Natural Wine Pros Pop Open a New East Village Bar Tonight

The RAW Wine Fair rolls into town this weekend, and with it comes the opening of an anticipated new natural wine bar from the respected Ruffian team.

Kindred, located at 342 East Sixth Street, between First and Second avenues, will open this weekend to catch the influx of natural wine fans, though it does not yet have gas. Instead of the planned Mediterranean menu of small plates, pasta, and some large-format dishes — which will come as soon as gas is hooked up — Kindred will serve a very small food menu of smoked olives, onion dip, flatbread, a crostini trio, and chicken meatballs.

The focus right now is more on the drinks. There’s an extensive by-the-glass list, with at least five options each for sparkling, white, orange, rose, and red wines, all from Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia. All of Kindred’s drinks and food focus on that region surrounding the Adriatic Sea. For opening weekend, winemakers are hosting events each night, with Battista Belvisi of Abbazia San Giorgio By the Glass Takeover by Living Wine coming on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Casa di Baal & Rocco di Carpeneto by Mucci Imports stopping by on Sunday at 7:30 p.m.

There’s also a full liquor menu with cocktails like the Croatian Royale (gin, pear brandy, chamomile, lemon, paprika, Prosecco), Marsala Cobbler (marsala, grapefruit, cinnamon), and the Livin La Vida Highball (scotch, aperitif, fennel, honey, soda, lemon oil). The full menu is below.

Kindred comes from the well-regarded team behind nearby wine bar Ruffian (Alexis Percival, Patrick Cournot, Moshe Schulman, and Josh Ochoa), an under-the-radar destination for natural wine, especially skin contact options. It’s joining several newer natural wine bars opening in NYC as of late, including LaLou in Prospect Heights, the Fly in Bed-Stuy, and L’Accolade in the West Village.

For now, Kindred is open Thursday through Monday from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. with no reservations, but will eventually roll into daily service.