L’Echoppe

It’s hilarious how in France 10pm is considered outrageously late for a shop to stay open. In NYC, ²⁴⁄₇ is the only badge of commercial courage.
Open from 11am-​10pm (almost) every day, L’Echoppe bills itself as your late night neighborhood pit stop for all types of culinary indulgences (wine, champagne, chocolate, spices). While we’re a far cry from your all-​night bodega, I do salute effort where I see it, and L’Echoppe is proof that the tides are changing (a bit) and that some businesse owners are willing to stay open a wee bit later than the rest.
I stumbled onto this sliver of a store while looking for a bottle of wine to bring to my favorite BYOB restaurant, Kastoori, just around the corner. As it was past 8pm I figured my only options were the epiciers du coin. L’Echoppe, however, lived up to its promise. I picked up a 8E bottle of Tourraine that was peppery, bright and perfectly suited to our Indian feast and a zillion times better than the overpriced Cotes du Rhone we were seemingly cursed to consume.