Pub Crawl Report

November 25, 2002 Pub Crawl Report from Friday night in the LES/EV with SA, MB and CB. Started at Belly, a new wine bar on Rivington (between Suffolk/Clinton) with an appealing opium den/dive vibe. What killed it for us were two big parties (both of the suit-and-tie ilk, strangely) infringing on our space... So we walked a few blocks to El Patio, a Stanton hipspot (between Clinton/Attorney) still obscure enough not to merit a Citysearch listing. Another edgy decor vibe: tiki lounge meets dive. The real thatched-roof ceiling gave us pause when they lit up our scorpion bowl (straws and all) -- at least the insurance fire in three years will seem more plausible that most. But the DJ was too loud for our mood, and again party folks bent on dancing intruded, so it was off to Avenue C... Never fails to amaze how the place has picked up since I vacated the legendary 619 East 5th in 1998... After rejecting Zum Schneider (too full) and The Porch (too empty) we settled in for the night at Lava Gina (Ave. C and 7th St.), solidly my favorite of the current Ave. C bar scene. Just trendy enough to be fun, but not too trendy to be overrrun, this dual-personality drinking spot hits a wonderful mood post-1am.