30 to Midnight

The Blue Seats, Lower East Side

Thursday, 7:30pm

The Blue Seats
1576 Ludlow Street (Stanton St.), Manhattan

We were having a conversation about Scoreboard Gourmet and cell phones. Actually we were screaming in each other's faces about cell phones. You know, those things you use to call people, those communication devices that once seemed smart but now are dumb, the ancestors of the smart, now removing all manners from society. Really. No longer do we set and keep plans. Why commit to anything when you can send a last minute text to bail?

Thursday, however, we needed to make actual plans, the old fashioned kind, because Sara lost her cell phone, the old fashioned kind. She loses her phone about once a week but this time it was serious; it wasn't in one of the many pockets of her bag. So, when we agreed to 7:30pm reservation at The Blue Seats, there was no turning back.

That's how they do it at that "high end Sports and Media bar" (their words and capitalization). You make a reservation for 4 or 6 or more and you get a seat. Walk-ins are directed to the small bar in the back. It's loud everywhere. Headache in your ears in three minutes loud. Uncomfortably loud. Unpleasantly loud. We don't know how all those AAs - suits, blondes, single-gender small groups, mixed-gender large groups, quite white - can take it. And the service, though friendly, is terrible. Would be useful to hire another waiter.

On the upside, the burgers are delicious, cooked to requested temperature, but served on undercooked english, which makes Sara want to kill someone. Fries follow the undercooked theme. We'd tell you about the wings but there was some confusion in the process of ordering (not by us). Cabernet for some unknown (and unasked because after three hours we needed to get out of there and replace our eardrums) reason is $15/glass. Heinekin is $6.

Would we go back? This is hard. We want to say yes but they must do something about the acoustics, and the toasting of the english.

Essex Street Ale House, Lower East Side

Thursday, 10:30pm

Essex Street Ale House
179 Essex Street (Houston St.), Manhattan

Open windows, high heat, jukebox, blood-stained pool tables on which you cannot rest your beer, this tiny bar is ready for anything. And by anything we mean any holiday - halloween, birthday, birth of christ, mardi gras - the celebration is up to you; the accoutrements are dangling and hanging from the red walls and ceilings. That is a long sentence. What's amazing about the Essex Street Ale House, besides being surprisingly Age Appropriate in a generally AI 'hood, is the bathroom. It's exactly what you'd expect - compact and scribbled-upon - yet so much better. The word 'awesome' came up, sans sarcasm. As Karina put it, "It's not the awesome of Yerba Buena - fancy, pretty tiles - it's its own awesome." She actually used em dashes as she spoke. Kidding. That's all us (in case you haven't been reading). 30toMidnight really needs to get into the bathroom business.

Allen & Delancey, Lower East Side

Friday, 10:30pm

Allen & Delancey
115 Allen St. (Delancey St.), Manhattan

What started out all Age Appropriate (not including a freelance aquarium builder who was quickly intimidated by Sara's gentle interrogation), turned crowdedly Age InAppropriate as, yes, the clock stuck Midnight. Dang the Lower East Side. Still, we hope the soon-to-close rumor is untrue because we like Allen & Delancey, at the bar or in the back, for drinks or dinner or both. And, anyway, hailing a cab up Allen is way easier pre-Midnight than post.

Reader Says: Marshall Stack, Lower East Side

Saturday, 5pm

Marshall Stack
66 Rivington St. (Allen St.), Manhattan

We haven't run a Reader Says in awhile. This one we're putting into We Say format because the reader sent a picture and a timestamp. Nice work, Daniel. And Thank You.

Daniel tells us Marshall Stack (named for a pile of amps) is AA. He likes the cool vibe and says he'd like to revisit with 30toMidnight. We may have to take him up on that, but going out with us isn't always fun. We poke around and take notes. Some people find that embarrassing. 

Sweet Paradise Lounge, Lower East Side

Thursday, 10:30pm

Sweet Paradise
14 Orchard St. (Hester St.), Manhattan

We can't figure out Sweet Paradise is a divey or a designy bar, and we like that confusion. We also can't figure out what happened to our picture. If we had that picture you could see the shelves showcasing candy, a memory of the location's previous tenant (maybe they should put some socks up there too). Anyway, because this place is owned by the Welcome to the Johnsons people we expected AIs in abundance, but that's the difference between weekdays and weekends, and Orchard and Rivington: Room for AAs.

Xicala, Lower East Side

Thursday, 11:15pm

Xicala Wine & Tapas Bar
151B Elizabeth St. (Broome St.), Manhattan

Walking east along Delancey used to be a sure thing, when drunk and looking for a bar for another drink. Veteran, darkened, “all business” watering holes lined the streets. These days, it’s a dicey affair for two over-30s, as we are, looking for a rare-r drink—strawberry sangria—as we were. Luckily we expanded our search area and happened upon Xicala. The place itself is small, with remarkably squat tables and benches ringing it, as if it were a dwarf hotspot in Ixtapa. Things got more more comfortable as we became drunker, but hours later, Advil was needed and not just for the prodigious hangover that began stretching its legs. An Age Appropriate wine bar, with a pretty impressive by-the-glass list, Xicala’s standout item was, is and always will be the strawberry sangria with fresh fruit and frozen strawberry in lieu of ice cubes. You heard me, in lieu of ice cubes. As the midnight hour approached, Xicala emptied out. Then the hangover pulled up a chair.

-Tony G.

Jadis, Lower East Side

Thursday, 8pm

Jadis
42 Rivington St. (Eldridge St.), Manhattan

Everyone knows someone whose had a birthday at Jadis, but does anyone know it's the most straight-male-dominated non-sports venue we've been to in New York City? Three musicians drinking Rhone reds at the bar, talking to a fourth, two seats away from a fifth; a four-top next to us (the only female-only table in the house!); a second four-top walks to the back; two couples. That's 15 guys. And everyone Age Appropriate (though that second four-top was on the cusp). Wowzah.

Says Adriana, "We smell like bacon" (we did have bacon-wrapped scallops). Says Jen, "Guys like bacon" (they do put it in perfume. they do. we know someone who makes perfume). So...is it the bacon, or the mini mushroom truffle risotto in phyllo, or the reasonably-priced blancs et rouges, or the knowledge that girls love wine bars? We'll take that smile and shrug as "all of the above", and we'll take your number too. 

The National, Lower East Side

Thursday, 11:05pm

The National
8 Rivington St. (Chrystie St.), Manhattan

"Two perfect bar stools just for us," says Jen as we look beyond the appealing menu (snap peas and s'mores) and into the appealing space (not quite a diner, in a good way, maybe 20 seats). It's an all AA room, but we're giving The National an AABM designation because we know we must. We also know we must get back there for a meal. 

Oliva, Lower East Side

Sunday, 8:15pm

Oliva Bar and Restaurant
161 East Houston St. (Allen St.), Manhattan

When a bartender is carefully mashing something while standing next to a row containing three pitchers of white sangria and three pitchers of red, you probably should not order beer, or at least not for your first drink. It's usually all AA, says Oliva's bartender about the small restaurant and small bar. We believe him, and we'll be back for that pineapplely beverage, and the mojito, and the sangria, and the...

Chloe 81, Lower East Side

Wednesday, 11pm

Chloe 81
81 Ludlow St. (Delancey), Manhattan

Chloe 81 is a shining example of Age InAppropriateness. This is a place where 26 year-olds in white pegged jeans huddle, constantly reassuring one other that it is, in fact, cool to stand around in a small, dank basement reminiscent of a Latvian prison swim club’s dressing area (as our friend Tony says). It's not even AA Before Midnight here.