Grand Vin Review
Nestled on the corner of 5th and Grand Street in Hoboken New Jersey, is a little hidden gem called Grand Vin. Honestly, it is a place that if you weren’t looking for it, you would walk right past it.
I walk up to the beautiful wooden door and feel like I am walking into a speakeasy or an exclusive club. The inside was unusually busy for a random Wednesday night, but it was a cozy vibe all the same.
As I made my way through the restaurant to join my friends in the back, a wave of comfort came over me as the light chatter traveled throughout the restaurant. The patrons ranged from people on date night, girls’ night outs, and office Christmas dinners – clearly seen as a place that anyone can enjoy.
I get to my table, and we are sat in the back corner at a round table with a wraparound booth. So far so good, great ambience, nice and spacious table, and it wouldn’t be a restaurant if they didn’t start us out with warm fluffy bread and a pesto olive oil dip (which was to die for of course).
Now onto the stuff you guys care about.
The Food
Meat and Cheese Board
It wouldn’t be Wine Wednesday without a charcuterie board. At Grand Vin, you have the option to mix and match from their selection of meats and cheeses served with crostini, fig jam, and almonds. With 5 meat options and 6 cheese options (most of which were unheard of to me), I was stumped at what to order but luckily for us, we had an amazing waitress.
The waitress was able to rattle off and describe each cheese and meat selection without looking at the menu. She recommended we tried the Delice de Bourgogne, which could be compared to a brie cheese, and the Bresaola which is a type of meat like prosciutto but with a smokier flavor. Her recommendations were spot on – the Delice was delicious. We found the best combo was to smear it on the crostini with a little fig jam on top.
The Bresaola has now taken the spot as the superior charcuterie board meat in my mind. It was a perfect texture that literally melted in your mouth and had just the right amount of smokiness.
We also added the Mahon, like a cheddar, and prosciutto. In my opinion, the Mahon was too hard, crumbly, and lacked flavor and the prosciutto was good but completely overshadowed by the Bresaola.
Regarding what it was served with, the crostini were a bit too hard for my liking and the fig jam was decent but nothing to write home about.
Nicole’s Rating: 6.5/10. Would recommend getting this if you are going solely for the wine and not planning on getting a full meal since it is a little overpriced ($18 for 2 cheeses and 2 meats).
Pappardelle
My sister’s meal of choice was the pappardelle. Long, thick noodles served in a delicious lemon vodka sauce that shocked you with a mild kick at the end thanks to the crushed red pepper. But the star of this dish had to be the scallops.
The great thing about scallops is that they really take on the flavor of whatever sauce they are in but, it is very easy to overcook these bad boys and in turn will make them chewy and rubbery.
Lucky for us, they were cooked perfectly, gave the dish some nice texture and overall was a great addition to this pasta dish.
Nicole’s Rating: 7.8/10. The small was a perfect serving size and provided a well-balanced meal.
Capellini
It was hard to see this on the menu and NOT order it. One thing about me, is that I’m a sucker for mushrooms and prosciutto in pink sauce.
The capellini was delicious. Angel hair pasta served with peas, mushrooms, and prosciutto in a meat sauce. The pasta was cooked to perfection and the mushrooms and prosciutto really were the star of this dish. My only problem with this dish is that I felt like there was more meat than sauce in the meat sauce but other than that, a solid dish.
Nicole’s Rating: 7.4/10.
Homemade Crab Ravioli
The last member of our party ordered the homemade crab ravioli – a very tantalizing option indeed.
It must’ve been good because before I could even try a bite of one of his raviolis, he finished all 5 of them. I did try the sauce leftover on the plate, and it was simply delicious. Might have to go back to give this dish a try and see what the hype is about.
Nicole’s Rating: Couldn’t tell you.
The Vin
Grand Vin does something very interesting and unique – they serve wine on tap. Not only that, but they do a great happy hour deal on Wednesday’s where all said wines on tap are half price (aka $6 a glass).
The table was divided but, in the end, this is what we all got:
Sauvignon Blanc Coeur Du Mont
Deliciously crisp with sweet nodes. Served in a beautiful glass and came out so crisp it chilled me to my core.
Nicole’s Rating: 6.9/10. I’m not usually a white wine person but this was very good.
Cabernet Sauvignon Angeline
Now a nice red wine is definitely more of my speed than a white, especially when I’m eating a hearty meat and pasta dish, so this wine absolutely satisfied my cravings.
It was an extremely light and delicate which is what I prefer when drinking reds and it had just the right amount of bite to it. Now this is where it gets interesting, I’m not usually someone who chills my red wine, but I guess since this was a tap wine, it came out chilled.
Unsure how I would feel about this I took a sip and was blown away by how the coolness of it made it go down quite easy. As predicted, this paired very nicely with the Capellini.
Nicole’s Rating: 8.3/10
The Stuff Other Than Vin
Spicy Margarita
Now I can’t lie, when I first looked at the menu, I had full intentions of ordering a glass of tap wine but after a rather brutal day at work, I felt liquor would better satisfy my taste buds that night.
Grand Vin has a very fun and lively drink menu all of which looked good, but I had my heart set on one thing going there, a spicy margarita.
While this drink was not on their menu, they said they could accommodate and brought me a spicy margarita. I’m not going to lie – it tasted like there was a bit too much margarita mix in it for my liking and it lacked spiciness.
Nicole’s Rating: 5.5/10. This is a low rating, but I can’t be too upset since again, this wasn’t on the menu.
Peachy Blinders
After feeling unsatisfied by the spicy margarita, I decided to take a second look at the cocktail menu. I scroll through the menu and was beginning to lose hope as I got closer to the bottom of the page. But then, like a scene out of a movie, the last item on the menu, hiding all the way down at the bottom – the Peachy Blinders. Consider my interest piqued.
Made with tequila, peach juice, agave, orange liqueur, lime juice, prosecco, jalapeno, and finished off with a tajin chili rim this showstopper of a drink caught my eye immediately. Now, call me crazy but that sounds a lot like a spicy margarita, only better so I had to give it a try.
Let’s just say, I would go back to Grand Vin solely to have this again. I love spice and let me tell you, nothing gets me going quite like a tajin chili rim. This drink had the perfect spicy to sweet balance and the tajin rim really rounded it out well. If I’m in need of another pick me up, I’d come back to get this drink.
Nicole’s Rating: 9.2/10
Overall Ratings
Overall, I’d rate this whole place an 8.2/10. Great atmosphere, amazing staff, and some good quality food and drinks and very moderately priced for the area it is in.
