Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Cafe 81 will be back from vacation on Oct. 1

Over on Seventh Street near First Avenue, Cafe 81 has seemingly kept unpredictable hours of late...



...and recently, they took off for vacation. And as of last night, Oct. 6, they still hadn't returned.



In if you're new to all this, Cafe 81 used to be the lovely and amazing Verchovyna Tavern aka George's Bar aka Bar 81. They closed Jan. 1, 2005. Jeremiah paid tribute to it several years ago...

Meanwhile, if you feel like being really annoyed, read Shecky's description of Cafe 81:

Café 81: Can we survive with one less Ukranian watering hole? (OK, perhaps this question answered itself.) Much to the chagrin of aging ex-pats, newbie Café 81 has filled the void of East Village institution Verchovyna Tavern, demolished to make way for this spanking new boozerie. While some would like to give decrepit bars status as endangered species, this replacement has a lot to offer. The bartenders are friendly and outgoing, the kitchen puts out real food instead of stale pretzels and beer nuts, and the crowd is young locals instead of aging winos. If that's not enough to win you over, they also pour shots of snazzy cocktails like Sex on the Beach.
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6 comments:

  1. L'EmmerdeurOctober 7, 2009 at 8:44 AM

    A Sex on the Beach is "sexy" to 15-year-olds training for their career in college binge drinking.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousOctober 7, 2009 at 9:10 AM

    As an aging wino, the sheckys review offended me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Barbara L. HansonOctober 7, 2009 at 10:34 AM

    Shecky's is hilarious. Got everything wrong about my local. Juke joint? Nope, no jukebox, never has been. Signature martinis? Good god, no! And on and on.

    ReplyDelete
  4. EV GrieveOctober 7, 2009 at 11:03 AM

    I'm always reminded of Shecky Green when I see that name... Now this is humor!

    The doctor gave a man six months to live. The man couldn't pay his bill, so the doctor gave him another six months.

    ReplyDelete
  5. prodigal sonOctober 7, 2009 at 4:11 PM

    Its interesting how these things decline. I actually remember a time when Shecky's was pretty useful. Then their descriptions of places were usually wrong but at least you could monitor them to see what new places were opening up. Now they are in the parody of themselves stage.

    I see Yelp going a similar route.

    I suspect the only way to make a review site or publicantion work is to have two or three reviewers that are actually qualified (discriminating and good writers) review a handful of places, and don't try to do it cheap.

    ReplyDelete
  6. EV GrieveOctober 7, 2009 at 4:19 PM

    I agree with you, Prodigal Son. Having that stable of regular reviewers will add credibility... I usually only look at review sites now for laughs.

    ReplyDelete

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