Eat, Drink, and Be Merry

23rd and Madison
I’ve been wanting to try this place forever, but there’s always a monster line to get anything.  And you know, it’s good, but it’s not “wait in line for half an hour” good.  It’s outside in Madison Square Park, which is totally awesome, and they serve beer and wine - which is also totally awesome.  I got one of their frozen custard concrete dealy-os, and it was tasty but way not frozen.  I got a hot dog, too, which I was kind of disappointed with after I saw what the burgers looked like.  Definitely hit this place up if you go by and there’s not much of a line.  Better yet, check out the webcam before heading over.

This place is a blast. It’s sleazy and filled with tons of wacky characters with bizarre soap operas going on. It costs a buck to sing a song (or a few extra if you want your song on next) and on any given night the singing is just terrible enough to be car wreck fascinating, plus being Chinatown there’s always a healthy mix of Asian pop songs thrown in.

Union and 7th Ave, Brooklyn
This place could be fairly okay if they would only play decent music. Seriously, this place has probably the worst selection I’ve ever heard: Fleetwood Mac (the definite highlight, which says a lot), James Taylor, LIVE Grateful Dead, Jamiroquai - the list goes on. But it’s open late and has free internet and they don’t care if you buy anything. Still, I feel the bad music sneaking through my skin every time I’m there.

Oh yeah, and the art: it’s always changing but it’s consistently bad, I mean, really terrible. It’s kind of amazing in a way.