I’ll Have a Glass of Wine With a Panini on the Side

Guest Post by Caryn Donohue, Gramercy Correspondent

Being the deal-hunting lady that I am, I heard about Vero Restaurant & Wine Bar‘s Monday night special through trusty sites like Yelp.com and Eats.com. This is truly a rare find in NYC – on Monday nights you get a free panini with every glass of wine or martini you order. Yes, that’s right…a free meal with every drink. I loved the idea and I love wine bars, so I had to check it out.

There are two Vero locations in NYC: midtown and uptown on the East side. I hit up the midtown location which only has three paninis on the menu. However, the uptown spot has six or so to choose from, so you may prefer that one for the extra choices. My friend and I split two paninis, one with prosciutto, mozzarella and basil aioli, and the other with hot sopressata, roasted red pepper, watercress and asiago cheese. The bread was hot and crusty, but not crumbly like the outside of an over-toasted hero roll. There wasn’t too much between the bread, which was a bit of a disappointment. The sopressata  one was the clear winner – the meat was more flavorful and the spiciness made it stand out. The prosciutto one was sort of bland and unmemorable. The paninis are relatively small, probably not enough to keep you full all night, but you could order a second drink and a second panini. Or just have a small snack later at home like I did.

Glasses of wine range between $9-17 and martinis are $11 or 12. My waitress was really knowledgeable and helped me choose a delicious wine. Honestly, it was probably my favorite part of the meal.  Normally the paninis are about $12, so it’s more of a 2-for-1 kind of deal, but I still liked it. Despite the small portion and not much happening between the hot pressed bread, it was still a tasty little meal and a nice night out on a budget.