Eli Zabar’s Wine Cellar: It’s Not Chopped Liver

None of these prices seem particularly reasonable to me.

Eli had a insistent vision of high quality food, cheese, and produce years before that market was even proven viable in NYC.

So the comments are upset that he was shrewd enough to move across the Park where he could charge premium prices for a unique product? Is a merchant's price point a matter of public concern? Where's the outrage at Starbucks success peddling dark-roasted swill as if it were fine, richly flavored coffee?

Eli Zabar does not offer wines at reasonable prices. I have been to his stores, and I was actually angered at his outrageously high prices. People don't deserve to be treated like that, as it denies many decent people the opportunity to shop for food at a store in their own neighborhood. I feel it's highly unethical, especially as many of his overpriced offerings can be found at a grocery store for fraction of the price. Eli Zabar is not a kind man, but a heartless price gouger.

Having lived in Eli's food orbit for many years, the opening of the wine shop came as a pleasant surprise. Most of his price points are not mine, but I did on occasion find a good bottle I could afford, and usually enjoyed. There are wine worlds and there are wine worlds, and his tastes in old world bottles is welcome, even if they'd always be out of range for me. And even if some of his choices are overpriced at half the price. But for years I just refused to spend anything on food at any of his shops. What might have been years ago a unique destination for beautiful produce and a range of carefully selected other foods lost ground to other merchants. Zabar's pricing still reflected the bad old days, and to see display upon display of mediocre commodity foods--from wrapped industrial cheese blocks to over the hill olive oils, to other products priced so high relative to the now fierce competition that "quirky" became insulting. We never were customers for expensive meats or fish, so I let others judge there. But for almost everything else: why pay 20, 30, even more percent more for something you could now find elsewhere? What indeed was I paying for--the cult of personality Eli images that stared at you on every way?

Zabar's employee's are to be commended for putting together a solid wine program. The prices are fair, but you have to know your wines to realize this. Complaints about the price of Muscadet, etc, by folks that don't know the difference between Bregeon and the tractor-harvested battery acid you can buy for a handful of Euros at the local Nicolas. Pathetic.

As for Mr. Zabar.... I wish someone had captured footage of him going around the tables at the conclusion of the recent DRC vintage tasting in NY, emptying abandoned glasses of Le Montrachet into his own goblet, nearly to the brim and backwash be damned. A sight to behold, this rumpled oddball clothed in the very same garb you see here, in a room full of suits, pillaging leftovers for a full glass of the world's most expensive chardonnay.

Two dress shirts?

Do reader comments on food/wine articles have any value whatsoever? Most of the comments appear focus either a) on the commenter's inability/unwillingness to afford the wines featured or b) on some bogus social lament that the article does not offer wines for the masses.

What about Eli Zabar as a creative entrepreneur who has created vibrant businesses that bear the stamp of his individual personality? He is part of what makes New York so fascinating-- and I suspect that his many employees and customers just might agree.

Eli Zabar is the reason why there is a lack of green markets on the UES. He fights against having any additional competition, denying NYC residents the opportunity to support the hard working farmers of NY State. I don't find anything admirable about that. I'm glad he feels he can offer affordable wines, as it can accompany his outrageously priced foods.

From the look of his shop, the care of the wine looks sloppy with bottles stored upright at room temperature. If these are wines to be served at the restaurant, they will be too warm as Burgundies are best served at Cellar Temperature and that is around 58 degrees. This is a contradiction to someone who has a passion for this wine and implies a certain cynicism. The prices quoted are significantly higher than contemporary market value, especially for the Chianti that had an original price of perhaps $15. There seems to be no reason to visit there for the wine. Sorry.

I noticed a lot of the comments center on the prices at his shops-yes he is expensive. What many miss is that Eli is passionate beyond words about what he does. Few people are that dedicated about what they do. Eli is a hard worker. One can complain about the prices but no one can question his dedication.

Eli's Zabar's food prices in his stores are astronomical. Thirty five dollars per pound for take out fried chicken fingers. His wine does not sound like such a bargain either. Unfortunately for him, potential clients and diners in the east nineties have caught on and his wine bar is almost always empty.

Too much yuppie flavoring for me. I'm allergic.

Most helpful...where to buy wines for the 1 per cent.
I grant you that Burgundies are always expensive, but let's get real. These are guilt inducing prices in a city where so many have so little.

Mr. Zabar is not a warm and fuzzy guy and rarely smiles. The former slumlord on the upper West side has distanced himself from members of his own family, moved to the East Side and has flourished.
This guy lives in his own world.

Are these prices just a reflection of the realization that he markets to muppets with too much money and no common sense?

Eli passionate about everything he sells? What about the jam he and Abby used to buy at the supermarket, steam off the labels, and put their own EAT label on the jars and charge at least 3 times the supermarket price. That's not passionate, that's fraud.

This is all markup and maybe it is a good deal in New York. These types of wines can be had for a small fraction of this price in France. Even in Paris restaurants.

The wine prices are astronomical, unless one runs a hedge fund. The food prices in the store below, particularly for fresh produce, are pneumatically pumped up to a level of complete absurdity.

Well now we can understand why he charges high prices at this food emporiums.

Mr. Zabar's comment that his wine markups are reasonable is a bit of a long stretch. I bought a Passopisciaro - a Nerello Mascalese from Etna that drinks like a Premier Cru Burgundy - for $55 and subsequently paid else where $32.

The wine prices are completely ridiculous. $60 for a Muscadet ?? That's a $10 bottle in France as is any Touraine red. $250 for a Chianti?! Please tell me it's a misprint. No Italian would ever believe it.

New York's unique personality is disappearing, people like this are the last bulwark against the mallification of the city.