Monday, June 28th, 2010—Bar 169
Day 169—Sunday, June 27th, 2010
Sala (Originally headed for Hecho en Dumbo)
Okay, tonight I feel like a little Mexican. But then I got up off my knees, took off my sombrero and felt like myself again. (rimshot) Thanks, everybody! I’ll be here all week! But seriously folks, it’s time for the Sunday dinner here at the bar crawl and I’ve been craving Mexican food. I found a place online in the Bowery that looks great called, Hecho en Dumbo. ¡Déjenos tan hacen como cabina franca y golpean el camino de mierda!
And it's another beautiful night in New York City on the old bar crawl.
I'm stuck behind these two slow walkers. HATE the slow walkers!
Here's one of my favorite pizza places. Sadly they don't have a bar, so we won't be going here.
Been there, done that. Amsterdam Billiards, not the woman, get your minds out of the gutter people!
Okay, here we are at the Bowery on the Lower East Side.
And here's the bar. Let's check it out.
Motherfucker, it's packed in here and no seats at the bar.
Back on the street and time to improvise.
This place was right around the corner.
I thought the Elvis head in the window would bring me luck, but sadly it didn't. I went in ordered a Red Stripe and the bartender was a nice guy and was curious about the bar crawl, but he informed me I couldn't take flash photos in the place. Shit. Time to move on. Goodbye Elvis and thank ya, thank ya very much.
Okay, this place looks nice, let's check it out.
I like the big wooden doors.
Wow, very nice inside! Let's see if photography is allowed in here.
It is and the beautiful and friendly bartender Melissa poses for a photo while serving me a beer.
Here's the back dining room and kitchen. The place has a real rustic, Spanish feel to it.
Here's the bar area.
And here's the open kitchen.
There's also tables and chairs up front with a nice view of the street outside.
Melissa at work at the bar.
And Melissa serves up dinner. I had the Magret De Pato from the Tosta selections. It's grilled sliced duck breast with balsamic shallot served on toast.
Wow, it looks great!
Time to dig in for another Sunday dinner on the crawl.
Delicious! Thanks for the great service, Melissa! ¡Buonas noches, todos!
Review
When you enter Sala you instantly leave the Bowery on New York’s lower East Side and enter a little slice of Spain. From the exposed brick to the candle lit tables to the rustic brick archways, this place is charming, relaxing and has an overall warm feeling to it. The bar is large and there’s several tables in the front area. The back room is the comfortable dining area with an open kitchen, rustic iron lanterns, an open kitchen and a tiled roof overhead.
There’s a full bar with a good selection of beer, wine and sangria. The menu is Spanish Tapas and some of the selections include: Tortilla Espanola which is an egg, potato and onion omelet, Plato Fiambre Espanol which consists of serrano ham, chorizo,. salchichon, manchego cheese and Plato De Quesos, a selection of four distinct spanish cheese served with quiche and almonds. There’s seven tosta (toast) selections including: Brie Fundido which is baked brie over choice of serrano ham or wild mushrooms, Gambas Ajo Blanco offers sauteed shrimp over garlic almond puree with grilled scallions and Hojas De Lomo which is adobo marinated pork loin over gruyere cheese with piquillo peppers. Happy Hour runs from 4pm to 7pm at the bar, Monday through Friday and there’s free Sangria with every Paella purchase on Sunday.
Sala is Spanish for living room and they make you feel right at home in this Spanish bar and eatery. ¡Aclamaciones!
Sala
344 Bowery (@Great Jones St.)
212-979-6606
18 Comments
Reader Comments (18)
That duck dish beat the hell out of Taco Bell I have no doubt! There's a BIG DIFFERENCE between genuine Mexican cuisine and Americanized Mexican food, it's hard to find a place to eat that knows and appreciates the difference. And I've never tried a Spanish restaurant in my life. More slobber to wipe off my keyboard and monitor and envy in my heart! And the babage continues with Melissa at 365!
Love this place and wish I could've looked at your Sunday dinner, but I couldn't take my eyes off of Melissa! Ahhh, the women of the 365 bar crawl, I love 'em!
i love how some of these turn into little travelogues around new york! its like taking a litttle trip with you. loved this place!
You need to do a "women of the Aguywalksinto365bars.com" calendar!
@Dan: That's a great idea! Look for it in 2011!
Beautiful place. I really want front doors like that! They might look weird on my apt so I would have to move.
Once again.
A few strikes and you connect and knock one out of the park!
Thanks to the lovely Melissa for providing the Oasis this time.
What a great little stop along the way.
Sweet Melissa,,,thats a looker my friends,,,,that shot of Jones bar, Im thinking its connected to the one in Hollywood Ca, across from the Formosa. Anyway's Im thinking of putting on the Allman Brothers now.
Wow! Sala's food sounds delish! And - not to sound like a broken record here - but Melissa. Sweet Melissa. Plus, looks like she's doing a crossword, so she must be smart too! Unlike that douchebag wearing the soccer, er futbol, jersey. Dude, if you're not on the team, don't wear the garb! Unless you're a Cleveland Browns fan, in which case it's okay. But only on Sundays. And NO BRADY QUINN, for pete's sake! Oh my...I do believe I've gone off-topic. Sala looks great! And the answer to 41 across is jai alai.
@Biff: GO BROWNS!
Mart! You're awesome and the food looked great.
I love your blog. I'm going to check out some of these places.
P.S. You couldn't see your comments on my blog because I have to approve them first ... yeah, I'm one of those : / but they're there now!
I suck at updating but I'll try to keep up just for you. Be sure to check in!
Adios!
@Miss Lovely, great to hear from you and I wondered why the comments weren't showing up! Thanks for the update!
HA! that friggen slow mover was asking to have her purse snactched and or just lifted out of.. friggen tourists and their friggen open purses.. pet peeve of mine.just kick the kid out of the way move the probably very bad book and whallah probably packing cash cause she is a TOURIST.
OMG. I am loving the food, the bartender and the ambiance of this place!
Marty can't lose. Another place to be in my future ... I love the way this place looks !
woo hoo....365 does it again... from "Originally headed for " to a dyno lookin' plate and an even more awesome lookin' server...one conso about the slo' pokes...they weren't wearing i heart ny shirts ...carryin' bags filled with plastic statues of liberty...and the kid didn't look like he had overdosed on happy meals...KOC
rr
One of Marcel Duchamp last piece of Art work was a wooden door with a hole in it & you looked in and saw................
The Art work is called "Etant donnés"
That Duck Looked sooooooo gooooooooood !!!!!!
What a wonderful establishment you picked for your Sunday dinner. I see that you enjoyed a Negra Modelo, one of my truly favorite Mexican brews!
Looks like a fantastic place and the food sounds great!! Friendly people and a very cool atmosphere, I love it!
Great find Marty!