Le Dive

Le Dive opened in May 2022 on the corner of Canal and Ludlow, from Jon Neidich, the restaurateur behind Acme and, in Williamsburg, Le Crocodile and Bar Blondeau. He had come back from a research trip to Paris taken with the tabacs, the worn corner cafés where people sit with a coffee, a cigarette and a glass of wine. He wanted it to feel 'almost as if somebody had inherited a tabac from older relatives' and updated the menu for how younger people actually eat and drink. There is a large neon sign to match.

It is a natural wine bar, and the beverage director at opening, Ashley Santoro, defined that plainly: wines from organic and biodynamic farms, made with a light hand. She also wanted a room where nobody felt stupid asking the difference between sulfur and sulfites, which is a rare and civilised goal.

Go late, sit outside if the weather allows, and order a second bottle you have never heard of.

The food is the kind that suits the wine: smoked salmon with dill cream, radishes and butter, artichokes with aioli, tinned sardines. Nothing needs explaining.

It is a corner of what people call Dimes Square, and the crowd is that neighbourhood's. Go late, sit outside if the weather allows, and order a second bottle you have never heard of.

Text to ask.