Night 13: Groove, Society, Greenwich Brewing Co., Strip House, 13, Bar 6, Mr. Black

Wednesday night Orbital and I decided to finish off the bars of the central village. By my count we had only two more to go (13 which had closed down the first time we had tried to go, and Mr. Black formerly known as Table 50). However, while walking through the Village to meet Orbital I noticed two new places that I hadn't seen before. We first went to Groove which I had considered a venue for seeing bands and not a bar, but with the beautiful spring air they had opened up the walls and turned the place into nice setting with seating at the street watching the world go by. Inside things were not as grand. Orbital's $7 vodka tonic was weak and the music was just flat out bad. The crowd was interesting in that it was racially mixed, but it was generally older and not very attractive. The inside decor didn't really deliver much and the staff was nothing special.

Next we meet up with Cricket and went to Society on La Gaurdia, a spot that had apparently been there all along, but was not nearly as noticable during the winter with no one on the outdoor patio. The patio was full of non-intersting college kids, the staff was cute, but took a while to bring Orbital a $5 tonic water. He ordered a vodka tonic, but apparently they forgot to include the vodka. The music was mediocre rock. The inside decor is all right, but very much going for a sports bar look. All in all Society is nice place to have a drink on a sunny patio, but order a beer, and you'll probably want to bring your own music and company to better enjoy it.

Now wary that I may have missed some places we decided to more carefully make our way up to 13. We first found Greenwich Brewing Co. on 6th Ave. The Greenwich Brewing Co. had a nice decor, with a nice circular bar in the center of the establishment and a real brewery/pub feel to the place. However, the drinks were painfully bad. My $7.50 vodka tonic was really weak, but Orbital's and Cricket's microbrew beers were not as good as Miller Genuine Draft. The crowd was small and a kind of general mix of manhattanites and the bartender seemed put out by having to serve us drinks.

Twittybird met us after that experience luckily for her. We then made our way down 12th street till we passed Strip House and I determined that it was in fact a bar. Strip House is predominately an overpriced steak house, but the bar is a really cool space with red velvet on the walls and red velvet couches for lounging on. The music was also surprisingly good, an ambient jazz that they may just play before closing. My $10 vodka tonic was fine though a bit pricey and the service was friendly. There was no crowd, but this is a great place to bring your own and have some expensive martinis and pretend you are in a New Orleans Bordello. Twittybrid and Cricket left us after this, and we continued on as men to 13.

When we arrived at 13 it was already emptying out. However, this meant that Lorin, our bartender, could spend a lot of time talking to us letting us know what the bar is like on the weekends, while we let her know about blogging. My $6 vodka tonic was very good. The music was not very exciting eighties music, and the decor wasn't all that special, but there was a really big lava lamp on the bar and there is a roof top deck which could make this a really nice place for a drink on a hot summer's night.

After 13 we went back to 6th Ave to make sure we hadn't missed anything else and it was lucky that we did, because Bar 6 turned out to be the surprise gem of the evening. Bar 6, on 6th Ave between 12th and 13th St., is kind of an old school 40's french bar. The bar top itself is long and brass so you feel like the men should be wearing 3 piece suits and hats, and the dames should have cigarette holders. The staff was friendly and interactive and my $7 vodka tonic was very good. The crowd fit nicely with the decor with no sign of pretension and a great sense of individual personalities. You get the sense everyone in the bar would have interesting stories if you interviewed them. Also Bar 6 had late night food, so we got some calamari to fortify us for our final stop at Mr. Black.

Mr. Black, formally Table 50, on the corner of W. 3rd and Broadway has got to be one of the best spaces that I've ever seen for a club. You descend through this narrow passageway to a cavern with brick walls, arches, recessed seating and neon bath rooms signs. The problem at this place is that it has never been able to attract a crowd, and its new incarnation as a gay club hasn't improved that. The music is really good and we were so drunk at this point that we can't say much about the quality of our drinks, but they seemed strong to us. In short Mr. Black is a great place to take 50 of your closest friends to a club and not have to see anyone else.

This ends our tour of the central village, Houston to 14th, Broadway to 6h Ave. However, don't despair, village drinking will continue in an area to be disclosed next time.