Fried Chicken, Caviar, and Serious Champagne
Flatiron · New York · American, Korean · Visit Website ↗
Updated August 2026
Reviewed April 8, 2026 · How we review
RagingWine reviewed COQODAQ’s wine list and gave it The Wild Card — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
You walk into a sleek Flatiron room built around fried chicken and immediately notice the wine list reads like a Champagne house greatest hits album. The contrast is the whole point — and it works harder than it has any right to. This is not a novelty act.
The 400-600 bottle list leans aggressively into Champagne and French classics, with prestige cuvées from Krug, Dom Pérignon, Billecart-Salmon, and Salon Le Mesnil anchoring the top end. Burgundy gets serious real estate too — Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet and Domaine de la Romanée-Conti show up, meaning someone in this building has actual taste and a good relationship with an allocator. The French focus is intentional and consistent, though drinkers hunting for serious New World or Italian depth may find the bench thinner. What's here, though, is genuinely excellent — this list earned its Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence in 2024 and it shows.
With 20-35 pours running $15-$45, the by-the-glass program is one of the better reasons to sit at the bar here. Expect proper Champagne options among the pours — not just token bubbles, but real grower and house options that match the kitchen's celebratory energy. Rotation frequency is unclear, but the presence of five sommeliers on staff suggests someone is paying attention.
Billecart-Salmon Blanc de Blancs — $45 (glass estimate)
Billecart's Blanc de Blancs is a precision instrument — chalky, tense, and laser-focused — and it's one of the more fairly landed Champagnes on a list where prices can escalate fast. Order it by the glass before you commit to a bottle and you'll likely commit to a bottle.
Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet
Everyone comes here for the Champagne program and that's fair. But Leflaive's Puligny sitting quietly on this list is the move most tables miss — it's one of the benchmark white Burgundies in the world and it cuts through the richness of fried chicken and honey butter in a way bubbles can't quite replicate.
Dom Pérignon
Dom Pérignon is a great wine, but it's also the first thing a table orders when they want to signal something rather than taste something. At a restaurant with Salon Le Mesnil and Krug on the same list, defaulting to DP means paying a heavy brand premium when the same money takes you somewhere more interesting.
Krug Grande Cuvée + Korean fried chicken with caviar service
Salt, fat, richness, crunch — and Krug's toasty, complex, slow-oxidative depth meets all of it head-on. This is the pairing the restaurant is quietly designed around, and it's genuinely one of those combinations that makes the concept click.
The Bottom Line
COQODAQ is a Wild Card in the best possible sense — a fried chicken restaurant with a Champagne cellar that would embarrass most fine dining rooms. Send your friends here, tell them to skip the DP, and order the Krug with the caviar service.
Midtown · New York · French Brasserie
La Grande Boucherie earns its place as a reliable stop for wine in Midtown, especially if you're leaning French. The glass list is genuinely wide and has some smart picks buried in it — the Fleurie and the Wiemer Riesling both punch above their price points. Markups trend steep as you climb the bottle list, so your money works hardest in the by-the-glass section. If you're here for the brasserie experience, the wine program holds up its end of the deal.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· New York · Steakhouse
BLT Prime's wine program is glass-only, which limits your options if you came for a big bottle moment, but the pricing is honest and the selection is more thoughtful than most steakhouses bother with. If you're keeping it casual and ordering by the glass, you can drink well here without feeling taken advantage of — and that's not nothing in this city.
Solid Range
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· New York · Restaurant
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.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Murray Hill · New York · Classic American Steakhouse
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.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· New York · Mediterranean
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.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
SoHo · New York · Italian
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.
One wine list review, one adventure pick, one quick tip, and a personal note. Every week. Under 500 words.
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