Drink Like the Bourgeoisie

If bourgeois is a label you never thought to self-apply, take a trip to Jadis, a French wine bar on the Lower East Side, and you will reconsider. The bourgeoisie have the best snacks, like decadent charcuterie plates of rich morsels. This bar loads a wood tray with duck pâté, salami, Serrano ham, and Viande de Grison (lean, thinly sliced Swiss dried beef) for $16. Extremely generous glasses of wine fall in the $6 to $8 price range and the bottles are proletariat-cheap, with many below $25. You won’t miss your standard bohemian dive bars in the least as you sip a hearty Côte du Rhone, J.L. Colombo “Les Abeilles” 2003 ($6/$22), under the barrel-vaulted ceiling of repurposed brick, which glows in the old- fashioned lighting. A glass of medium- bodied malbec-cabernet Weinert Carrascal 2002 ($7/$25) goes nicely with the Serge Gainsbourg playing in the background. And, as part of your new upwardly mobile lifestyle, end the night with a sweet and fragrant glass of the Saint Jean de Minervois Muscat ($6/$18) for dessert. Your embourgeoisement will be complete, yet your wallet won’t be empty. Since apparently it is possible to drink like the upper class on working-class wages, all of us petty bourge-wannabes will be back.