Siddity In The City: Mmm, drinky drinks

Sunday, July 18, 2004

Mmm, drinky drinks

So a friend is in town this weekend, and we have decided to try to cram in the following things, not listed in order of importance: 1. Food 2. Drinky drink 3. Culture 4. Shopping Now, as she arrived in the evening, it only made sense that we get started with numbers 1 and 2. Well, 2, then 1, then back to 2. Our first stop, a tiny little neighborhood bar called The Dead Poet (is it just me, or are there at least three bars called The Dead Poet in every major city?) turned out to be a winner. Though small, it is remarkably clean (including the restroom, which I think may be a first for any bar open more than five minutes) and won us over not only because the bartender was friendly and knew how to pour a proper pint of Guinnie, but because it was one of the few bars in this city that seemed truly unpretentious. We loved, four stars, or whatever. After picking up an additional drinking buddy (her TS) we all headed to Sido for a little belly-lining. Sido is one of those great cheap food joints that you rave to your friends about long after you've moved out to the burbs and settled down with a spouse and 2.3 ankle-biters. They do shawarma, falafel, hummus, baba--and they do it brilliantly, for a great price; you can fill up for under ten bucks. And on this, my first eat-in evening visit, the staff made sure we were well fed and pleased, even giving us yummy baclava and falafel (the best outside Holland, according to one of our party. Yeah, I didn't know Holland was all falafel king, either) snacks gratis. And I am a sucker for the gratis. After the snackies, we went to this joint called the Gin Mill, which seemed to cater to a younger crowd. It was sporty, and crowded, and that's about all. Not bad, but not my cup of tea. Tomorrow: culture, shopping, and lychee martinis at Verlaine. Mmmmm.