Sidecar

An oasis has opened up in the culinary desert (ok, maybe that's an overstatement) of South Park Slope (the actual South Slope, not Catherine's warped definition). On 5th Ave between 15th and 16th St. just down the street from Buttermilk, one of my favorite bars in New York, is Sidecar, a classy joint specializing in classy cocktails, and with a very solid menu heavy on comfort food. Under the irrestible heading "elixirs" on the menu is a list of specialty mixed drinks that I had never heard of, except for the titular sidecar, which I ordered and was delicious. My friend opted for the Old Cuban Bruggal, which consists of rum, mint & bitters, topped with champagne. There's a cocktail called "Dr. Tucker's 59", and the description on the menu simply reads "for all pain." The bartender told me that a poster with these words was found during the renovation of the building, and they decided to use the phrase for a cocktail. Cool. Hey, if you're gonna have a hook to your restaurant, this is a pretty good one. And it was fun to watch our heavily tattooed bartender expertly mix the drinks.

As for the food, apparently the chef used to work at Blue Ribbon, and he makes almost everything himself, including the mayo. Impressive, no? My friend got a solid cheeseburger and fries, and I opted for the fried chicken with root mash and bacon succotash, which was delicious. I had not eaten non-Popeye's fried chicken in ages, and this hit the spot. The only negative, which was not really a negative, was that a photographer was snapping pictures of my friend and me eating. Finding this a bit odd, I approached her and found out she worked for the Park Slope Reader, and that she was using us as her "foreground" for photos of the establishment. So if Sidecar gets more publicity, I won't mind that readers of that venerable newspaper (aka the "Paper of Record") will get an eyeful of my messy chicken bone-eating style.

Where: Read the second sentence of the post.