The Ten Bells on Broome Street has been a Lower East Side natural wine institution long enough that the format now looks obvious, and it is worth saying plainly how the list actually works because it catches first-timers out. There are two lists. One is a chalkboard, it carries the by-the-glass pours and the specials, and it changes. The other is a long printed bottle list, and it is where the depth is. People walk in, read the chalkboard, order from it, and never learn that the more interesting half of the cellar was in a document nobody handed them. Here is how to use both.
Two lists, and the good one is not on the wall. Ask Karpo what to look for on The Ten Bells' bottle list for the kind of wine you like.
The chalkboard is the by-the-glass list
Everything available by the glass, plus whatever specials are running, goes on the chalkboard. It is the fast way in and it is genuinely the right move for one drink.
Because it changes, there is no point arriving with a specific glass in mind. What was on it last month is not a guide to tonight, and that turnover is the whole point of a bar that works with small producers.
Read it before you order rather than asking for a wine by name. The staff will guide you through it, and on a busy night the board is faster than a conversation.
The bottle list is where to go for more than one glass
If you are staying for more than a single drink, ask for the bottle list. It is extensive, it is not on the wall, and it carries the selections that make this bar worth its reputation.
The arithmetic is the ordinary wine bar arithmetic: two glasses each is usually the price of a bottle, and a bottle from this list is more interesting than four glasses from the board.
This is the single most useful thing to know about the venue. The board is what you see; the list is what you came for.
What natural wine means here
The bar works with wines made from organic or biodynamic grapes with very little intervention from the winemaker, sourced from an unusual selection of small producers.
That has practical consequences at the table. These wines are more variable, more textural and occasionally stranger than conventional bottles, and the point of a room like this is to be guided through that rather than to guess.
If natural wine has previously meant one cloudy glass someone poured you at a party, this is the place to find out what the category actually contains. Say so at the bar; it is the most useful thing you can tell the staff.
The food, and the oysters
The kitchen runs tapas and charcuterie alongside oysters, and the oyster happy hour at a dollar apiece is the deal the bar is known for.
That combination is the reason people stay. Oysters and a mineral white is one of the more reliable pleasures available in Manhattan for the money, and this bar has built its evening rhythm around it.
Small plates and charcuterie are the right order alongside a bottle. It is not a dinner venue, and nobody here is pretending otherwise.
The room, and getting a seat
It is small, dark and communal, with a bar you sit along rather than tables you are shown to. Private rooms are available and bookable, which is the answer for a group.
Hours run 5pm to midnight Monday to Wednesday, 5pm to 1am Thursday and Friday, 3pm to 1am on Saturday and 3pm to 11pm on Sunday. The weekend afternoon opening is the underused window.
It is at 247 Broome Street, a short walk from the Delancey Street and Essex Street stations, in a part of the Lower East Side dense enough that the rest of the night sorts itself out.
Practical notes
Address: 247 Broome Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan.
Hours: Monday to Wednesday 5pm–midnight; Thursday and Friday 5pm–1am; Saturday 3pm–1am; Sunday 3pm–11pm.
By-the-glass pours and specials are on the chalkboard; ask for the separate printed bottle list. Natural wine from small organic and biodynamic producers, plus tapas, charcuterie and a $1 oyster happy hour. Private rooms can be reserved.
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Please drink responsibly. Must be of legal drinking age.
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Ask Karpo first
Ask Karpo what style of natural wine to ask for at The Ten Bells, when the room is quiet enough to talk to the staff, and where else on the Lower East Side pours from the same kind of list.
