian wine? I asked, noting the considerable size of the section. In fact, Patel said most of his customers bought domestic wines – California Cabernet or Pinot Noir. “They like the big reds,” he said.
A Chablis Worth Coming Back For
Ricky Patel, The Wine Guys
I liked Patel’s suggestion of the Barbera but I’d already noticed he had a very nice Chablis from an excellent producer and a great vintage in his Burgundy section: the 2024 Thomas Labille Chablis ($29). “I have to buy this,” I said but promised Patel I’d buy his recommended Barbera or maybe even a Brunello next time.
The Labille Chablis was bright and minerally with notes of citrus and white fruit and proved to be a first-rate match with the breaded garlic shrimp appetizer as well as the Linguini with Jumbo Lump Crab entree. It even paired well with the Chicken Parm LK – a generously-sized chicken cutlet with fresh mozzarella in a Pomodoro sauce.
I did return to The Wine Guys the next day – though not for a bottle of Barbera (at least not yet) but to buy a few more bottles of that (terrific) Chablis.
Lettie Teague was the The Wall Street Journal wine columnist for 16 years, the wine columnist and executive wine editor of Food & Wine magazine, the winner of three James Beard awards, author of multiple wine books and one biography of a best-selling children’s author. She writes a weekly Substack column “Wine in Words”. Teague explores the local wine and dining scene for Drink Local, a Feast series pairing bottles from area wine shops with dishes from local restaurants.
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