Wined Up! Wine Bar For St. Marks, Wine Shop For East Ninth

IMG_9158Nicole Guzzardi Future home of Ton-Up.

You’ll soon have a couple of new options for sippin’ vino: a sign on the door of 438 East Ninth Street, where Turkish fast-food chain Cigkoftem came and went, indicates that one Wineshop LLC has taken over the space.

And a block over, at 127 St. Marks Place, the nook that was briefly occupied by San Matteo Panuozzo is becoming Ton-Up, a bar specializing in wines from Italy, France and California.

Frederico Lopez took over the boxy space near Avenue A with Riccardo Pierioni, co-owner of Antica Pesa in Williamsburg. True to its name (“ton-up” is slang for acceleration beyond 100 miles per hour) it’ll have a motorcycle theme, with a famous saying painted on the wall: “Remember when sex was safe and motorcycles were dangerous?” Mr. Lopez said jovially. “It will be like our tagline.”

A small menu will include mac-and-cheese pizza and Italian-style sandwiches with ingredients like mozzarella and prosciutto. Delivery will be available, and free WiFi will entice sit-down customers.

Ton-Up is expected to open Feb. 15.