30 to Midnight

Lupa, Greenwich Village

Sunday-Thursday, Ten 30toMidnight

Lupa Osteria Romana
170 Thompson St. (Houston St.), Manhattan

Though it can be AA, we've never mentioned the bar at Lupa to you because it's crowded with to-be-diners and though you can meet and hang with peers, it's not an ideal set up. Long sentence not intended to deter you from sitting in the restaurant. We like Lupa for lunch, not on weekends, and lateish weeknight dinners. 

Which is one reason the Late Night Roman Menu must be mentioned. Lupa launched this amazing deal a couple of months ago, and it pretty much confirms our thinking that the bar there is packed until about 10pm on weeknights and later on weekends. Another long sentence. Sheesh. Can we go short? Awesomeness approaching. $26 gets you one glass of wine (each night there's a choice of a red or a white), antipasti (one of four), pasta (one of three), and a dessert. Don't think you'll be the only one milling around out front at 10:15pm, and don't think you'll be the only AA. Yea! 

Black Door, Chelsea: Reader Says

Tuesday, 8pm

Black Door
127 W. 26th St. (6th Ave.), Manhattan

Thanks to David J for this review (a conversation that went like this):

Sara gets a text from a nameless number: Black door?
Sara, not recognizing the number, her second nameless of the day, responds: Blue pill
Nameless Number: I feel the same! But I meant Black Door the bar
Sara: Who is you?
Nameless Number: So sad! David J!
Sara. Ha ha. You recommending or asking?
David J: Both. Good bar. Happy hour too crowded. Settled down nicely. Good wine.

This does not mean Sara's number is out there free for anyone to use. In fact, it's pretty well known that she does not pick up her phone. It also does not mean she has a Blackberry (as the picture implies). It does mean that sometimes her contacts get, um, edited. Not sure how (hence the "um"). The point being: Please send in more of your own suggestions and comments.

Sushiden, Midtown West

Sushiden - 6th Ave Location
123 W. 49th St. (7th Ave.), Manhattan

Sushiden - Madison Avenue Location still open.

The Facebook Breakup, Part 3

The Facebook Breakup, Part 3

Continued from Part 2...“I can’t wait for you to meet my husband,” the Friend said.
“I can’t wait to see your house,” I said.
“I want to see your apartment,” she said.
“Whenever you want,” I said.
“Let’s go now,” she said, grabbing her coat and walking out to the street.
I followed. We’d paid the original bartender for our drinks. I wasn’t sure if that included the most recent ones, but my doubt wasn’t a match for her eagerness.
“You really have beach chairs for a couch?” she asked, laughing.
“It’s like college,” I said, not embarrassed, allowing her enthusiasm to overtake the misery of my living room. I really wanted legitimate furniture but it was going to take some time.
“And you definitely have alcohol?” she asked, as if we needed more.
“Beer for sure,” I said.

The Hangover: One reason why thirtysomethings are not in charge of the bars on a Saturday night

Saturday, 9pm
A living room in Manhattan

Yes we stayed in with a giant Asahi and some popcorn and watched The Hangover. Oh, you thought the headline referred to a physical hangover. Well, that too. For many of us, Pineapple and Margarita should not appear in the same sentence, or same stomach, twice.

Anyway, The Hangover movie is funny (Rain Man...practically bankrupted a casino, and he was a ruh-tard) but it's good because it's a pretty smart story and the characters are all good guys, Age Appropriate, not a bunch of jackasses (say people who heart Johnny Knoxville). And we loved hearing Wolfmother during the card counting scene.
Should we have seen this movie in the theatre? Only for the Vegas land-cityscapes.
Do we recommend it on DVD? Is masturbating on an airplane frowned upon?

The Brews Brothers, Upper East Side

Opening Friday!

The Brews Brothers
1571 Second Ave. (82nd St.), Manhattan

Something tells us this massive place will Not be AA, but you never know. We'll report back.

Michael Jordan's The Steakhouse, Grand Central

Friday, 7:00pm

Michael Jordan's The Steak House NYC
North and West balconies, Grand Central Terminal

As we previously mentioned, if you're not a Metro North commuter or someone meeting a commuter, you likely have an impressive relationship with alcohol if you hang out in the bars at Grand Central. One such gentleman, someone who has been Age Appropriate since 1960, was head over heels for Karina.

This is a man who regularly delivers such zingers as "I was so ugly the doctor slapped my mother."
And "My mother was so protective she walked back and forth in front of me saying 'this is what it would look like if you were swinging.'"
And so forth.
Joe charmed us with one liners, stories of his professional hockey playing family, his love of skating, and his participation in the remodeling of Grand Central. He's an architect, you see, and he has eyes for blondes. In the hourish we spent with Joe, we met a handful of his drinking associates and watched numerous AA commuters quickly consume a beverage then bolt. Tourists lingered. We did not. We do, however, find Michael Jordan's to be a perfectly acceptable place for a drink. Or maybe two. But three is when you really should move along. 

Pegu Club, SoHo

Monday, 10pm

Pegu Club
77 W. Houston St. (W. Broadway), Manhattan

One thing about Pegu Club, and we mean this in praise, is it makes us want to smoke. Cigarettes. Really. And we're trying not to do that anymore. In fact, it's been months since we had even a drag. But there's something about Pegu Club on a weeknight...oh, yes...definitely a weeknight to enjoy the place...that makes us crave...well, we already said it. It must be the cocktails.

Another thing about Pegu Club, and other places that do not appeal to AA's, is what are people thinking coming in groups of seven and ten and any number that constitues a group? Parties, fine, but going out for a drink? Sheesh. This reminds us that we really owe you an analysis of what works when you're going out seeking future entertainment. Simply put: Groups of two. Go out with one friend if you're seeking a new friend.

Note: words in italics are not straightforward.

The Facebook Breakup, Part 2

The Facebook Breakup, Part 2

Continued from Part 1...The next and last time we saw one another was one or two years later. We were unable to determine when exactly that meeting took place but we know I came to campus. She was my escort, taking me to visit everyone I’d known, including those who were no longer part of her social life. Relationships change quickly, all the time.

What I most remembered from that weekend was a moment of not being a good friend to her. We were in a living room. A bong was passed around while whereabouts and whatabouts were determined. Since transferring, I’d become proficient in the use of the bong, though when my Friend and I had last seen one another I was not. And neither was she. It was one of the small things that united us, that we’d both smoked pot just not through a bong. It seems ridiculous now but we were surrounded by classmates whose early college years were much like our early high school years (everything a new experiment), with this one exception.

Hillstone, Midtown East

We've been meaning to mention Hillstone (aka Houston's, 153 E. 53rd St., and 378 Park Avenue South, Manhattan) for months. We remember happy hours there many, many years ago, and recently had an amazingly tasty drippy burger there for dinner. The crowd was AA, with kids. But that's not the fun part. Here's the story, as told by Crain's:

The city's activist health department is not known for backing down from a fight, particularly one involving restaurants, which it blames for an obesity epidemic in New York.
But the agency was forced last month to retreat from its stand against Houston's, an upscale California restaurant chain that fought to keep caloric information off its menus.
The health department reluctantly withdrew the violations against Houston's, which circumvented the calorie-posting rule by changing its menus and the name of its two New York eateries.

Same everything, down to the blue neon sign. Well, the menu is slightly different but it's not well disguised. This is excellent, and we're totally in favor of the calorie counting. In fact, we look forward to the day when Nobu has to succumb to this law. You know they're like one restaurant away from being an official chain.

Anyway, here's what the Hillstone card (pictured) says:

Our new name recognizes the fact that Houston's in New York City has been a flagship restaurant for Hillstone Restaurant Group for over 12 years.

High entertainment. Read more by Lisa Fickenscher: Houston's restaurant outsmarts calorie cops; Changes name, menu to avoid posting rule