Night 17: Absolutely 4th, Riviera Cafe, Cubbyhole, Art Bar

Tonight we were joined by a very special guest, Little Frankie, who had been involved in similar research when he lived in Munich. He joined Willie Wonka, Orbital, Cricket, Fahrd and I as we moved our exploration further west past 7th Avenue. The first place we happened upon was Absolutely 4th on West 4th St. This bar made me an excellent vodka tonic for $8, with Absolut vodka, hence the name. The space has a nice feel with cool lamps and wall decorations, but unfortunately, at least on weekends, attracts a pretty lame upper east side-ish crowd. You know the type, pretty girls but oh so boring.

We next wandered over to the Riviera Cafe, also on West 4th. This is your typical sports bar, out of place in the West Village, but standard just about everywhere else. My $6 vodka tonic was drinkable, but the bartender Ted was very friendly and down to earth. He offered up the best joke of the evening: "How do you castrate a redneck? Kick his sister in the mouth". We also ordered some buffalo wings that seemed to go over pretty well. The crowd, however, was square and unremarkable and the fact that the music was the sound of a sportscaster's voice means you'd better be going here for the sports or the jokes.

The hidden gem of the evening was definitely our next stop at the Cubbyhole. This lesbian bar is the most welcoming to male patrons of any lesbian scene I've ever encountered. To give an idea of how friendly the crowd was, I had my jacket petted and my cheek pinched and Orbital and Cricket were both felt up. It's no wonder the Cubbyhole attracts a great scene though, my $6 vodka tonic was nice and strong, the music was great 80's, the roof was decorated with fish hanging from the ceiling, and bartenders got the job done if they seemed somewhat preoccupied while doing it. It you want to be surrounded by a crowd of attractive lesbian women and don't mind the occasional guy or two in the mix, then I don't think any place can beat the Cubbyhole.

Our last stop of the night was the Art Bar on 8th Ave. The Art Bar is a very nice space with booth seating and a bar in the front and then a back room with art on the walls, couches and a general decadent atmosphere. The Art Bar looks like the kind of place you might expect to see an Andy Warhol crowd, that is the elusive mix of artist and heroin addicts. Unfortunately, the crowd at the Art Bar doesn't really measure up to its decor. I'm not sure if that's because the drinks are just okay, Orbital's watermelon martini tasted like a jolly rancher, the music isn't very good, or because the waitstaff look more like they should be working at the Riviera Cafe then modeling for junkies. If they spiked the punch then the Art Bar could be a truly beautiful scene.