BLT Prime

The Palm Midtown

· New York · Restaurant

The Wild Card

The Palm Midtown is not where you'd expect to find Puzelat and Ruth Lewandowski sitting next to each other on a wine list — which is exactly what makes it worth a second look. Six bottles is a short menu, but all six are defensible picks at prices that don't insult you. If you're in the mood to trust the list and not overthink it, this works.

Wolfgang's Steakhouse by Wolfgang Zwiener

Murray Hill · New York · Classic American Steakhouse

The Reliable

Wolfgang's is a reliable steakhouse wine experience in the sense that you know exactly what you're getting: a list built around the bottle you already know, priced for the room you're sitting in. If you're here to close a deal over a Porterhouse for Two, the wine list will do its job without embarrassing anyone — but it's not going to surprise you, and it's almost certainly going to cost more than it should. Go in with eyes open and a strong second-choice red in mind.

Zaytinya

· New York · Mediterranean

The Wild Card

Zaytinya's wine list is a rare thing in New York: a focused, regionally coherent program that commits hard to Greek and Eastern Mediterranean varieties without making you feel like you need a flashcard to order. The by-the-glass selection alone — 18 options, all under $18, featuring producers most wine lists wouldn't touch — makes this worth visiting even before the food arrives. If you eat here and order a Cabernet, that's on you.

A long bottle list with Italian, Burgundy and Champagne sections, fronted by a 22-wine glass page. For a glass, try the Skerk Orange Wine from Friuli at 25/95, and for a bottle on a lighter budget, the Volpaia Vermentino at 60; upstairs in the café, the labeled list pours Palistorti di Valgiano's orange Tuscan blend at Glass $22. Confirm prices before you order, because the site's Upstairs Café dinner menu and the beverage PDF do not match. This unrated guide covers the posted wine lists, not service, storage or markups.

A Park Avenue restaurant whose posted wine list is a 21-wine glass list. Start with the $18 Leitz Riesling or the $19 Ogier Saint-Joseph. No bottle list is posted online, so ask the restaurant what is available by the bottle. This unrated guide covers the posted glass list, not service, storage or markups.

A hotel restaurant whose list opens with a 13-pour glass page and then moves through Champagne, Burgundy, Austria and other regions. Start with the $29 Prager Grüner Veltliner or the $24 Do Ferreiro Albariño by the glass alongside the chilled oysters, and confirm current pricing since the list is dated 09.30.26. This unrated guide covers the posted wine list, not service, storage or markups.