New wine bar brings a taste of Spain to Canandaigua's dining scene
CANANDAIGUA, NY — Moving quickly through the small Pintxo Wine Bar dining room, Julian Plyter is heading for the kitchen. Order up.
Soon after, Plyter is pouring wine for another table out front, near the large bar he built himself.
Plyter, who worked in several restaurants in New York City where he also started his own wildly successful ice cream sandwich store, Melt Bakery, said he is glad to be serving on this opening night of his new Pintxo. But for the executive chef and owner, this is a reminder of all the fine points he needs to cover in training for his staff.
“And it reminds me why I’m doing this,” Plyter said. “I love being with people and I love getting people excited about food and wines.”
Pintxo, which is a Basque word meaning spike, as in the skewer of meats, and pronounced “peen-cho,” marked a grand opening last Thursday evening. This Spanish wine bar offers small dishes such as cheese and charcuterie, breads, pintxos and tapas, and desserts, with a variety of Spanish wines to complement each one.
Plyter, who grew up in Williamson, Wayne County, fell in love with Spanish wines while living in New York City for over 20 years. Plyter loves Finger Lakes wine, but he’s bringing to the table what he knows.
“I didn’t know enough, I felt, to compete with Finger Lakes wine so I chose Spain for this,” Plyter said.
A simple tomato opens the Pintxo story
A simple tomato back home in Williamson was all it took to set Plyter’s from a career in music to one in food.
Plyter’s mother was serving salad during a visit home one summer. Cutting up this “most perfect tomato,” Plyter could swear it was radiating and creating its own light. Where did this tomato come from? His mother pointed to her backyard, where she had just picked it.
That really clinched it for Plyter; a career in food was a perfect fit.
“It sounds so silly and poetic, but it’s true,” Plyter said recently, during a break from rehabbing the former law office on Coach Street.
The wine bar, which is a short walk from Peacemaker Brewing Co. and across the street from Reason’s Bar & Grill, seats 42, with room for eight or so more at the bar. A large table for communal seating also greets customers who enter.
Behind that, in the center of the building, is an intimate dining room with shelving that once stored law books — the prior occupant was a law office. Now, jurisprudence is discussed over glasses of garnacha blanca or red.
Light jazz music — on vinyl — is the soundtrack on opening night.
Plyter is joined by Pamela Cecere, his chef de cuisine, who learned at Le Cordon Bleu Paris and ran the Four Seasons in Hawaii as well as served as a private chef across the country. Cecere most recently made ice cream at Spotted Duck in Penn Yan and authored a cookbook, "30 Days in the Jungle."
Sommelier Thera Clark, an instructor at New York Kitchen in Canandaigua, worked at several fine dining restaurants in New York City for 16 years before joining Plyter here. Clark also served as the resident sommelier at Standing Stone Vineyards and at Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard and Winery in the Finger Lakes.
“I couldn’t have dreamed of an opening team quite so good,” Plyter said. “I’m very lucky.”
Here's what's on the menu at Pintxo
Cheese and charcuterie, along with fresh bread, are mainstays.
Jumping out on the menu are pintxos, of course, including the Gilda, skewers of pickled Basque pepper, olives and anchovy, as well as Valdeón, walnut-crusted Valdeón cheese, membrillo and toast. Tapas include chorizo poached in cider.
Small dishes, such as tinned fish, and desserts also will tempt visitors.
Of course, a varied selection of wines by the glass and bottle complements whatever you’re having.
When the Finger Lakes growing season begins to heat up, local ingredients will be incorporated into the dishes.
“The Spanish wine bar style is, have a little bite with this type of wine. Then, try this wine with that little bite. And then have a little nip of dessert wine with something sweet and local,” Plyter said. “I really love that vibe.”
Joe and Kathy LoVerde, a Canandaigua couple fresh off a cruise where one of the stops, coincidentally, was Spain, have been tracing the process of the wine bar.
When they discovered it was opening night, well, it was a chance to extend their vacation. More charcuterie and more Spanish wine? If you insist.
“This is great, absolutely fabulous,” Kathy LoVerde said. “I think it’s nice to have options in Canandaigua, something different. This is really nice, a lovely place.”
Jim Romano, who accompanied Bob and Debbie Cecere, relatives of the chef, said everything he tried was delicious, including his favorite, Valdeón.
“Outstanding,” Romano said. "Definitely this is going to be a successful venue for the chef and the owner.”
Spain and Finger Lakes fusion at Pintxo
Spain is the inspiration, for sure.
Plyter toyed with the idea for the concept for about a year, running a concept dinner at New York Kitchen last summer.
“It seemed like we were onto something,” Plyter said.
But the Finger Lakes region offers such a beautiful bounty of food that Plyter is excited to feature as much of that as possible within the framework of this concept.
As much as he enjoys Buffalo chicken wings, beef on 'weck and Garbage Plates, Plyter said he wants to explore the idea that local food can mean more, in a small Spanish-influenced way, in this case.
“I think local food can be like this tomato my mother served me,” Plyter said. “That was local food. It was grown locally. It was prepared locally. I ate it locally.”
More about Pintxo Wine Bar
Pintxo Wine Bar is at 27 Coach St., Canandaigua. Hours are 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays, 3 to 9 p.m. Saturdays and 3 to 7 p.m. Sundays. It’s closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
For more details, visit https://www.pintxo.wine/.
Mike Murphy covers Canandaigua and other communities in Ontario County and writes the Eat, Drink and Be Murphy food and drink column. Follow him on X at @MPN_MikeMurphy.
This article originally appeared on MPNnow: Pintxo Wine Bar opens in Canandaigua NY
