Steve "p0ps" H.'s Profile

We had dinner the other day at the coolest restaurant we know, "Freemans". It's in our neighborhood, the Lower East Side. Most people walk by it and never see it, off Rivington in the block between Chrystie and Bowery, it's at the end of Freemans Alley, so hidden, that the second time I went to Freemans, I walked by the alley twice before recognizing it. Once you locate the alley, you'd never guess there's a nice restaurant at the end of it. It's not that the alley is too dark and scary, but that it is an alley and this is the L.E.S.

Your hesitancy is overcome as you approach Freeman's cheery, warm light bathing the alley's end. Once inside, the rich smells of fine cooking, the chatter of the hip crowd, you know you're in a good place and are glad you're hungry.

Since they don't take reservations and Freemans' secret is out, you can expect to wait a while for a table. If you're very lucky, there will be space for you at the bar. You'd do well to have one of the best secrets of this once secret place, the finest martini yet-- the Plymouth martini which uses the very gin which made the first Martini in 19th Century San Francisco. Freemans pours a modern, super-dry martini which tastes like all martinis should, but seldom do -- crisp, tangy, like real juniper berry gin, devastatingly powerful. Sip slowly. Take in the room, try to understand why stuffed birds, animal heads and dark paintings look so right in this odd, old-looking new place. By the time you finish your martini, you should have your table and can switch to wine.

The appetizers are justly famous here. "The Devils on Horseback" are outrageously delicious creations of blue cheese stuffed prunes wrapped with hot, thick, crispy bacon . The artichoke dip is creamy and tastes like artichoke.

On this visit, we had a table for three with our out-of-town guest facing the window so she could gaze on the unique setting and enjoy the beautifully drawn Picasso-like horse spray painted on the alley wall.

For main courses, the Trout is nice, the Mac and Cheese seems a perverse choice, but is uncommonly perfect. Be sure to order some vegetable sides The Venison or Boar stew is deep with demi-glace, so rich, it is best enjoyed in small amounts separated by other tastes, the palette conditioned by a Willamette Valley Pinot Noir.

Deserts are simple, effective. Bananas Foster or warm chocolate Brownie a la mode -- awesome!

After an hour in the exhibit, we went down to the fifth floor, to a table for two on the terrace at Terrace 5 (The Carroll and Milton Petrie Cafe), an outdoor, dramatically architectural setting.  The terrace tables are well protected by an impossibly cantilevered overhang framing the courtyard and street view like the cropped views in the paintings. The overhang is so miraculously vast that it could keep you dry in a hurricane. The terrace atmosphere is conducive to quiet conversation, civilized, gracious and fresh.

With friendly, efficient service, reasonable prices, Terrace 5 offers beverages, appetizers, salads, soups and deserts. On our visits we've lingered over gingered Gin and Tonics, cheese plates and bowls of mixed olives. A 15% gratuity is added to the bill. Our most recent waiter thoughtfully circled it so we wouldn't reflexively add a tip on top of that. He was a nice looking young man with a head full of terrifically patterned cornrows.

Want a TGIF kickoff to a wonderful weekend? I recommend Free Friday Nights, at MoMA 4:00---8:00 p.m including a stop at Terrace 5 (The Carroll and Milton Petrie Caf) on the fifth floor.

Ruth and I met there about 6pm, went straight to the sixth floor Munch retrospective.

Its the event I like at MoMA. Seeing a popular show on a Free Friday is not the meditative art gallery experience some may want. If looking over and around people to get glimpses of art is not enjoyable to you, if feeling the presence of other people behind you trying to look over or around you bothers you, then MoMA's Free Fridays are not for you.

Like subway trains, midtown sidewalks or Macy's on a Saturday, MoMA's Free Fridays is an experience of crowds. If you like people, if you can get into a Walt Whitman-like appreciation of humanity, Free Friday's for you. Yeah, the art is why we're all there, but really, what would rather see -- a beautiful, living person or an old painting by a dead artist? Here you can have at all. Even more than most, the MoMA's crowd is international. We saw people dressed in a wide variety of fashions and the galleries buzzed with many languages.

After an hour in the exhibit, we went down to the fifth floor, to a table for two on the terrace at Terrace 5 (The Carroll and Milton Petrie Cafe), an outdoor, dramatically architectural setting.  The terrace tables are well protected by an impossibly cantilevered overhang framing the courtyard and street view like the cropped views of the paintings in the galleries. The overhang is so miraculously vast that it could keep you dry in a hurricane. The terrace atmosphere is conducive to quiet conversation, civilized, gracious and fresh.

With friendly, efficient service, reasonable prices, Terrace 5 offers beverages, appetizers, salads, soups and deserts. On our visits we've lingered over gingered Gin and Tonics, cheese plates and bowls of mixed olives. A 15% gratuity is added to the bill. Our most recent waiter thoughtfully circled it so we wouldn't reflexively add a tip on top of that. He was a nice looking young man with a head full of terrifically patterned cornrows.

So, after an hour in the crowded gallery, an hour of talking on the terrace, some may be ready for dinner out and night-clubbing 'til dawn. But, we're old folks, we took a cab home for simple meal and a movie on DVD.

Charbon has been a favorite of ours for a couple of years. The food was wonderful when we first found it in Fall '04. Then, everything on the menu was prepared with subtlety. About Spring '05, the kitchen changed, the dishes were not always reliable, they lost their spark, they were sometimes ordinary. Fall '05, the duck confit was overdone, dry. Christmas '05 a lamb shank was dry and clumsily seasoned.  It saddened us to no longer be able to trust the food to be terrific.

However the people there, the service they give us and the burgers are still great, the wine list well selected, the atmosphere terrific. The dining room is lovely with it's post-modern casual style, like eating in grocery store with big windows looking out on Orchard and Stanton.

We still go for the burgers -- sometimes getting a $50 Bordeaux to make them even more special. For a neighborhood bistro in Manhattan, it is spacious and sometimes quiet enough to have a relaxed conversation.  It is one of the few small places that can accommodate parties of 6 to 8.

Enjoy the ambiance, the tasty burgers the wine and full bar -- hope that the kitchen gets back on track someday soon.