all photos: Sexy Fitsum
True story: last Friday, I went to one gallery opening, then to another, and then since we were supposed to meet some friends from out of town, who live grown-up (read: real-estate-owning) lives in New York City at Local 16, we decided to do the responsible thing and EAT SOME FOOD before we drink some more.
And considering that the second gallery opening was at 17th street, we went to a restaurant/bar we thought:
a. had an awesome name
b. was a stone’s throw away
and
c. we’ve never been to before (you should ALWAYS try new things, no matter how much you love Foodbar or Fox and The Hound or that italian place with a garden on 17th and Church)
AND THAT IS HOW WE FOUND JACK’S.
Now, both Haley and I went to art school in the south which means we lived in gay bars for all our formative years. Hell, people have bought me and my roommate “Will and Grace” DVDs for Christmas.
The point being, we’ve drank with Lady Chablis and danced with Lady Bunny and we know what a good gay bar makes (it is not shirtlessness, contrary to popular belief).
What makes a good gay bar is as follows: good, strong drinks and drink specials that exist only in gay bars, friendly (but not overbearing) staff and patrons, a sense of humor, enough room to breathe and dance, (mostly) not being afraid to sit on anything, and a kick ass soundtrack.
Jack’s had all a plenty.
Plus good food.
We had gnocchi (always good to get something filling while on a gallery/free wine hop) which was both delicious and delightful with some sort of smoky cream sauce we loved so much we poured the rest of it over our (already delicious, and MADE TO ORDER) risotto.
The plates were big and when we ordered stoli and sodas to go with our well balanced meals we were promptly informed by our wonderful server (the staff should all win medals there for friendly-but-not-pushy) that “The stoli is our 3 dollar special”
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN-3 dollar, non-rail, Friday night vodka specials.
In a bar where you don’t know the bartenders so you’re NOT drinking discountedly by default.
Does this get any better?
It actually does.
We left after dinner to go back to our gallery adventure but things were crowded and annoyingly so, and so we went back.
They hugged us on our way in, we plopped ourselves at the pleasantly busy but not-too-crowded bar
(I love sitting on a bar stool, I do, and I so rarely get to do so) and ordered some more stolis and promptly texted Chris Burns and Fitsum (whom we got separated from at some point of our art journey) of this miraculous place we discovered.
By the time they arrived, a Jack Daniels promoter was there (at JACK’S! Geddit!) they were pouring us free Jack Lemonades from a pitcher, we made friends with a great dude named Steve, who had spent some time in former Yugoslavia and had a soft spot for our honey brandy, and were on first name basis with not just the bartenders but the busboy and wait staff and were giddy on a unique mix of Britney and Janet Jackson blasting (not too loudly) from the speakers.
What followed is this:
Service with a smile.
Local 16 and the Cat paled in comparison.
++++++++++
It is gay pride week, in case you missed the memo(s).
Do yourself a favor and stop by Jack’s.
It is on 17th street (duh) between Church and Q and it may be the best decision you made all week.
In more ways than one.
Agree on most counts… fun, straight-friendly gay bar that pours stiff drinks, feels cool and will put the euro cup on during the day if you ask nice.
But the food? Really?
Once you get past the Hank’s/Komi/Taro trio of awesome, there’s just not much left on 17th St… to be fair, I haven’t had the risotto or the gnocchi, but a mediocre burger, an awful crab dip and a greasy, flavorless plate of grilled calamari were enough to make me stick with the booze.
June 13, 2008 at 2:07 pmCan you say half-price wine and pasta nights?
Usually dedicated service.
Can be loud, but always proud.
Jack’s is where Poppers (tee hee) used to be, for anyone who doesn’t know. It is indeed fabulous AND extremely straight-friendly for a gay bar. My beefy 6′2 quintessential straight dude roommate wound up there the other night and had rave reviews when he got home - basically all the same stuff that Svet said.
June 13, 2008 at 11:34 am