Beastie Boys’ Mike D Is Choosing The Wine For New Hollywood Hotspot
Ad-Rock has shoes and acting, Mike D has man-purses and wine. Bloomberg reports that the erstwhile Beastie Boy will be choosing the wine at the Hearth & Hound, a new Hollywood hotspot from Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield, the owner and chef of the Spotted Pig in New York’s West Village. The restaurant is set to open in late September, and Mike D will be working with sommelier Taylor Parsons to curate the wine list.
“It’s going to be a fun list,” he says. “We are putting together a wine program that will get customers tasting things they might not taste. If you like California Syrah, I might point you towards a wine from another part of the world that’s better value. We’re going to pour half-bottles, so you can try different things…If you want a glass of wine, you shouldn’t have to spend an hour figuring out what that wine is, what you’re going to drink.”
Friedman has also asked Mike D to DJ on occasion, joking that he will be the “wine and vinyl guy.” But Mike D himself isn’t too keen on that idea. “I’m going to make some record donations, I’m sure other people will make some vinyl donations, too, that reflects all of our history,” he says. “That is actually fun. But I don’t think DJ-ing in a restaurant is a good idea — I’ll go bold on that. Playing records is fun. DJ-ing with turntables when people are eating; I don’t know if that would be fun for anybody.”