Center City’s newest bar plans to serve caviar and $600 glasses of Champagne
At Bar Caviar, there will be five kinds of caviar and an extensive Champagne-by-the-glass list that starts at $15.
Center City hoteliers Ken and Vittoria Schutz are celebrating their love of Champagne and caviar with a lounge called Bar Caviar inside Dwight D Hotel, their boutique hotel at 256 S. 16th St., a few doors from Monk’s Cafe near Rittenhouse Square.
At the heart of the concept, expected to open next spring, is a Champagne list that is expected to read more like a collector’s catalog than a bar menu: 50 selections in total, with 15 by the glass.
One headline-grabber is Salon, the ultrarare Champagne produced only in exceptional years from a single village and a single grape. Bar Caviar plans to offer it by the glass, at what Ken Schutz estimates at $600 per pour. Nonvintage options will start at $15.
Rather than provide a short list of familiar labels, Schutz said he wants guests to experiment and learn. Schutz is a level 3 sommelier who is also working on a masters in Champagne from the Wine Scholar Guild.
“Champagne is the original slow drink,” he said, explaining that it takes multiple stages to make, including two fermentations and aging on the lees for at least 15 months. “Time is really what you’re paying for,” he said. “It’s a complex process that doesn’t always get the attention it deserves.”
Schutz said they want to offer a spectrum — from grower champagnes using innovative techniques and single-plot expressions, to the large houses that specialize in blending for consistency year after year. “There’s a lot of room to explore,” he said.
The food program will be equally refined, with the opening menu featuring five varieties of caviar served in classic presentations and as part of composed dishes, alongside small plates and a rotating selection of oysters and crudo. The early months will emphasize raw and cold preparations, with a broader hot menu expected to begin later.
“We wanted to do something distinctive, so Champagne and caviar felt like a perfect pairing,” Schutz said. “Both celebrate craftsmanship and heritage, and they share this idea of time. Both are slow, deliberate products.”
He said his wife visited farms in Europe and selected producers that raise sturgeon in environments that mimic natural habitats, not concrete tanks.
The couple are taking their inspiration from the counters of London or Paris, “where you can sit at a counter and enjoy caviar service in an elegant but relaxed way,” Schutz said.
They’re aiming for what he called a “minimalist, approachable vibe” rather than luxury. Vittoria Schutz, who studied at Cabrini University and Moore College of Art, designed the 11-room hotel, which opened in 2014. Set in an 1840s rowhouse, it blends antique and modern design.
“We want people to feel comfortable coming in, not intimidated,” he said.