Tuome
A clear opportunity exists to define a more innovative beverage program—one that mirrors the robustness and linearity of Tuome’s already well-articulated food identity.
🗂️ Venue Information
Website: https://www.tuomenyc.com/
Location: New York, New York, USA
Head Chef: Thomas Chen
Head Sommelier and / or Beverage Director: John Parson
Estimated USD Cost Per Person (incl. drinks): $175
Culinary Recognition(s): 1 Michelin Star
🥂 Core Scoring Criteria (1–10 each)
Program Identity | 3
Tuome’s identity sits squarely in its cuisine—a refined, high-end interpretation of Asian flavors designed with pairs in mind. The same sense of focus, however, doesn’t fully extend to the beverage program. While the wine list offers a handful of intriguing bottles and unexpected discoveries, the overall selection feels more like an assortment of curiosities than a cohesive, identity-driven offering. It’s an enjoyable mix, but one still searching for the sense of purpose that defines the plate.
Depth & Quality | 5
Tuome’s list favors variety over depth, offering an eclectic spread rather than a tightly curated narrative. Diners will find uncommon gems rarely spotted in fine dining—three dry Tokaji wines among them—a refreshing deviation from the usual suspects. While there’s no singular through line tying the selections together, the diversity itself becomes the list’s defining feature, revealing an adventurous, if loosely structured, spirit.
Service & Knowledge | 2
The expertise behind Tuome’s beverage program may well be there, but the experience does little to reveal it. On a busy Tuesday evening with the dining room nearly full, staff presence felt minimal, limited largely to the mechanics of taking orders rather than engaging with guests about what was in the glass.
Pairing & Integration | 2
Variety is the organizing principle here, not guided pairing. Guests who want a thoughtful match will need to rely on their own knowledge and confidence to navigate the list and select a bottle that truly fits the meal.
Accessibility & Experience | 3
The room at Tuome is intimate, and the experience feels most accessible through the food, with a clear, simply organized menu built around several dishes designed for two. By contrast, the beverage program lacks the same clarity of intent, falling short of the thought and structure so evident on the plate.
Innovation & Influence | 3
Food innovation at Tuome is unmistakable, and it offers a natural springboard for parallel creativity in the glass. There are whispers of promise and experimentation in the beverage program, but they are largely overshadowed by the more confident, clearly articulated innovation happening on the plate.
Total Score: 18.6/60
A clear opportunity exists to define a more innovative beverage program—one that mirrors the robustness and linearity of Tuome’s already well-articulated food identity.
🧩 Table Harmony
🥂 Light Harmony – Quality food and drink with informal pairing
Harmony between glass and plate does not come automatically here; guests need to put in real effort to identify a wine that can stand up to the rich, fatty, Asian-inflected cuisine. With a bit of study, however, a pattern emerges—the list is dotted with high-acid, refreshing wines that cut cleanly through the food’s weight and texture, offering genuine relief and balance. In this respect, Tuome succeeds, but the burden of discovering that harmony rests squarely on the guest.
🏷️ Specialty Tags
☒🍷 Wine-Led
☐ 🍺 Beer-Focused
☒🍸 Cocktail-Driven
☐🍶 Sake Specialist
☐🧉 Spirits-Led
☐🍇 Terroir-First
☐♻️ Sustainable Cellar
☐🔬 Technique-Driven
☐🧠 Education-Centric
☐💎 Rare & Iconic Bottles
☐🌍 Global Range
☐🏠 Locally Rooted
Worth exploring the cocktail program here; the team appears to play with the same Asian-inflected flavors found on the plate, translating them into the glass with a similar sense of curiosity and experimentation. For wine, it pays to take a risk—choose a bottle or grape you have not encountered before, and chances are the result will be a pleasantly unexpected discovery.
🗣️ Inspector Summary
Tuome enters with the weight of a Michelin star and the expectations that come with it—expectations that are quickly upended. This is a distinctly Lower East Side restaurant, with a compact, 15-table room and a seemingly effortless, almost “no effs given” attitude that feels more downtown than fine dining. On arrival, it can take close to a minute to be acknowledged, and the first thing you notice is not the dining room but the cocktail bar, clearly positioned as the opening act of the experience.
Once seated, the line between cultivated nonchalance and simple bandwidth strain begins to blur. Service moves at an unhurried pace, from initial contact to taking orders to drinks finally landing on the table. The beverage experience, as a result, reads as humble and slightly hands-off: eclectic in its offerings, but not proactively guided or narrated.
What Tuome does project clearly is a strong, confident food identity. The menu is compact, accessible, and built around shareable dishes for two, with the pork belly for two standing out as a signature—rich, fatty, deeply savory, and unapologetically indulgent. The beverage program, by contrast, has yet to reach the same level of definition. The wine list feels varied rather than deep, and while it includes smart, high-acid options that make technical sense with the cuisine, it does not yet read as an identity-first program.
Guests seeking harmony between glass and plate will need to do some of the work themselves. Pairing is not actively led, and staff engagement around wine is minimal unless explicitly prompted, even on a busy evening. Ask, however, and the underlying thoughtfulness begins to show: a dry Furmint, for example, proved an excellent match for several shared dishes, its acidity cutting cleanly through the richness and umami of the food. The list is dotted with similarly bright, high-acid wines—both red and white—clearly chosen to stand up to the kitchen’s weight and intensity.
Where Tuome’s beverage program quietly excels is in its cocktails. Here, the team seems more at ease experimenting with the same Asian-inflected flavors that define the food, translating them into the glass with a sense of curiosity and play. For wine, the best strategy is to take a risk: reach for a grape or producer you do not know, and there is a good chance you will be pleasantly surprised, even if the journey to that bottle is more self-directed than guided.
In its current form, the restaurant presents a clear, compelling food narrative alongside a beverage program that lags a step behind—thoughtfully stocked, but under-expressed in service. The raw materials are there: a list built to grapple with hearty, umami-rich, sumptuous dishes, and a cocktail bar that already speaks the same flavor language as the kitchen. With more engagement and a sharper point of view from the team, Tuome has a clear path to a beverage identity equal to the one already established on the plate.