Wise Men is a Smart Bet

Wise Men: Blood and Sand & Kentucky Buck

We were having a pretty killer night that started out with lobster rolls from Luke's, an arepa from Caracas Arepa Bar To Go, and drinks from Angel's Share. But we weren't quite ready to call it a night, so we walked down to Wise Men. Despite what the name would lead you to believe, this low profile little spot is actually owned by three women.

A Heavenly Evening at Angels Share

Angel's Share

Angel's Share has been on my list of must try speakeasies since moving to the city more than 4 years ago. Tonight, I made that wish come true. When The Mr. announced that he was craving a lobster roll from Luke's, we jumped in a cab and I requested that we be dropped of at St Mark's & 3rd instead of 1st Ave. I identified Village Yokocho and confidently walked up the stairs. When I reached the top I spied an inconspicuous door to my left, so without pause I made a beeline there. Opening it I found a jam packed foyer to the bar. I squeezed through to the hostess and put my name on the 2 hour wait list.

Bar Hopping: Dear Irving, Amor y Amargo, Crif Dogs

Dear Irving: Samoa & True Patriot

After a pre-theatre jaunt to St. Andrews and watching The Realistic Joneses we weren't quite ready for our night to end. We walked almost all the way down to Penn Station before I was struck with a brilliant idea. Didn't the folks behind fabulous speakeasy Raines Law Room just open up a new cocktail establishment with 3 rooms that capture 3 eras? We were in a cab heading over to Gramercy within 2 minutes.

St. Andrews a Nice Catch

St. Andrews

After picking up some last minute tickets for The Realistic Joneses at the TKTS booth we needed a nearby spot to grab dinner. A quick search of the nearby vicinity pulled up St. Andrews Scottish Restaurant & Bar. Since we've recently returned from a trip to Scotland, we've been scouting out all the Scottish culture (& Scotch) that we can get our hands on in NYC.

High Times in Highlands

Highlands: Scotch Egg

After some delightful cocktails and snacks from Employees Only, we were not quite ready to call it a night so headed East a few blocks to Highlands. We've attempted to come to this bar many times because we hear they have a great Scotch Egg, but we tend to swing by on Friday & Saturday nights and this place is hopping. Walking in on a Monday night, they were still doing good business, but it was calm & relaxed and totally unrecognizeable from the scene we were used to.

Everything's Working for Employees Only

Employees Only: Mata Hari

As a big lover of high quality speakeasies Employees Only has been on my 'must visit' list for quite some time now. On a whim, we decided to have a little Monday night adventure to kick off the week. We found the neon Psychic sign in the West Village window and walked by the actual psychic who sits in the foyer into another world.

Williamsburg Fun at TNE, Roberta's, & Huckleberry Bar

The Noble Experiment: Owney's

Today we did a tour of The Noble Experiment, New York City's only exclusively rum distillery. It's a small operation and the founder Bridget gave the tour herself and poured us samples of her final product Owney's Rum. As a bonus, we also got to sample some leftover holiday editions infused with Rosemary, Mint, and Vanilla Bean. Oh the cocktails one could make with these gems!

Clover Club is still Acing It

Clover Club: Improved Whisky Cocktail

Tonight we attended the special RadioLoveFest taping of one of my favorite podcasts, Ask Me Another. While The Mr doesn't listen to podcasts, I've taken him to both of Radiolab's live events and knew he would enjoy special Very Important Puzzlers Robert Krulwich & Jad Abumrad. I also suspected he would be excited by special musical guest They Might be Giants. And I was right. It was a delightful event and afterward we wanted to keep the party going and explore more of what Brooklyn has to offer. Before the show, we had grabbed a couple of burgers at Smashburger, but we were ready for some cocktails and another nosh.

A perfect night: Apotheke, The Boil, & Pouring Ribbons

Apotheke: Interior

Tonight we headed down to the Lower East Side to have a crawfish boil at one of our favorite spots, The Boil. Since it's obviously a lot of other people's favorite places too we were looking at a bit of a wait. It seemed the perfect opportunity to meander on in to an unassuming pharmacy in Chinatown.

Are You Achin' for Some BarBacon?

BarBacon: Old Fashioned & The Drunken Preacher

For some reason there is a bar devoted to serving Craft Beer, Bourbon, and Bacon-centric food 2 blocks from my office and I've never heard of it. That is, until I received an invite to a Happy Hour located there next month. However, I couldn't wait a month to check it out, so tonight The Mr. and I decided it would be a great pre-theatre spot before our show at the nearby Neil Simon Theatre.

Philadelphia Edition: Village Whiskey

Village Whiskey: Round 1

We were enjoying some wine and snacks at lovely Tria when I noticed that I had something bookmarked 1 block away. When I realized that it was Village Whiskey which I read on my friend Lee's write up of the 21 Best Whisky Bars in America, there was no question that we needed to extend our evening a little longer so that we could check it out.

NewbieFoodies Tour East Williamsburg

Huckleberry Bar | Bacon Wrapped Dates & Mac 'n Cheese

OK folks, I was traveling light for this mini-bar crawl which means iPhone pictures in very dim lighting. However, unlike these photos, the quality of food/drinks we enjoyed were top notch. The backstory is that we had tickets to go see Then She Fell, an immersive theatre experience at Greenpoint Hospital. This was actually our second visit and last time we had dinner in Manhattan before heading out to the area, but passed so many really neat looking bars on our way. We only had time to head into one for a quick drink and decided we were really missing out by not exploring this neighborhood.

So for visit number two, we decided to do it right:

Sofia, So Fine

Sofia Wine Bar

Tonight I was invited to try Sofia Wine Bar, Cafe so I headed to the East side and walked in to the ground floor of a brownstone on 50th street. I felt like I had stepped into someone's home. It was warm, inviting, and full of interesting antiques. It was immediately clear that Sofia was something special.

Alewife: A cure for what ails ya

Alewife

Tonight Alewife held a "Grand Opening" party and invited Bloggers and other Industry folk to check out the scene. I put "Grand Opening" in quotes, because the bar has actually been open since last fall, but Patrick Donagher just joined the team and has breathed a bit of new life into the project.

Hearing the words "craft beer" and "food" The Mr. agreed to joined me with very little hesitation. However, when we got in the subway and he asked "So, where is this place" and I replied "Queens", there was some hesitation. But 20 minutes later we were at the door and both a little surprised at just how easy the commute from Manhattan was.

Want Wine & Chocolate? Try AYZA

Angry Chicken Lollipops

I was meeting a friend for girls' night and knew exactly which restaurant we should try. AYZA is always near the top of Urbanspoon's NYC restaurant list and I've had a hard time drumming up enthusiasm from The Mr to try it out. But as soon as I said the words "wine and chocolate" my girlfriend was totally in. It also worked well that they had a Midtown location since we work on opposite ends of the isle of Manhattan.

We started with a glass of free wine (you can 'Like' them on Facebook to get a coupon) and then ordered a few appetizers to split: the Angry Chicken Lollipops, White Truffle Pizza, and Grilled Baby Shrimp...

Anejo Tequileria To Kill Some Time

Anejo Tequileria

My friend and I were wandering around the Theatre District between shows, looking for a little place to grab a drink when we spied this charming little tequileria on the corner of 47th and 10th Ave. The doors and windows were flung wide open, letting in the sunlight and surprisingly fresh breeze.

A Very Gilded Lillie's

Lillie's

I had had a disappointing experience with the Lillie's location in Flatiron a couple years back, but decided to give it another shot at a pre-theatre brunch because I was seeing Once and I'm a sucker for musical/meal pairings. We were immediately enamored with the Victorian decor as soon as we walked in the door. Like it's Flatiron sister, every square inch is lavishly decorated, but this location is much bigger, making it an even larger impact.

Ending the Evening on a Blue Note

Blue Note Jazz Club

The Mr and I were out on the town and decided to end the evening with a little Jazz music at the legendary Blue Note. We walked in the door and were greeted by a doorman who asked us if we had a reservation and then gave us one of those "Well I guess we can accomodate you" attitudes. Then informed us it would be $35 to get a table. We agreed and were shown to a table (there were definitely enough seats to accomodate us, no attitude necessary). We sat down and then saw there was an additional drink minimum per set. This was not a problem, since we planned on getting a drink anyway. The Mr got a Margarita Martini that was alright and I got the Spicy Pear which I enjoyed. But the 'per set' language was making me a little nervous. How long do they consider 'a set'?

Gettin Tipsy at The Tippler

Drinks & Mashed Deviled Egg Toast

I've been chomping at the bit to try The Tippler since it opened in the basement of Chelsea Market, so I was very disappointed when a bunch of my friends went one night last week, but I couldn't join them due to another engagement. We happened to be in Meatpacking tonight, so The Mr suggested we pop in for a drink so I could finally check it out.

Keepin it trashy at The Trailer Park Lounge

I love a complete commitment to a theme, so have been wanting to check out The Trailer Park Lounge complete with toilet bowl out front. We had some time to kill after getting our tickets to the free ASSSSCAT 3000 show at the UCB Theatre around the corner, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity.

I was not disappointed with their ability to deliver on the theme. The inside was everything you could hope for.