Next Wave Awards Sommelier of the Year: Nikita Malhotra
Descending the stairs into the dimly lit, gray-walled room of Smithereens, diners might have an idea of the food they’ll be met with: The acclaimed menu is touted for its New England fare, featuring hearty anadama bread, delicately plated raw seafood, and surprising, veggie-centric desserts like a celery ice cream float and candied seaweed mille-feuille. But when it comes to the drinks menu, partner and beverage director Nikita Malhotra keeps guests (and staff members) on their toes.
When Smithereens first opened in November 2024, the wine list was almost entirely Riesling-focused, with histories, vineyard site information, and tasting notes for each producer provided on a hand-written list. The selection was so deep that one might have assumed that it took a lifetime to gather such detailed specifics on each wine or to show such a comprehensive understanding of a singular grape. But just a few months later, the list turned over to nearly all Grenache, and an entirely new set of bottles to fall in love with.
Credit: Jeff Brown
Since launching, Malhotra has flipped the wine list at the still relatively new East Village restaurant four times — every two to three months seems to be the sweet spot. So far the themes have spanned Riesling, Grenache, Champagne, and sake. This unusual tactic can be traced back to Malhotra’s deep love for wine: Rather than focusing on the clout that comes with selling a prestigious bottle of Napa Cabernet, her primary focus is always learning and sharing wine knowledge with those around her. This is both reflected in the list at Smithereens, and her ongoing work with La Paulée, an organization that puts on educational tasting events celebrating the producers of Burgundy, Champagne, the Rhône, Italy, and beyond.
Malhotra’s interest in wine started from an early age, growing up in a neighborhood bottle shop that her parents owned and operated on New York City’s Upper East Side. “My godfather was my parents’ favorite wine rep,” she says cheekily. After studying philosophy in college, she had dreams of opening a bookstore and was considering heading to culinary school, but her mother urged her to take a wine course instead.
Her official sommelier debut was at the Tangled Vine, a now-closed Upper West Side wine bar that Malhotra recalls nurtured a lot of burgeoning wine talent — including Chris Leon of Leon & Son, Next Wave 2025 Retailer of the Year. “All of us were just getting into wine and were really excited,” she says. “Now, so many of us are still very involved in wine.” She moved quickly through the ranks, working as the general manager and the wine director. But after seeing the administrative side of the business, she missed the interaction with customers that comes with selling bottles. Itching to learn more and work with the great wines of the world, Malhotra landed a job on the wine team at Tribeca Grill.
Credit: Jeff Brown
“Tribeca Grill was not a trendy restaurant,” she admits. “I could’ve worked with some exciting new beverage programs, but I wanted to get the classics down.” In the cellar there she was surrounded by expressive Rieslings, Châteauneuf-du-Papes with age, and cult California bottles.
After five years diving deep into the world of wine at Tribeca Grill, Malhotra came up for air working a brief stint as a beer rep, a gig she says was essential to growing her career. “Being a rep is really important for a wine buyer,” she says. “It’s all about relationships and how you treat people. If you’ve never been in those shoes, it’s hard to understand, but it’s a really brutal job that can be unforgiving.”
In 2020, Malhotra teamed up with the Momofuku restaurant group to open a new private members project, but after plans for the new space were derailed by the pandemic, she ended up overseeing the beverage menu at two-Michelin star Momofuku Ko.
Credit: Jeff Brown
“I thought I would hate having to come up with a set beverage-pairing menu,” she says. “I came from a background where you drink what you want to drink and not care about what pairs well. But I ended up loving the pairing because I got to collaborate with the chef, and talking to the chef is what made me want to open a place like Smithereens. You can tell when a restaurant works when the front and back of house are all talking together.”
When Malhotra connected with former Momofuku Nishi chef Nicholas Tamburo to partner on a new restaurant, the concept for Smithereens instantly clicked. “He was embracing his background and what he cared about with so much intentionality,” she says. “I wanted the beverage list to be equally intentional.”
Credit: Jeff Brown
When it came down to building her own wine program, Malhotra recalls wanting to create a positive educational environment that differed from the more typical sommelier culture. “I didn’t want people on my team to come into beverage in the way I did, in a very bro-y way,” she says. “It was very fratty and boisterous and you had to be the loudest in the room and I was not. I always listened and learned.”
Instead of posturing about knowing the soil structure of each grand cru site in the Côte de Beaune in a competitive way, Smithereens is a space for discovery, using the program as a platform for misunderstood or underappreciated categories and lesser-known producers. By shaking up the list so often, Malhotra keeps everyone — from the guests to the somms — a little bit humbled by the vastness of wine, and ready to learn something new.
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