Terroir - Bar bites and tapas enough to fill you up

Last night I finally went to Terroir for dinner.  I'd been meaning to go for a while, but somehow never made it down there until I was reminded of it while reading Wylie Dufresne's New York Diet in Grub Street, where he mentioned dropping by for their Summer of Riesling.

Right now - reislings are $6 bucks before 6pm.  That is if you can make it that early!  I unfortunately didn't.  But even at $9 bucks, it's not so bad.

Terroir is located on 12th between 1st Ave. and Ave A - it's a tiny spot seating only 30 or so, but at 8pm on a Saturday night it wasn't too hard to get a seat.  A long communal bar gives it a nice neighborly feel and ambiance.

Now I usually am really wary of tapas places because the dishes are too small and the bill usually ends up much higher than you expect.

At Terroir we were able to get full for around $35/person.  Not terrible for tapas.

We ordered the lamb and sage fried meatballs.  I am really sensitive to the "lamb" taste, but these were delicious.  Especially the outside crust.  I could have just sit there and eaten the fried outside.  But that probably wouldn't be too good for me, haha.

Onto the fava bean and pecorino salad.  This was wonderful.  I love fava beans and it's not so easy to find them, The pecorino added just the right amount of tang and bitterness.

For our "main dish" we ordered the roasted pork panini.  The pork was not as soft as I usually expect and sliced a little too thickly for the panini bread. We added a side of black cabbage and sausage bruschetta, which was nice, but after so much meat I kind of wish I went with the server's suggestion of tomato and egg.  For my pork fixing I'd probably stick to Porchetta.

Finally we rounded out the meal with the house specialty of veal and ricotta meatballs The meatballs were a nice hearty dish with a tomato sauce.  Kind of reminded me of what I'd imagine as "grandma's meatballs."  Maybe they should rename the dish to that?

Next time I suppose!  Overall, I'd recommend Terroir as a casual dinner spot.  Would probably be a good date spot as I kind of do like the communal tables to break the ice a little bit.  It just seems friendlier and less intense than regular restaurant seating.

Just don't sit too close to the speaker or you won't be able to hear anything your date says!

Terroir
413 East 12th St. (Between 1st Ave. and Ave. A)
No phone