Whitney R.'s Profile

Sweet Zombie Jesus, I have found my ideal bar.

Any bar where the patrons get SHHHHHH'd two or three times over the night is just how I like it.  I basically vomit knives at the standard crowded, loud place in the East Village.  I have longed to try the Burp Castle for a long while now, and I was not disappointed in the least.

Melissa, the barmaid (is that term sexist? she was awesome at her job, regardless of the term), was great at giving me suggestions for beers, and gave me little tastes of risky beers (like the very hoppy Bengali Tiger) before pulling me a full glass on draught.  This is a bar I could actually feel comfortable coming to on my own, and pulling up a table with a book and a pint and enjoying myself.

The place being around the corner from Pommes Frites and an easy poutine? Just a side benefit.

I FINALLY GOT A FREAKIN' HAIRCUT.

...seriously, I've had issues.  Problem 1: I have a very deep relationship with my former hairdresser, who is a master stylist and has been cutting my hair since I was seven, and who is ALSO a friend of the family.  Unfortunately, he's in Tennessee, which is sort of inconvenient when I want a haircut.  Problem 2: I'm terrified of ending up having to pay like $150 for a haircut in New York.  So this lead to problem 3: I had not had a haircut in nearly two years.

But the damaged ends of my hair were just too much to take any longer, and I sucked it up and made a phone call to the little place down the street from my apartment, which I've walked past probably once a day every day for the past two years. The Little Hair Shoppe was able to set me up with an appointment for a couple of days later.

I got my cut! I'm thrilled! The place is little (as implied by the name) and cute, bright and cheery with a staff who clearly enjoys what they do and are all having a good time.  I got my hair cut by Tracy, who was great and friendly, and seemed to know exactly what I wanted.  She hacked off all my over-dyed, damaged hair and gave me a cut that'll help me get rockstar curls all the time. (It's funny, now I kind of look like my Yelp profile picture again!)

The damage to my wallet was $65 for a cut and blowdry, which I can entirely live with.  I'm... I'm not afraid anymore.  I have a safe place again to get my hair done.  Maybe next it'll be professional coloring... I will end the tyranny of L'Oreal!!

Okay, I'm just going to come out and say it: I don't really like In-N-Out burgers, or In-N-Out style burgers, which seems to be what all of the most hyped, most popular burger joints (Shake Shack, Blue 9) in NYC are aping.  I find them kind of small and sad.  I prefer my burgers to be thick, hulking masses of beef.  I also like these attributes in my dates! Haiyoooooo!

Uh, anyway.  I got delivery from Blue 9, and, uh, wow, way to be speedy there, guys, and by speedy, I mean not actually speedy at all.  It took more than an hour.  My fries were cold, but the burger was pretty good.  I like the spicy mango sauce they offer (and the extra tub of it that was included for my fries).  It's not my preferred style of burger, but it was still pretty good, and at a good price ($8 for a double cheeseburger, fries, and a soda.)

Got delivery from here the other night (when do I not get delivery, honestly?) and, I have to say, I was quite satisfied.

I got me a Vermonter burger, cooked medium-rare, and by god, it actually was simultaneously deliciously pink in the middle and possessing of a good bit of yummy char on the edges.  The burger was topped with sharp cheddar cheese and two slices of grilled green apple, which was surprisingly wonderful.  The burger came on a great thick bun, with a non-wimpy tomato, and I added the extra of what tasted like homemade mayonnaise.  Definitely a great meal for a good price.

I also tried out the cheddar chips, which are not chips in the crinkly sack sense, or even in the 'fish and' sense, but nice deep fried disks of potato, covered in spicy cheddar cheese.   After the burger (and the coleslaw, and the pickle...) I couldn't finish the chips, but they shockingly kept in the fridge overnight to make a good breakfast! (Don't you judge me.)

And, seriously, try the hot dogs.  They stuff the dog and its toppings down into a hollowed out baguette, more or less, for a giant, filling, mess-free dog experience. Damn.

I'll definitely be ordering again, and hell, maybe I'll even GO there someday.

Finally, a use for all those excess quarters now that I'm sending my laundry out to be done!

How much do I love this concept? I mean, I like eating, and I hate people... it's perfect! I haven't sampled any of the dinner selections yet, but this is my ideal breakfast option.  A hot breakfast for loose change, and I don't even have to talk to anyone in my pre-coffee haze.  I've tried the hashbrown and the roast pork bun... the former was about McDonald's level quality (which is pretty okay), and the latter was DAMN yummy... or should I say... BAMN yummy?!

I finally got around to trying the evening menu, and I have to say that the little teriyaki burger is surprisingly good for the concept/cost.  Just enough to fill up your tummy, with a better patty that you'd get around the corner at McD's, real onion and tomato, and a tasty sauce!

I've knocked my review down a star because they've stopped being open 'round the clock, and they aren't open for breakfast anymore! BASTARDS!!!

This place is the reason that whenever I smell clove cigarettes, I get violent flashbacks to being thirteen.

Going here just got me *confused*.  I almost wondered if I'd gone in the wrong door, because it doesn't really look like a bank at all inside.  I'm used to banks with the pane of glass between you (peon) and the teller (cruel master of your finances).  This place is all... open... and... friendly.  With little podiums arranged in a circle around the room, with no bulletproofing anywhere to guard the poor little tellers.

Also, the staff was nice, instead of functionally retarded like the people at the branch I usually go to? And they could help me instead of going 'uhhhhh I don't know let me ask the manager'? That was weird.

This is everything I could ask for in a bar.  Dark and cramped but without being dirty or overwhelmingly crowded, a comfortable mix of patrons ranging from old-hand Irish regulars to some of the young hip crowd.  They pour a hell of a healthy pint of a selection of *good* beers, and the bartenders definitely won't hesitate to make fun of you... you know, in that loving Irish way, ya bastard.

Snag the table by the front window if you can for comfy seating near the bar and some good people watching from a couple of feet below the street.  This was also the first bar I've been to that has a binder full of menus to encourage you to have your dinner delivered there and *keep drinking*.

Trivia Thursday is fantastic fun, and lead to me getting into a heated argument over what the theme song to Smallville was with Yelper Molly M.  She was right.  I was wrong.  I will live in shame forever.

One of my favorite places to stagger in for breakfast before work.  The coffee is good, whether hot or iced, and the croissants are always warm and delicious.  I may have tried almost everything they have at least once.  The raspberry and chocolate croissants are my favorite on the sweet side, and on the savory part of the pastry equation, my secret weird breakfast love is the spinach and cheese croissant with Cholula hotsauce dribbled into it.  Yum!

I had to delete my old review for the old location, because the new location is just a whole different world!  Right now it's still got that crisp new-shop smell, and when I walked in down the steps to the shining, sleek, well-air conditioned shop floor, I think my eyes light up like a kid in a candy store.  The space is just lovely, for one thing, perfectly laid out with lots of freedom to move around and peer at labels without getting in anyone's way.  

And the selection! Oh, my goodness.  I'm not much of a wineaux (yet), so my attention was focued on their selection of liquors, and wow.  Wow.  Boozes I have never seen before, or heard of only in legend.  I had always been disappointed in the really slim selection of gins at Warehouse Wines and Spirits (http://www.yelp.com/bi...), but Astor's got the really nice stuff that my fellow martini hounds have told me to keep an eye out for.  

While on the subject of Warehouse, I'll just say that if you're in the market for, say, a gigantic plastic jug of brandy or a box wine (which, damn it, sometimes you are! Ain't no shame in it.  Okay, maybe a little shame.) go there, since it's top shelf stuff at Astor... except for the little selection of $2 wines they have off to one side.  ...And okay, they have box wine, but it's *nice* box wine.

Before I wax on too long, I'll just say that Astor Center is a lovely place, through and through.  I selected a wine from one of their house picks, and hugely enjoyed it.  

Astor Center has free tastings every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and they are ever so worth it.  I've definitely become a regular fixture--if you come around 6-ish on a Thursday night, you'll probably run into me and my best friend slurping up free wine and pretending we know what we're talking about! If you come during one where it is the actual manufacturer of the booze, they will give you more than a healthy pour.  A couple of weeks ago they had a tasting of high-quality mezcals, and boy, I was glad it wasn't a long walk home after that tasting.