The Unbearable Banishment: the smoke gets in your eyes. and hair. and clothes. but in a good way.

Friday, December 19, 2008

the smoke gets in your eyes. and hair. and clothes. but in a good way.

I spent a very manly evening at Hudson Bar & Books way down yonder on Hudson Street at Horatio with R, esq. This would be Holiday Spirits #4. R, esq. is another lost soul who I communicate with regularly but don't actually get to see very often. Like most lawyers, he works. A lot.

Hudson Bar & Books is a cigar bar. Smoking has been run out of town, so walking into a bar and encountering a cloud of cigar smoke is a bit unsettling. The testosterone practically drips off the walls and seeps down onto the copper-topped bar.



This bar is so damn masculine that they play nothing but James Bond movies on the small TV in the corner. Last night they had You Only Live Twice on a loop. I was able to watch it one and a quarter times. The back room of the bar is a library. Nobody reads there. It's just drinking and smoking. The books are for show. And a pretty show it is, especially for an old bookman like myself.


There are women in the crowd but, generally, it's a bunch of guys sitting around puffing cigars. They have a cigar menu and a whisky menu. No food. I don't make a habit of smoking cigars but when the occasion calls for it I am happy to imbibe. I always end up smoking a stogy or two when in Vegas.

4 glasses of Dewar's (2 straight up, 2 w/ soda) + 4 Dunhill cigars = $147.63 And that's without the tip! No food, remember. Just alcohol and tobacco. Even for New York that's preposterous. Well...that did include the Bond movie.

* * *

I got down the the Village a little early and had a cup of chili at this utterly charming bistro.


Next door to the bistro is the house I going to own someday.


That wreath is hung in their living room window. It looks out onto a quiet, pretty block in the heart of Greenwich Village. *sigh*

Labels:

12 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dude, I love your blogs. And your excuses to drink are excellent. I'm using them myself!!

December 19, 2008 at 5:18 PM  
Blogger The Unbearable Banishment said...

G: Ah, a new reader! My ego is singing. No charge for the drinking tip. There’s plenty more where that came from!

December 19, 2008 at 5:47 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

$150 for whiskey and cigars? Man, I can't even relate to that.

That bar looks like (and sounds like) something out of two centuries ago.

Glad you enjoyed it though.

December 19, 2008 at 9:06 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Rob, I just spent $110 with a girlfriend & I for 5 drinks at Mesa Grill on 5th, between 15th & 16th (this was pre-dinner @ the bar for 45 mins).

Are you wondering the food bill once we sat at our table?? Basically, I just gave the man my wallet and my most recentncopy of my brokerage statement, looked him in the eye, and left.

I always go back though, at least twice a year. It's like relatives.

December 20, 2008 at 12:35 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Greg - you must have expensive relatives :-)

UB: let me know when you own that house. I'm coming over for a visit.

December 20, 2008 at 3:08 AM  
Blogger ~E said...

Damn it UB!!! I wanna move to New York now...

December 20, 2008 at 5:57 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

so much testosterone in that bar? i grew some random chest hairs just reading it...

spent $125 on 4 dirty martinis and two appetizers at the Ritz Carlton Battery Park when i was there. Good thing i wasn't paying.

and can't believe that's a HOUSE?!?!

December 20, 2008 at 9:41 AM  
Blogger Pearl said...

Ah, looks like we were doing the same thing, only our smoking was sub-arctic.
Don't blame you for wanting that house. Now I want it, too...
Pearl

December 20, 2008 at 9:20 PM  
Blogger A Free Man said...

I'm not much of a bar guy these days, but that looks like a place I could get right comfortable.

December 21, 2008 at 10:22 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I do аgree ωith all of the іԁeas you havе presented in your pοst.
Τhey are very convincing and сan cеrtaіnly worκ.
Still, the posts arе very brief fοг newbies.
Could you ρlеase lengthen them a bіt from subѕequent time?
Thаnkѕ fоr the ρoѕt.

Feel free to vіsit my pagе; altec bucket trucks
Check out my homepage ; altec bucket trucks for sale

February 5, 2013 at 1:58 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Нi there Dеаг, are уou genuinely viѕiting this ωeb sіtе οn а
гegulaг bаsis, іf so thеn yοu will аbsоlutеly get
fаѕtidious experience.

Fеel fгee to surf tо my homеpagе; Bucket Trucks

February 15, 2013 at 3:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks a bunch for shаrіng this with all of us you
actually realizе what you arе talking about!

Bookmarkeԁ. Please adԁitionаlly consult ωіth
mу web site =). We could have a hyperlink exchange agreemеnt
among us

Нere iѕ my weblog :: dallas seo testimonials

March 19, 2013 at 3:27 PM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home