Night 12: Washington Sq. Hotel, Stoned Crow, Town Tavern, El Cantinero, Reservoir

So Friday I decided to try and finish up this little journey and hit the half dozen or so places still not covered. I got Orbital to come with me and we started out at The Washington Sq. Hotel. We had to get there early because the bar often closes before nine. The bar is a nice little place where I got a good vodka tonic for $7. However, while our server was beautiful, she was also having a bad day - she used two different kinds of vodka to make my drink and then left suddenly for about 15 minutes finally returning with the grey goose for Orbital's martini. Two swords Al joined us before we moved on to our next spot where we hoped the bartender would be happier about us being there.

Our next stop was the The Stoned Crow. This place was a nice surprise, a little dive bar off the beaten path on Washington Pl. and out of place in this basically pretentious neighborhood. My $5 vodka tonic was okay, and we ordered food here too (I had a grilled cheese and mozarella sticks). The atmosphere was nice, young people drinking and having a good time.

Next we stopped at the Town Tavern on West 3rd St. The Tavern is another one of those Village bars where people from Jersey come to "party in the city" before they return to their suberbia. Fortunately, at least it is the good looking people from Jersey who make it to the Town Tavern. The space is frat-boyish, the music Aerosmith, and my $6 vodka tonic was a little weak. If you want to see uninteresting but pretty girls, then the Town Tavern is a good place to be.

We now headed up to University to try and finish off the rest of the bars in the neighboorhood. Having already been to Cedar (Night 6), we tried the bar upstairs at El Cantinero. They wanted a cover, but let us in when I refused to pay it. Walking into the bar we were suddenly transported to a village in Mexico, with women of all ages and bodies in tight little outifits and men in suits salsa dacing on every spot of floor in this little bar. The mood was I quess you would say festive, my vodka tonic was decent and of indeterminable price since there were less numbers on the bill then drinks that we ordered and the staff was so overly attentive it got quite ridiculous. If you need to escape from downtown manhattan, this bar is far far away.

Next we went to Reservoir also on University. Reservoir is pretty much your average bar. The music is rock, the crowd is a mix of normal New Yorkers, the food is burgers and fries, my $6 vodka tonic was fine, everything is fine but there is really nothing to write home about. Not a bad bar, just nothing speical about it. I left Reservoir to meet Twittybird at the Russian Vodka Room in Midtown, but that's out of the geographical location so I wont tell you about it here.

Night 11: Alibi, Kenny's Castaways, Madame X

I met Twittybird and we decided to check if there were any bars I had missed on the streets I thought I had finished. Walking down MacDougal I noticed Alibi which I must have missed before on Night 4. This bar had a nice decor, though it was empty on this Monday night. My $6 vodka tonic was pretty good, and the music and bartender were pretty good too. The main problem with with place is its wanting to be cooler than it is. Without the attitude it would be a nice space to grab a drink.

Next we went to Kenny's Castaways, which I had skipped before because of the cover, but tonight, and this hour was no charge. This is a pretty interesting place, nice decor and a good setup for seeing bands, but not for dancing. My $5 vodka tonic was good, but the bartender was not overly attentive nor good eye candy. The blues band that was playing when we came in we really liked, but we left when the next band came on, so I guess it's a little hit or miss.

Finally, we ended up at Madame X. Again a bar I had skipped because it has a cover on Fridays and Saturdays. This is a great bar. Great lounge/bordello feel in the back. The crowd, on a quiet monday night is couples getting ready to make out. I hear on the weekends it's more of a pick up scene. The bartenders are nice, the music is good, and my $6 vodka tonic was fine. This is one of the cooler bars in the neighboorhood without any of the riffraff that finds its way into the Bleeker St. bars.

Night 10: Leela Lounge, Apple, North Square

My friend Samosa was visiting from out of town, so we decided to get a drink before he had to run to Penn Station. Since he also wanted to get a little something to eat, I suggested we try the Leela Lounge. Entering this bar / resturaunt it has a nice ambiance. However, the lighting is a little too bright for a lounge and the seats which look comfortable are actually rather stiff. I got a good vodka tonic for $7 and we ordered a couple of tasty apitiziers. The wait staff were friendly and cute and the clientele were business types. This is a good place for drinks and an appitizer, not cheap but not bar food either.

Samosa left me for his train and I went to Apple to wait for Twittybird to come and meet me. This is another bar / resturaunt, this time serving Vietnamese food. They happened to have Bacardi girls giving away shots, which is never a bad thing. After a couple of mediocre shots, I ordered a $6 vodka tonic that was okay. Their are a number of cozy couches around the bar that make this a comfortable place to chill, and the lighting and decorations are good. The clientel is pretty good looking with most people here for dinner and a large fraction of them Asian.

After Twittybird arived, we left Apple and headed to the Washington Square Hotel. We tried to go to the upstairs bar, but there was a private function and they kicked us out. So we went to the North Square which is the downstairs bar instead. This space has nice decoration though the chairs aren't as comfortable as they look. The staff was strange looking and twittybird noticed that they all looked like they good be in a 70's porn movie. My $5.50 vodka tonic was weak, but the calamari we had was pretty good. This is the best bar to go to if you want to fantasize about unattractive people having sex.

Night 9: Red Lion, Falucka, Next Door

It took me a few days to recover from the weekend binge, but eventually I got together with Orbital to continue work on the project. We tried to meet a little earlier and midweek so we could hit the Bleecker street bars without having to pay a cover. Our first stop was The Red Lion which had a live band playing, but we were early enough that we didn't have to pay a cover. Orbital's comment after being in the bar for 5 minutes was, now I have no reason to come here again. That pretty much summed up our opinion of The Red Lion. The crowd was straight from the middle of Jersey, the music was bad, my $8 vodka tonic was actually good, but I ordered some food with it that wasn't. Our server was nice and cute, but that hardly made this brief trip to Jersey worthwhile. I would avoid The Red Lion like you'd avoid the Garden State.

Our next stop Falucka a hookah bar on the other side of Bleecker. Falucka is actually a nice bar, with nice decor and a nice bartender, but they ruin the atmosphere with their velvet rope outside and their pretentiousness. When we walked in a girl asked us if we wanted to check our coats; I told her that since there were only 2 other people in the bar, I thought there would be space for them. My $8 vodka tonic was pretty good. This could be a nice bar if it was run a little more laid back instead of trying to make it seem like some exclusive place.

While out with ilikebutter during Night 4 on MacDougal, I had noticed a space under a restaurant that I thought might be a bar, but it was hard to tell. So we went back to check it out and it turned out to be one of the best discoveries of the entire area. The bar is the Next Door which is associated with the restaurant La Lanterna and has live jazz everynight. There is a $5 cover, but for jazz I don't consider that such a big deal. My $8 vodka tonic was pretty weak, but they have a very extensive wine list and I had an excellent calzone, while Orbital ordered a decent cheese plate. The music was really good. The crowd was mostly date types in the other room and 3 women from Minneapolis next to us, so not a great place to mingle. But for a late night snack, some good music and a glass of wine one of the best.

Night 8: Asylum, Back Fence, Village Lantern, Onyx, Dove, Negril, Sullivan Room

Tonight I decided that I needed to make some quicker progress on my quest to drink at every bar in the central village so I acquired some degenerates to help me and set out to see what could be done in a full nights work. Orbital and I started off the evening at Asylum on Bleecker and were joined by Two swords Al later on. The front of the bar has a nice lounge area, but the rest of the decor is nothing special and I could live without the smell. The music was bad and the crowd didn't offer much to look at. Orbital got a $5 vodka tonic that was okay, so I was able to order a bourbon and water. The bartender asked me if I wanted Dewar's for my bourbon. I said no, since Dewar's isn't a bourbon and asked for Jim Bean. Basically nothing really here to make us want to come back.

(Let me take a moment here gripe about ordering bourbon and water one of my favorite drinks. Bourbon and water means a mixed drink of ice, one shot of bourbon and the rest of the rocks glass filled with water, not a shot of bourbon and a water back, nor a shot glass of bourbon with water in it. More importantly the whiskey used has to be bourbon, not a different whiskey like scotch. If I wanted a scotch and water I would order a scotch and water. Finally Jack Daniels is not a bourbon. A bourbon must be distilled from grain containing at least 51 percent corn, which Jack Daniels is, but then JD is charcoal-mellowed, which gives it it's characteristic sweet flavor. For more see Bourbon.)

Anyway, after Asylum we checked out the Back Fence also on Bleecker which had a lot more character then Asylum. A vodka tonic here was $6 and okay. The crowd was kind of working class and not very attractive, while the bartenders were just strange looking and a little scary. The live music was okay, but kind of loud if you wanted to have a conversation.

Our next stop was the Village Lantern also on Bleecker. This was by far our best stop for the bars on Bleecker. The atmosphere inside was nice, the music was good, the crowd was attractive and cool and the staff were friendly and very good looking. Orbital got a $5 vodka tonic that was weak, so I was able to get a Jameson's that cost a whopping $10. It looks like beer is your best bet here. This ended our exploring of the Bleecker street bars that night, because all the rest wanted a cover, so we moved on to Houston.

Onyx on the corner of Houston and Sullivan looked from the outside like it was pretentious, going for style over substance. Inside an okay $7 vodka tonic wasn't impressing me either, but then Orbital ordered a Long Island Ice Tea and everything changed. Our bartender Laura poured four bottles at the same time, a nifty trick, and nearly filled the pint glass before topping it off with triple sec, sour mix and a splash of coke. At $10 dollars this still represents the best non happy hour, liquor per dollar deal, I've seen on this tour. The drink was too strong for one person to have and still continue on our mission, so we shared it between the three of us and started realizing that Onyx was a pretty cool place. The crowd got progressively drunker and cuter as the night went on and the vibe was friendly and fun. Laura was so kind as to give us chocolate cake shots, and we would have been happy to stay and hang out, but duty called.

Before going on we took a brief brake to stop at Orbital's apartment to re-energize and watch some Family Guy clips ( I'm not entirely sure why, but it seemed like a good idea at the time).

Next we stopped in The Dove which was pretty quiet at this late hour, but a very welcoming space. The atmosphere inside was great going for the speak easy feel. The few patrons that were still out made the clientele seem promising. Our bartender, Henrietta, was friendly and cute, and made us feel welcome. My $7 vodka tonice was decent, but since Henrietta didn't charge me for it, it was great. This is among the best bars to chill out at and have a drink in the area.

Our next stop was Negril Village on West 3rd St., a caribbean restaurant by day, hip-hop dance club by night. When I told the them I wasn't going to pay the $10 cover they said we could go in as long as we were getting a drink. Downstairs was like entering a completely different world. First off, just about everybody was black and carribean hip-hop was beating on the dance floor. Girls were dancing up on their guys, rubbing their asses on them, like from an MTV video. My $7 vodka tonic was okay and we took a seat and watched the scene for a while. Negril Village is a different scene then anywhere else in this neighborhood, I stick out at it like a blind man at a strip club, but cool if you want to check out something different.

Lastly we headed to Sullivan Room just before closing. The bouncer was kind of a dick charging us $10 cover even though it was 3:50AM combined with the $8 vodka tonic, did not make this the cheapest stop of the evening. But Sullivan Room is a very cool spot. There were really beautiful ladies, great dance music (techno) and the vibe is just really friendly and cool (it may help that these are the people up past 4AM). The space is excellent, with a long wall of couches on one side and the small intimate dance space next to it. We stayed to about 5AM and then called it a very successful evening, night and morning.

Night 7: Vbar, 1849

I met Special K at Vbar on Sullivan. Vbar is a cute little wine bar with a great atmosphere, cool crowd and good music. I had a $9 glass of red wine, so this is no place to get tanked on the cheap. The crowd style is intellectual and the service is very friendly.

Next we went to 1849 on Bleecker. This is an interesting bar that is supposedly going for a wild-wild west / gold-rush theme, though is mostly decorated with deer antlers. My $6 vodka tonic was weak. The place is fairly confused as to its identity, having velvet couches for lounging in, live music to listen to, and big screen TVs for watching sports. The crowd is mostly a college scene, I guess this must be what an upscale college bar looks like. It is an excellent place to go with people you don't really want to talk to, as conversation can be difficult with all of the distractions.

Night 6: Cedar Tavern

On Monday I went to Cielo with Orbital and Twittybird, but first we met up at Cedar Tavern on University and 11th for a drink. The Tavern is a nice looking space filled with men who look like lawyers and girls who look like they want to date lawyers. My $6 vodka tonic was fine, nothing special. They look like they had a decent food menu. Probably, a decent place to grab a drink, but not so much my kind of crowd.

Night 5: Horus Lounge, Askew, L'Angolo, XR Bar

Orbital and I set out to do some drinking. Our first stop was the Horus Lounge on Laguardia. This is a hookah bar cross night club that is actually a pretty decent place for a drink. The crowd was pretty good looking as was the staff, my $6 vodka tonic was a little weak, but when Orbital knocked it over with his hand, the bartender poured me a brand new one on his own inituitive. All in all a pleasant place to have a drink and checkout the crowd.

Next we went into Askew also on Lagaurdia. Askew had a strange vibe, not really sure of what it wants to be, but it only opened a couple months ago, so in time it may develop more of a crowd. Part of the problem though is the resturaunt look of the place not really creating much of a bar or lounge feel, though they did have a dj spinning vinyl. They have a drink menu of interesting drinks, the bartender didn't know how to make a raunchy girl scount cookie so I got a grasshopper instead and Orbital got an average vodka tonic for $6. This place didn't impress us, but I'd be willing to give it a second chance since it is very new.

L'Angolo on Houston was our next stop. This bar has a nice cozy feel with lots of couches, I particularly like it in the summer when the walls are opened up and you can sit on the couch with a drink and watch people walk by. However, my $7 vodka tonic was weak and I was not very impressed by the crowd. The music was good listening music, which I like in a lounge. This is a good place to take someone to who you are hoping to kiss later on in the evening.

Lastly, we came to the XR bar also on Houston. This place has a decent set up, a nice long bar and some seats in the back, but not great. My $6 vodka tonic was weak, but the bartender was so hot she could have poured me a glass of tonic and I wouldn't have complained. The music was decent as was the crowd, but the bartender made everyone else look bad by comparison, so you hardly even noticed.

Night 4: MacDougal Ale House, Off the Wagon, Slane, Peculier Pub

I met Funkiwan again and we decided to try the bars on MacDougal. We started with the MacDougal Ale House. The atmosphere here was suits and fratboys. The decor was way too sports bar, though they have darts in the back which can be okay. My $6 vodka tonic had a weird aftertaste that made it pretty much undrinkable and I had to bring it back and get a new one which was fine. The only positive thing about this place was the bartender who besides fixing me a new drink no problem was pretty cute.

Next we went to Off the Wagon. Walking into here it was obvious that this was a place to meet drunk college girls. The floor was sticky with spilled beer, there were tables for beer pong, and people were ordering shots and drinking liter beers. One cool thing was that music was being played by a vj not a dj, she actually had all music videos and they would come up on some of the TV screens at the bar. That was a pretty sweet set up. I got a bourbon and water while Funkiwan got a $5 vodka tonic which was weak. There were a couple of cute people at the bar, but not many. Dead tonight.

Slane on MacDougal near Bleecker is a little bit upscale looking bar which clashed with the guy and guitar singing classic rock tunes. It was not very crowded, my $6 vodka tonic was average, but a large fraction of the ladies in the bar are really attractive. They seem to be there with older guys in suits, but it's fun to watch them getting drunk and acting dumb.

Our last stop is the Peculier Pub on MacDougal. We walk all of Houston looking for a bar, but everywhere is totally dead. The Peculier Pub has a small crowd and the longer we are there the better it gets. My $5 vodka tonic is excellent, barely any tonic, the best one I've had so far. Our server Sarah tells us that they get stronger and stronger as the night progresses. Our server is very helpful and cute and a good number of cute (if young) people come into the bar while we are there. This is a good bar for rowdy drinking and talking with young'ins.

Night 3: Fuelray, Fat Black Pussy Cat, Bourgeois Pig

The problem with trying to go to new places every night, is that at the same time you are tempted to go back to the places you liked, especially if you are with friends and you don't want to take them somewhere that sucks. With Orbital and Cricket I wanted to show them Fuelray so we stopped there where I had, yes indeed, a vodka tonic. The vibe was very different from a Friday night, no DJ, no people. Instead it was a little loungee feel though pretty much just quiet. The few other patrons, however, were still good looking, so this place maintains its distinction in that department.

Next to try something new we went to the Fat Black Pussy Cat. This is a drinking establishment, that is you go there to get drunk. On the weekends you can't even get in cause it is so crowded. The back has the worst table setup I've ever seen, it looks uncomfortable as hell. The bar on the other hand is fine and has a couch near it where we sat. Orbital got a vodka tonic, $5.50, so I got to have a Jameson. The drinks were pretty good and there where some girls around who if not beautiful were surly drunk. My summary would be a decent place to get hammered.

Then wanting to get a bite to eat we went back to the Bourgeois Pig for the cheese plate. But they said they weren't serving so we just had sangria. The sangria was not that good, in the future I'd stick to the wine and try to make it there before midnight to get the cheese plate.

Night 2: Josie Wood's Pub, Pinch, Ponchitto's, Bourgeois Pig

Tonight started off at Josie Wood's Pub on Waverly with Twittybird. The pub is downstairs and has the feel of a real college bar like you might find in the Midwest. Vinny the bartender was very friendly, volunteering the on tap selection and quickly getting me a good vodka tonic for $6. On a Monday night the scene was quiet, but seemed fine.

Next we went to Pinch on Thompson. This place has a nice look, but the $6 vodka tonic wasn't that good. The crowd and the staff had nothing to offer. Not much positive to say here.

Feeling hungry we went into Ponchitto's on MacDogual. Our server was very cute, but the chips and salsa was awful, though the quesadilla is fine. The $5 vodka tonic came in a 4 oz juice glass and was absolutely horrible. Aside from our server the only other thing of note here is the group of underage drinkers, freely pointed out to us by our server, though not all that challenging to figure out. Whether one considers drunk 16 year olds, a plus or a minus is I guess a matter of taste.

Again the final stop turned out to be the best. We wandered into the Bourgeois Pig on MacDogual, not sure if it was open since it was pretty empty. This is a great little wine bar with fondue and a cheese plate. The kitchen was closed (and we had just had mediocre Mexican food) but I plan to come back for the cheese plate (I'm a sucker for a cheese plate). The space is great, decorated like the inside of a French palace. The selection is only wine and bottled beer, but I had a good class of wine, $7, generous serving. This is not a place to go for the crowd, it probably seats a total of 15, but it is a cool place to chill with someone. The music is mostly early jazz though almost anything else mellow gets thrown it with that.

Night 1: Belgian Beer Bar, Shade, Baggot Inn, Fuelray Lounge and Bar

I started my plan to visit every bar in the Village with my friend Funkiwan on Friday. Our first stop was Belgian Beer Bar (official name is "Vol du Nuit", but noone ever calls it that) on West 4th. This is a great place that I've been to many times. Belgian beers (the best), frites and mussels, what else do you need. The beers are not the cheapest, not the place to get drunk cheaply, here you are paying for the quality and the atmosphere. The space is nice, comfortable and draws you in on a cold winter day. The staff are all very good looking if not overly friendly. The crowd was fine, decent people, not that good looking. My favorite thing about this place though and what makes it one of my favorite bars in the city is the music. Some sort of ambient techno, it feels good, is a pleasure to listen to but doesn't interfere with your conversation. My favorite kind of music for a lounge.

Shade on the corner of West 3rd and Thompson has a nice look. A vodka tonic was $6 and was pretty weak. The crowd had nothing to offer and the staff was also nothing great. The main attraction here is that they serve crepes, we didn't have any, but I've had them many times before and they are yummy! Besides the crepes though, not much to offer. Just get the crepes to go from the outside stand and get your drinks at a different bar.

Next we came to the Baggot Inn on West 3rd. Our first thought on entering the establishment was, this place smells like ass. The ass smell never really went away but a strong $5 vodka tonic went along way to making it more pleasant. Not very crowded, there was a fair mix of people with a couple cuties. The music space is actually really nice and if there is someone you wanted to see playing here then this is probably a good place to see them, otherwise it is a good place to get drunk without spending too much money.

Entering the Fuelray Lounge and Bar on West 3rd immediately I noted, there are a lot of hot girls here. The next thing I noticed was that almost everyone here was of the Asian persuasion. I don't know why this is an Asian bar, but they've chosen a really nice place. The decor is great, there is a dance room in the back, drinks are reasonable with a $4 beer and a $6 vodka tonic, the music is good and the staff is good looking. Most importantly, for many people, the place is packed with attractive girls. This place was definitely tonights winner, though I'll have to stop by again and see what it is like on a weekday.

Phase I: Drinking in the Central Village

The village in New York's Manhattan has a lot of bars. I walk by them all the time and would love to know which are the good ones, so that I have a variety of cool bars to go to without having to waste lots of time in crappy bars. The only solution I could think of is to go to every single bar once and find out for myself. So I set out on this ambitious project with the help of friends.

In order to make the project more manageable, I decided to cut the Village into pieces and do them one at a time. First up is what I refer to as the "Central Village", which runs from the south side of 14th street to the north side of Houston, and from the east side of 6th ave to the west side of Broadway (see map). This region comprises about 50 square blocks, or about 110 street blocks.

Next I had to decide what counts as a "bar". A restaurant that also has a bar doesn't count, but a bar that also serves some food does. Orbital said it's like pornography: you know it when you see it. That about sums it up except to add that comedy/jazz clubs that primarily serve a show rather than just a drink, are excluded.

Some final rules: try to avoid bars on nights when they charge a cover and always get a vodka tonic when possible in order to facilitate cross-bar comparisons. Enjoy.