30 to Midnight

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 Crosby Bar, SoHo

Friday, 7:15pm

The Crosby Bar
79 Crosby St. (Spring St.), Manhattan

Sara text to Annie: It's unbelievably normal in here.

Inside this hotel bar (which allegedly gets packed with mens who like mens) the lights are right, drinks are right, the food is right, and the music is at an ideal volume (loud enough to feel vibrant; low enough for conversation).
Sara sat at a small table between a banquette and a low chair before noticing an emptying bar stool. She conversed with a server while moving to the bar. An angry boy ran ahead of her, grabbing one of two empty seats. "I'm waiting for someone," he said when she reached for the other seat.
"So am I she said," smiling, unnerved by bad manners.
"Is it someone special?" he asked, attempting to recover and flirt.
"Yes," she said. "My friend."
He was silent. She held her ground.
"You?" she asked.
"I'm waiting for a friend too," he said, back to being angry.
Two more seats opened. Sara moved. The angry boy not only did not offer, but also looked down as if ignoring the possibility somehow excused his continuing bad manners.
"This is social," Sara said, meaning the empty seat between them.
The angry boy laughed, then checked his phone.
The angry boy, by the way, was probably 30, which made him among the youngest in the house. Later, when Annie arrived, two 40's, designers from Mexico City, talked to us about restaurants and coffee shops. They were staying at the Ace Hotel, but heard Crosby Bar had a better scene. We guess that means something about mens, but don't know. Either way, we like the scene here too, and so will you, and the hotel is lovely.

ñ, SoHo

Friday, 10pm

ñ
33 Crosby St. (Broome St.), Manhattan

Sara does ñot like velvet curtains, even if they do keep the doorside customers warm. And it's warm iñside this little tapas bar, and dark, and every seat was filled by an AA. Standing room doesn't really exist at ñ so have alternate plans if sangrias are full when you arrive. That's actually not as negative as it sounds. We mean to say it's a comfortable bar, and no one wants to leave, especially not if they have to touch the velvet curtain a second time.

Balthazar, SoHo

Friday, 9pm

Balthazar Restaurant
80 Spring St. (Crosby St.), Manhattan

Always, always crowded, says the door guy.
Who are these people, we ask? Tourists?
Door guy smiles, then nods.
Balthazar is still packing 'em in. Saturdays brutally full, Fridays less so, Weeknights better. Age? Mixed but leaning younger.

L'Orange Bleue, SoHo

Saturday, 11:45pm

L'Orange Bleue
430 Broome St. (Crosby St.), Manhattan

Yet another place we used to love but somehow forgot. They were piling chairs atop tables at L'Orange Bleue when we arrived (aka cleaning up) but there was not an empty seat at the bar, and some of the outdoor tables were occupied too. Can't say the bartender was happy about our arrival (aka mostly ignored us) but we certainly were, given that everyone around us was Age Appropriate. 

Broome Street Bar, Soho

Saturday, 10:45pm

Kenn's Broome Street Bar
363 West Broadway (Broome St.), Manhattan

What happens when an Age Appropriate boy comes on a Saturday night recon? A lot less mingling and a lot more whiskey. We started the evening at Broome Street (does anyone actually call this place Kenn's?) where a 40-something male at the bar was looking to pounce on (or get pounced upon by) six 30-something females who couldn't figure out what to order, which is just strange. Our beers were warm, also strange, but we manned up and drank 'em before leaving the place to the gaggle of graduate-student-foreigners-with-backpacks who also didn't know what to order. We don't remember such confusion here in the past, but maybe we ourselves were too confused at the time to notice. 

Tailor, SoHo

Saturday, 10pm

Tailor
525 Broome St. (Thompson St.), Manhattan

We're no graphic design experts (have you seen our banner?) but we know a flaw when we see one. And if your bar/restaurant's sign looks like it says JAVIER when your name is TAILOR you have a problem that not even delicious Beet Sangria or Chapter 11 can fix (yes, they've filed). Still, a good Age Appropriate crowd in the styley downstairs bar. Regarding the toilets, pick a door, any door...

Milady's, Again (In Spirit)

"John just called," said DJ, teasing us as we exited Milady's last week. "He said he'll be here on Wednesday so you'd better come back."
She taped our matchbook to the wall behind the bar and grinned.

We've surely enjoyed our SoHo Wednesdays, but this week we're staying away to see if absence makes the boy contact us via matchbook information, and because we have a list of unvisited bars, and because Sara has an uptown swimming class (she's not good at breathing). But the story continues. Stay tuned...

This post is part of a series. If you didn't do so above, click and read last week's entry.

Milady's, SoHo

Wednesday, 9:45pm

Milady's
160 Prince St., (Thompson), Manhattan

 The conversation that led to entering Milady's went something like this:
Fanelli's?
-Aren't we trying to go to fewer dives?
-Pegu Club?
-Ugh.
-The Room? (done that), Sub-Mercer? (opens at midnight, way too clubby for a Wednesday), Cub Room with the divorcees? (there last week).
-Let's walk west.

We were three and we'd just left an art exhibition (101 little beds, displayed on real beds in a linen store) after seeing a great documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival (Racing Dreams, story of three pre-teen go-karters aiming for NASCAR. From stock cars to sculpture, we were ready for a drink.

-Milady's?
-The dive thing.
-It's full of boys.
-Wow. It really is.
-Should we?

And we did. When we entered, there were about 50 people in the bar. Including us, there were eight girls. We ordered beers and chicken fingers and looked around: flannels and beards, rockstars eating peas, married men's night out, "townies" drinking margaritas by the pint, business-casual happy hour gone long, a 90-year-old, and a pool-playing youngish group of marrieds and nots. It's eclectic, and we like it, mostly because the age is just right (excluding the geezer).

We were talking about something—either economics or one-night stands—when Sara noticed The Drunkest Guy in the Bar reaching into Annie's bag.

This guy and his friend, The Hottest Guy in the Bar, had just brought a 135-foot boat down from Newport. They'd been drinking for six hours, hard.
-If I wasn't married, I'd be hitting on you girls.
-You are hitting on us.

They left. We resumed solving the world economic crisis. Then another guy, part of the "professional soccer team" (said MarriedHotBoatGuy), stopped to say goodbye to us on his way out. We liked him. We think he liked Annie (and her shared aptitude of Dumb and Dumber quotes). He bought us a round. Yes folks, a 37-year-old Bought Drinks for the team. Goooal!! (See no. 3 here).

And there's a scavenger hunt too. Sara has to answer a question for him and deliver the answer to the bartender, DJ, who is getting her own post (stay tuned). Will Sara find the answer? Will we return to Milady's? Is this 37-year-old really 37? Will he remove that distracting necklace and ring?

This post is part of a series. Here's what happens next, and there's also a Part Three.

Cub Room, Soho

Thursday, 7:45pm

The Cub Room
131 Sullivan St. (Prince St.), Manhattan

We 30-somethings really understand a deal. Monday to Friday until 7pm the Cub Room has a Buy One Get One Free Happy Hour (all beer and wine plus house drinks). That's encouragement enough to fill the place with "dorky old work people" (says friend in a suit) enjoying the sounds of "happy hour in a gay bar" (says gay brother referring to Usher).

A table of nine people in trench coats, oxfords and pearls ends their "meeting" at 8:15pm. Within the hour the entire crowd metamorphoses into a younger range (not including the mom/cougar on a date with a kid in a backwards, logoless baseball cap). We don't like to use the c-word but it was necessary there.

In summary: The Cub Room is Age Appropriate, mostly.