Black Market

Live, from New York, it’s Cheeseburger Saturday Night! Starring Black Market with special guest star, Sophie’s and featuring the Ready For Prime Beef Player, Marty Wombacher! And now, please welcome special guest star, from the East Village, Sophie’s!

I'm meeting some friends for a few pre-cheeseburger drinks here at Sophie's in the East Village.

Some of the specials of the day are listed on this chalk board out front.

This is a classic East Village bar that's been on the block since the early '80's.

There's a pool table in the back room that's always has a game in progress.

And here's the special guest stars of the evening, clockwise from left: Shawn, Goggla and Lindsay. Great to have them on board for this Cheeseburger Saturday Night!

On the way out I noticed a portrait of East Village artist, Markand Thakar. He was a regular here at Sophie's and he recently passed away. You can read more about him at this post at EV Grieve. After reading about him I was sad I never got to meet him.

We were originally going to go to the Black Iron Burger Shop, but it was packed five ways from Friday, so Shawn suggested another place...

Black Market, which was just a couple blocks away. It looked great to me, I had been drinking since about four in the afternoon and needed anything to sop up the suds in my stomach, so this place looked perfect! Thanks for the quick thinking, Shawn!

In addition to oysters, cheeseburgers are a specialty here, so it's a perfect destination.

It was crowded inside and the bar was filled with texting texters, so we shied away from there.

The front area is nice and dark with candlelight and tiny lights for illumination.

Luckily, there was some tables in the back, so we got seated right away. The place has a somewhat elegant vibe to it, yet it's a friendly atmosphere and the people working here are really nice and welcoming.

And here we are at our back table. My only flash shot of the night!

This is our pretty waitress, Micki. She was really nice and quick with a beer, who could ask for anything more?

A view of the restaurant from our back table.

We started off the meal with an appetizer of deviled eggs. They were topped with caviar and were a decadent delight!

We all ordered the same meal, the cheeseburger and homemade seasoned fries. Looks pretty good, right?

A delicious burger! Thanks to Goggla, Lindsay and Shawn for joining me on tonight's cheeseburger outing!

My Meal
The menu here is fairly simple, the three specialties of the house are listed on the window in gold leaf: Oysers, Cocktails and Burgers. Sounds like a decent holy trinity to me. Being that it’s Cheeseburger Saturday Night, we skipped the oysters and went right for the burger and it was fantastic. The burger is made of a Pat LaFrieda blend of beef and topped with American cheese. It’s served with a bakery fresh bun and crispy seasoned french fries. We had the deviled eggs as an appetizer and as good as the burger was, the deviled eggs, at least for me, were the highlight of the meal. They’re topped with caviar and your taste buds come alive at the different seasonings going on within the egg. The most prominent being mustard. A decadent treat, and I highly recommend it.

There’s also a vegetable burger on the menu as well as a New York strip steak, a gruyere and chive omelette served with fries and a grilled cheese sandwich made of white cheddar and gruyere cheese with grilled onions and arugula. The house special is called The Last Waltz which is two dozen oysters and a bottle of Veuve Clicquot.

There’s eight specialty cocktails available as well as a decent selection of bottled and draft beers.

Burger Rating
Three Wimpy’s, a great burger!

Sophie's
507 E. 5th St. (Near Ave. A)
212-228-5680

Black Market
110 Avenue A (near Avenue A)
212-614-9798

Further Reading: EV Grieve, Grub Street and Village Voice.

I might be movin' to Montana soon,
Just to raise me up a crop of Dental Floss Raisin' it up,
Waxin’ it down.

Surprise link, click on it...I dare you!

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Bonus Photos From Shawn Chittle!

Shawn sent in these photos from last night, thanks Shawn! Great shots, as always!

Cash Mob At Odessa

Last Monday there was a post at Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York about a cash mob at Odessa. I’ve never heard of the phrase, “cash mob” and was intrigued. It seems that what it is, is a gathering of as many people as you can gather with the sole intent of infusing some cash into a local store. I think that’s a great idea and a fun excuse to meet people, have fun and help out the local community. Tonight’s first cash mob takes place at Odessa in the East Village. It’s going to start out for dinner and drinks at the light Odessa and then the crowd will move next door to the dark Odessa for more drinks. It sounds like a good plan to me!

And here we are at the "light" Odessa. I'm early as usual, let's see if anyone else has shown up yet.

Odessa is a classic diner with great people working here.

And here's Spike seated at a booth. Not quite a mob yet, but the two of us are enough to cause a little trouble in here!

After I sat down with Spike I found out that they were setting up an area in the back for us. Goggla had talked with Danny earlier and told him there'd be a group tonight and this is the space for us. Very nice!

Here's Danny, the friendly fellow who manages Odessa. He's a great guy.

And here's Spike at the table. Now where's this mob?

Okay, here we go, people are starting to show up. That's Claire to the left and Melanie playing dueling cameras with me. Let's sit down and get to business!

And here we are. We were a couple people short of a mob, but it was a great group of people to meet for dinner at a classic East Village spot.

The food starts to arrive, here's Goggla and Melanie seated across from me.

I got the EV Grieve Special a.k.a. the grilled cheese on Odessa's homemade Challa bread. Delicious!

Just as we were finishing dinner the Duncester showed up to help us mob up.

And here's Danny with the cash from tonight's cash mob dinner.

And it's over to the dark Odessa for a few nightcaps.

This is a nice, relaxing bar. Classic rock plays in the background and it kind of feels like you're sitting in someone's basement bar. A nice place to hang and shoot the shit with friends.

Leon was one of the bartenders on duty...

And Mike was the other. Nice guys and quick with a bottle of beer!

And the mob grows as Lindsay shows up...

Along with Shawn. Alright, let's get this party started!

I love the red ceiling and half-lit chandeliers in here.

A shot from the other end of the bar.

The cash mob at the bar.

Lindsay, Shawn and I were the last ones left at the end of the evening and Mike poured us shots on our way out.

Cheers!

And it's out the door to greet the evening.

One of the great things about Odessa is that it's right next door to another East Village institution, Ray's Candy Store.

And here's the man himself, Ray with the night's final nightcap, an egg cream.

Ray dug out a photo of Lindsay and Bob Arihood, a nice moment to end a nice evening! Thanks to Jeremiah and Goggla for setting this up. It was a great excuse to hang out with nice people and spread a little cash around to businesses that need it. See you all tomorrow!

Odessa
117 Ave. A (Near 7th St.)
212-253-1470

Further Reading: My Private Coney Presents: It Was Her New York, Musings by Melanie. Gog in NYC and One More Folded Sunset.

Tunnel to the other side,
It becomes daylight,
I say he's mine.
(Hat tip to Duncester for the link!)

Surprise link, click on it...I dare you!

Otto's Shrunken Head

Okay, I feel like I’m going full circle with this post. I’m meeting some friends at Otto’s Shrunken Head tonight, the very first bar I went to on my 365 bar crawl. It’s hard to believe, but it was over two years ago on a Sunday evening that I started that beer-fueled journey. I’ve been back since, but never on a Sunday. I’m looking forward to taking a step back in time! And I’m hoping that Lani Ford is bartending, she has the dubious honor of being the first bartender on this bar crawl, let’s go see!

Otto's is a straight line down 14th Street. It's not always such a straight line on the way home!

And here we are at Otto's Shrunken Head, I love their neon sign!

Every Sunday at Otto's Frank Wood hosts the popular, "Wind Down Sunday," that hosts a good number of bands and there's no cover. It's a great deal and a fun night.

Tiki carved heads are on display in the front window.

And here we are inside Otto's. It's always nice and dark in here with a bit of a green glow. A nice little oasis.

And here's Lani! Lani's a musician and songwriter and has a new band called, Tania and the Revolutionaries.

Here's the new CD, check out some of the tunes and more information here: Tania and the Revolutionaries.

A shot of some of the lit-up bottles behind the bar.

The view from my perch at the bar.

A hula goddess hangs on the wall in the front of the bar.

And here's the host of the evening, the legendary Frank Wood! I told him that Clacky sends his regards from Australia and he said to say hello, so hello to Clacky from Frank Wood! Then he told me to stop stalking him via my blogs!

Then Goggla and Ed showed up, Ed was a llttle camera shy, so I took a solo shot of Goggla. Then she gave me a gift...

A Gumby shot glass! Too cool! We Ottomized him with a monkey and an umbrella.

Time to break him in, Lani pours a shot of tequila in Gumby.

Cheers! Hey...you can't turn your back on that Frank Wood guy for a second!

A tiki mask and shelves of tiki mugs.

Wow, I was going to check out some of the bands, but it's standing room only.

So it's back to the front half of the bar.

I love the vintage cash register at the bar.

Some Tiki albums decorates this section of the wall in the bar.

Eric showed up and I introduced him to Frank.

Check out Eric's Mars Bar shirt, too cool! It's designed by NYC artist, Sergy and it's a design he originally put on the outside of the Mars Bar. Here's some photos of Sergey in action: EV Grieve. If you'd like a shirt, you can get one here, but you better hurry, there's a limited amount available. All profits from the shirts are going to a non profit charity.

And the party's complete as Lindsay, Shawn and the Duncester show up!

Meanwhile, back at the bar, it appears Gumby needs to build up a little tolerance!

So I took him home to join the rest of the Gumby family. See you all tomorrow!

Otto’s Shrunken Head
538 East 14th St. (Near Avenue A)
212-228-2240

Further Reading: Tiki Central, Village Voice and critiki.

Tania and the Revolutionaries

Surprise link, click on it...I dare you!

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Bonus Photo by Shawn Chittle!

Shawn sent me this photo. A Peoria Emporium in New York? Well, there's 7-Elevens on every corner now, so why not! Thanks for the photo, Shawn!