30 to Midnight

Reader Says: Hill Cafe, Clinton Hill

Thanks to Shpendi in Brooklyn for writing in to tell us that Hill Cafe (17 Putnam Ave., Clinton Hill) is a Cool local spot! Cool = Age Appropriate, obviously.

Know something we don't? Leave a comment and let us know.

Bark Hot Dogs, Park Slope

Friday, 4pm and 11pm

Bark Hot Dogs
474 Bergen St. (6th Ave.), Park Slope

Sara always says that the best commercially available hot dogs come from Rochester. Ok, she's been saying that for just under two years. But she appears be right. Bark has a private label dog from Hartmann's, of Rochester. It's a winner, brought down only by the lack of homemade mustard. We like Gulden's as much as the next guy (offered after the fact), but come on, what's the deal with a list of Resources (pictured) if your Kraut Dog comes with a thin line of yellow? Yellow! Still, the dog itself rocks and the $15 Friday Happy Hour would be exciting even if it wasn't mostly AA. Counter girl tells us it's "always late-20's, 30's and up" here. Late night too. We like.

Melt, Park Slope

On the train yesterday we overheard one guy say to another guy, "Do I know you? You look really familiar."
And the other guy said, "I'm an actor," which was quite amusing to the rest of us passengers, mostly becasue we've all done it - the slightly long stare at someone slightly familiar who turns out to have been a Law & Order extra (approximately every single actor in NYC).

Sara recently had this sort of experience in Brooklyn where she's been spending nearly every Friday since New Year's in an Age Appropriate cliche: strollering around Park Slope coffee shops with friend who is mom of twins. One Friday - after the babies were down and dad had video monitor in hand - Sara and friend went for drink and dinner at Melt. There, upon entering, Sara stared at the Chef for a solid minute before looking away. That's a stuck-in-subway minute, not a regular minute. "Who is that?" she asked her friend. "Do we know him?"
"I haven't been out in two years," said her friend.
"Ohmygod," said Sara, embarrassed. "I know who he is."

The Vanderbilt, Prospect Heights

Friday, 7:15pm

The Vanderbilt
570 Vanderbilt Ave. (Bergen St.), Brooklyn

Hopping at 7 and 8, Bartender Says by 9pm The Vanderbilt is packed, and he's right. Sunday through Wednesday it's locals of all ages; Thursday and weekend it's a Citywide Agewide crowd, he says, but we noticed it's AA-dominant. Bartender, we think, assumed we were young and complaining about those around us because we were complaining about one AA gent who had nonexistent comprehension of personal space, and one Wild Turkey 101 too many, and stepped outside to hug a homeless man, and said it was his birthday. Actually, he said, Say Happy Birthday when requesting rocks for the drink he ordered neat. Breathe.

Not including the awful acoustics (shouting over champage is uncivilized), we have only good things to say about this bar, the exposed bricks, the alert staff, and the delectable hangar steak (our picture, even more so than usual, does not do justice to the appealing plate of romain hearts, potato, and meat, so we're omitting). We're going back for a real meal. With a photographer. You should go too.

Weather Up, Prospect Heights

Friday, 9pm

Weather Up
589 Vanderbilt Ave. (Dean St.), Brooklyn

Initially, upon entering this unmarked bar (589 appears above the door in sticker form), our hopes were high. We were excited by the tile and the funky ceiling and the amazing bar stools. Photos of the stools are unavailable because the lights were dimmed to the level of hallway findthebathroom nightlight. That made it hard to read the menu. Not that there was any rush for time.

Like most bars that consider their bartenders to be chefs, service is protracted here. We don't know any kitchens that would tolerate that sort of pace, not even at home, but that's another story. They were out of mint for the Old Cuban (aka a mojito with champagne) so we waited 25 minutes while the bartender made two other drinks before returning to see what was our second choice. If you can't get drinks out more efficiently, get another guy behind the bar, or let that barback girl do something more than watch. Sheesh. Confused by the business model here.

In terms of Age, the crowd was mostly Appropriate, and partially bearded. One definitely Appropriate man engaged us as we were heading out.
"You're leaving?" he asked.
We expected him to flirtily ask why or ask us to stay after we said Yes.
Instead he said, "Oh great! Can I have your seat?"
To which Sara replied, "No."
He was momentarily confused. Maybe because the acoustics in there are terrible, or maybe because he's not clever or interesting, or maybe because they slightly turned up the lights and we didn't look so good anymore. We'll never know. 

In case you noticed that this picture is somewhat better than our usual..it was taken by The Tileist, one of many smart, creative, incredible friends.