Redd's Roster of Restaurants of the Old Weird New York

Apparently Taza de Oro is closed now (a year ago). I hadn't checked until just now, but it seemed as likely as not. Great Puerto Rican lunch counter.

Speaking of Chelsea, a place I have never set foot in and is probably bad but seems to be kind of an institution is The Half King.

xx-post I remember what was there before Pollitos Dos. It was a Dominican place called El Diamante. Waitress there had a great singing voice & would sing along to the jukebox or just a cappella. That area used to be full of Domincian joints.

Oh, pft, nevermind

The Half King is a bar and restaurant in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City, directly below the High Line on 23rd Street. It was started in 2000 by journalists Sebastian Junger and Scott Anderson, and filmmaker Nanette Burstein, as a neighborhood place that could also serve as a meeting spot for people in the publishing and film industries.

damnit. Fooled.

Josefa yes. There was a great Dominican place up caddycorner to Flatbush, near Royal Video. Can't remember what it was called now but they had amazing mofongo.

There was a great Dominican place up caddycorner to Flatbush, near Royal Video

El Rey de los Castillos de Jagua, in the space that's a Duane Reade now.

Sister restaurant El Gran Castillo de Jagua is still in business across Flatbush. And there was another Dominican place called La Terrazza about a block away on 6th Ave. (where Purbird is now)

…or probably "Terraza" with one z, Spanish-style

lol the half king is terrible. terrible crowd, bad food, overpriced, kind of ugly xxpost

I'm really enjoying this thread btw, just wish I could have enjoyed some of these places

Hopefully I will have time later this evening. In the meantime, keep up the good work, everybody!

Terraza - that's the one I was thinking of. And they actually did have a little terrace you could sit on.

I wonder what Fanelli's on the corner of Prince is like these days. The same as always I guess?

I was in Fanelli's about a year ago and yeah still the same

Fanelli's is great. A good standby whenever I'm in the area. I guess I can play at this.

I used to get soup from a little shack tacked onto the side of it. Inside it always struck me as a little pricey for what it was but the downtown art buzz of the place is what I came for I guess.

La Taza De Oro's food got bland bland bland in the last few years. No hint of garlic or cilantro. But it was always packed. Used to run in for a cafe con leche if I was in the 'hood on my way to a long night.

Loved the tile walled place called Focacceria that used to be on 1st ave in the East Village. Served great cheap pasta and Sicilian rice balls.

ILX Hot Tub Time Machine 1998

This thread brings me back to my days of living in the East Village. Yaffa Cafe is a good one. Life Cafe is another one that was sort of iconic (not so much for the food). Also, the various Mary Ann's locations (somewhat dubious looking Mexican food - I can't remember if I ever actually ate there). Apparently Sidewalk Cafe is still there.

Famous Cozy Soup 'n Burger on Broadway near Astor Place is also amazingly still there. This thread makes me strangely want to go eat there.

I don't know how old Regional Thai Taste in Chelsea was but it was my go-to place going back to a time when Thai was a pretty unusual dining option. Gone now.

To clarify: "Old" and "Weird" are subjective here. I myself have not adhered to the 1990 rule. Given how fast things change 2005 may even be a good cutoff. The general idea of "Old" is something like Josefa was describing above- you used to go to the place quite frequently, say a decade ago, stopped at some point, the calendar pages flip book went by until at some point it crosses your mind to check whether it was still there or not and you end up surprised at the result, be it positive or negative. The general idea of "Weird" is that somehow you feel it was some facet of your identity at the time- even if it was a generic 80s fern bar.

Unless "old and weird" means somebody was actually in there plucking an earth-bow or frailing a banjo whilst droning Appalachian/Elizabethan tragic songs of life through a retro sound system.

How about Dojo. I looked and that's still there. I spent a summer in the city going to Dojo a decent amount because it was the only sit-down restaurant that wasn't a luncheonette type place but was affordable on a student budget.

Is it really still there? And when you went there did you go somewhere else for a drink afterward? If so, where? Holiday, the Blue and Gold, the Tile Bar? Downtown Beirut? No, this last must have been long gone.

Still pondering why we possess such strong fond memories of restaurants. Feel like that in addition to the cuisine, in addition to the social aspect, there is simply the physical experience of light and space and sound. The way the light comes in through large windows, or is slightly warped by the heat shimmer of a candle flame, the way it is reflected or refracted by the bottles behind the bar or the mirrors on the wall or the silverware on the table or the way it is either absorbed by the dark wood or not absorbed at all by the white Formica. The size and shape of the room, the way it takes the chatter of the crowd and turns it into a pleasing white noise in which to, um, bathe, and upon the background of which to comfortably converse.

There is also an organizational aspect, that you can plan your leisure time around your dinner, something to look forward to after work, or before or after the movie and show. A place to tell about the funny thing you saw on the subway on the way to the Film Forum.

Dojo is a perfect example of a place I assumed had closed 15 years ago. In the same category as Life Cafe and Angelika Kitchen, spots I liked when I had more vegetarian tendencies than now

To push it even further maybe there is some implicit view of the restaurant itself as some kind of benevolent recording angel panopticon, that if only it was still there and you knew the right incantation you could access the backup tapes and relive or at least listen in on those magic times.

Angelica Kitchen rather

But enough of my dime store poetics, I should probably post the names of a few more gone and almost forgotten or surprisingly still there places I remember.

Dojo is almost the perfect example, so old I'm not even sure I've been there myself, but when you say it, yeah, it creates a powerful memory.

You do wonder with a lot of these places whether they were actually good or if it was just the circumstances or point in time. For example, Veselka's food seems really bland and useless whenever I happen to eat there now, whereas at one time it seemed amazingly perfect

This is a good point to raise. I don't know the full answer but I think above average bland plus some kind of ambience is a big step up from just bland across the board. Maybe an example might be a red sauce place that ponies up for the premium sausage rather than cuts corners there, although maybe that has already lifted it out of bland land. Or the difference between Music for Airports and Muzak.

Must...go to sleep ... before I kill thread.

Dojo!! my god. That place was like service industry boot camp for many friends of mine

do you guys remember Decibel? tiny, Japanese, dark, LES.

Yes, of course. Went there many times, the small menu had what, edamame and some sort of flaky pancake thingy. I was thinking of mentioning that place, along with Candy B1 (was it in the same spot?) -a karaoke bar, but with a live Japanese backup band instead of recordings- and Angel's Share, which last still seems to be there, although perhaps whatever was below it- Sunrise Mart? - had gone. Just don't bring too large a party! (i.e., no fapping)

Two different NYT articles, from the same day!
http://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/31/arts/sing-along-clubs-with-a-difference.html
http://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/31/arts/the-east-village-becomes-japan-west.html?pagewanted=all

The first is more zoomed in on karaoke and Candy B1 though. Which was at 240 E 9th, (between 2nd and 3rd) which is indeed where Decibel ( or "deshibearu" as we liked to say) was and still is apparently.

I steered clear of Dojo, perhaps even held my nose a little high, because it was for people who were still college kids, but I'm glad to know someone who actually was a college kid was there and can report on the doings within. Although come to think of it, I did go to a place around the corner, Jack the Ribber, which later became Continental Divide and then just Continental.

Of course, there are blog posts by Alex in NYC (two!) and The Hound as well

http://vassifer.blogs.com/alexinnyc/2014/02/the-dinosaur-on-third-avenue.html

http://vassifer.blogs.com/alexinnyc/2015/04/back-to-old-st-marks-the-revenge-of-the-third-avenue-dinosaur.html

http://thehoundblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/readin-rockin-literate-books-for.html?m=1

I believe I may have seen one ilxor with a screenname that is NSFW to Google play there with his band once.

Sunrise Mart, still there too.

What has brexited the area though is The Telephone Bar, 149 E 2nd.

I always ate at the Chinese place on E4 St (?) and 2nd Ave before or after Anthology Film Archives. Gone at least a dozen years.

Did you ever cross paths with Michael Musto at the Anthology?

Because I have a clear picture of seeing him waiting there once, although I have no recollection of what film was showing or whether he just happened to be standing on that block.

Think I remember what was showing when I saw Susan Sontag there though, or at least which director(s).

Ah yes i guess Decibel was E Village wasn't it?

How about a shout out for Sweet n Tart on Mott Street.

And while we're down there, Good World! It's not quite 'old' but it was a bit weird New York. I met Momus there once.

http://nymag.com/listings/bar/good_world_bar_and_grill/

What's that whole area like these days? East Broadway, down under the bridge? When I lived in New York it was solidly impenetrable Chinatown, just no way through. Tenement after tenement, off limits entirely to the likes of me.

Wouldn't know, never go past Confucius Plaza myself.

it's... changed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKEQm10-n84