tokyo record bar

Dubbed "the Champagne Empress of Greenwich Village" by The New York Times, Ariel Arce presides over a quartet of downtown Manhattan, Champagne- and wine-themed establishments including Air's Champagne Parlor, Tokyo Record Bar, Niche Niche, and Special Club. She also just authored her own book (due out November 3), Better with Bubbles.

Ariel recently sat down with Andrew to talk about her childhood as a theater kid, getting turned on to hospitality at The Office in Chicago, and her circuitous route to a life devoted to Champagne and restaurants. There are lots of good lessons here about following your own personal passions and life as an entrepreneur.

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This episode is all about bubbles! Sam Benrubi, host of The Grape Nation sat down with NYC based Champagne mogul Ariel Arce (Air’s Champagne Parlor, Niche Niche, Tokyo Record Bar), sommelier and brand ambassador Philippe André (Charles Heidsieck), and Champagne sales expert Christian Holthausen (Champagne AR Lenoble). Sam’s guests popped bottles and shared Champagne expertise.

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Our guest today is Austin Power who has been in the sake industry for the last 15 years as sake sommelier and kikizakeshi. Austin currently works at Tokyo Record Bar in Greenwich Village, Niche Niche and Special Club both in SOHO, all super-popular spots in New York City. He also have a 10 year experience as sake sommelier at Sake Bar Satsuko in the East Village. (And he is also a talented artist and graduate of Parsons School of Design.)

In this episode, we will discover how Austin got into sake, how he convinces people to try sake, his fun sake-pairing dinner party, and much, much more!

It's HRN's annual summer fund drive, this is when we turn to our listeners and ask that you make a donation to help ensure a bright future for food radio. Help us keep broadcasting the most thought provoking, entertaining, and educational conversations happening in the world of food and beverage. Become a member today! To celebrate our 10th anniversary, we have brand new member gifts available. So snag your favorite new pizza - themed tee shirt or enamel pin today and show the world how much you love HRN, just go to heritageradionetwork.org/donate

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This episode of Opening Soon is all about building out a beverage program to drive sales. Your beverage program is just as important to the bottom line as your food and service. Whether you are a natural wines or intricate cocktails the right program can drive revenue.

We are joined by 2 amazing beverage professionals who sincerely believe that wine should be fun and are taking strides to make it that way. Arielle Arce is the owner of Tokyo Record Bar, Airs Champagne Lounge, Niche Niche and Special Club. And Jordan Salcito, founder of Ramona an organic canned wine spritzer that embodies wine without rules. Prior to founding Ramona, Jordan ran the beverage programs Momofuku in NYC and still works on Special projects with the group.

It's HRN's annual summer fund drive, this is when we turn to our listeners and ask that you make a donation to help ensure a bright future for food radio. Help us keep broadcasting the most thought provoking, entertaining, and educational conversations happening in the world of food and beverage. Become a member today! To celebrate our 10th anniversary, we have brand new member gifts available. So snag your favorite new pizza - themed tee shirt or enamel pin today and show the world how much you love HRN, just go to heritageradionetwork.org/donate

This episode is brought to you by BentoBox, a platform that connects restaurants with people. Learn more at getbento.com/openingsoon. For a limited time, BentoBox will waive the website setup fee for all Opening Soon listeners. Offer expires August 20.

Arielle's Photo by Noah Fecks

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We pop open a bottle for this all NYC episode. Up first, sommelier and restaurateur Ariel Arce epitomizes the notion of turning passion into action, and sharing that passion with the world. Her love of pouring wine--especially Champagne--and collecting vinyl has led her to open two fun and popular jewel box spots, Air's Champagne Parlor and Tokyo Record Bar. Inspiring Ariel at young age were her merrymaking parents and their dinner parties. We learn more about those soirees from Ariel's dad who joins us as well. Twenty-one-year-old Beshken began his musical life in his native Los Angeles as a jazz guitarist. DJ gigs brought him into the world of dance music, and now living in Brooklyn he's honed a distinct electronic sound infused with jazz and indie rock. Beshken's latest EP is Time Is The Longest Distance Between Two People, and he stops by for a live in-studio performance.

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"Trusting your gut in business is very underrated," says restaurateur Ariel Arce on this episode of Speaking Broadly. Arce admits to muting her instincts when she first launched Air's Champagne Parlor, but has fully come into her own with the super successful, personal Tokyo Record Bar, an omakase with choose-your-own vinyl on the sound system. Listen to talk about her struggles to find her voice and to figure out the balance between believing everything happens for a reason and knowing "the hard work is out there, waiting for you."

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