Little Japantown, part 3

This is the last stop on our tour of Little Japantown. And I've saved the place that's most difficult to get into for last. The sophisticated cocktail lounge Angel's Share.

Located on the other side of an unmarked doorway in the second floor Japanese restaurant Village Yokocho at 8 Stuyvesant Street, Angel's Share is yet another fancy cocktail place, but with a delightful Japanese twist.

Now I mentioned that it's hard to get into, but not in a pretentious way. It's just that this place is little (they only take parties of 4 or less). So you might be waiting (standing) for a while to get a seat, that's all. It's worth it. The cocktails are delicious (though expensive), the drinks menu, extensive and yet thoughtful - there's a story behind every original drink. It's a fantastic spot for date, just come on a full stomach since the food menu is quite limited.

Next time I go, I'm going to eat at Village Yokocho (the casual Japanese restaurant you have to walk through) beforehand, because their food looked really great. In fact, I wouldn't mind checking out a lot more places in Little Japantown. Do you know of other cool Japanese places in this area?

Don't leave me hanging on the telephone

PDT (Please Don't Tell) is pretty high up on the list of secretive places in the EV. I mean the place is hidden through an entrance in a telephone booth for pete's sake. It's like you're in the freaking Chronicles of Narnia!


To get to PDT, go inside Crif Dogs (an awesome hot dog joint) at 113 St. Marks Pl. Then look for the entrance to the telephone booth. Go in. Pick up the phone. Ok, now this is starting to sound like The Matrix.


PDT is supposedly a really amazing speakeasy with delicious cocktails. But unfortunately, this is sort of where the story ends for me. Because we tried getting in there on Saturday night around midnight but didn't get a call back until 1:30 am. We were pretty far away at that point, so we didn't go back. But I am really dying to check this place out. I've read on yelp that you can make reservations between 3-3:30 pm daily. So maybe I'll try my luck at that, or try going during less peak hours.


I will make it to the other side. Stay tuned!

Basement of love, part 2

The companion bar to Lovers of Today is Cabin Down Below, also known as Cabin. Also located in the basement at 132 1/2 7th St., Cabin is even harder to find than Lovers of Today.


This is because even when you walk down the stairs to the basement, you can't really see the entrance to Cabin in the back, and you are immediately drawn to the entrance of Lovers of Today on the right.


Cabin is more divey than LOT, but not as divey as you would expect a basement bar to be. The space is also bigger than you would expect, broken up into a few smaller rooms. The crowd is a fairly hipster-y and I did sense 'tude from the doorman. So needless to say don't show up in a polo shirt and running shoes. There is no beer on tap at Cabin, only bottles. One of the biggest pluses (besides feeling really proud of yourself for finding this place) is the good music, though it is a tad loud since the atmosphere is otherwise fairly chill. Overall, this is a good spot to escape from the college/B&T crowd that has been pervading the EV as of late. But not a good place if you have a strong aversion to hipsters.

Basement of love, part 1

At 132 1/2 E. 7th St. there are not one, but two highly inconspicuous bars in the basement. The first one is Lovers of Today.


Which is actually the less inconspicuous of the two. There is no sign from the street. Just the 132 1/2 marking on the gates. When you walk down the stairs, Lovers of Today is the entrance that you can see on the right.


Apparently, LOT used to be the tiki bar for Niagra, (which is the larger well-known bar with an entrance around the corner on Avenue A) until a few months ago when they made the change.

The bar is made up of just one room with dim lighting, perfect for a date. But note, this is a late-night spot. It doesn't open till 10. The crowd, in my experience, is not at all college-y. They have a nice, but not overwhelming list of original cocktails. So if you are looking for fancy cocktails in an especially intimate setting, this is it. There's no table service, so that's a little bit of a drawback. But the place is so tiny that you don't really need a waiter. It's definitely the classiest bar in a basement that I've been to.