Sunday, November 28th, 2010—Bar 322

Day 322—Saturday, November 27th, 2010
Jerry's Cafe
Live from New York, it’s Cheeseburger Saturday Night! Starring Jerry’s Cafe with a special guest appearance of Shawn Washburne and the Visual Vaudeville art exhibition. Featuring the ready for prime beef player, Marty Wombacher. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Shawn Washburne, Visual Vaudeville and Jerry’s Cafe!

One of the cool things about doing this bar crawl is the interesting people I meet along this journey. A week or so ago I was in Biddy Early’s bar and I met Shawn Washburne who is an artist and President of Toast—Tribeca Open Artist Studio Tour, and he told me about an art show they were putting together called, Visual Vaudeville. I told him I’d stop by and check it out and so tonight I did. The video above is from the opening night and Shawn explains the idea behind the exhibition. Below are some photos I took of some of the art in the show.

Here's the front window display of Visual Vaudeville at 368 Broadway. The exhibit answers the question of, "What if Andy Warhol and P.T. Barnum shared a bottle of wine?"

And here's artist and President of Toast, Shawn Washburn. Behind him and above are two of the planets he created for the show.

More of Shawn's planets and globes float overhead. Art is everywhere in this three-floor installation. Let's go check some of it out.

"Sunken Garden," by Jonathan Lux.

This was an interesting painting by Eric Wats. This side is the painting he created for the show...

And the backside is an older painting, he did earlier on the same canvas.

"Shadow," by Alkan Nalllbani.

"Untitled," by Mark Demos.

Obligatory Visual Vaudeville mirror shot.

"Warrior Doll," by Natasha Shapiro.

"Logan Airport," by Judy Somerville. A funny thing happened while Shawn and I were discussing this painting...

Judy walked in the front door! Here's Shawn greeting her on the first floor.

A portrait of the artist and her art.

Hanging on the door to the basement level display is, "Mask On Canvas," by Olga Spiegel.

"Natasha," by Lizzie Pantirer.

They also had art on display that wasn't done on a canvas, such as, "Blue Electric Guitar," by Chris Totaro.

And art in the form of hats! "13 Hats," by Jacqueline Lamont.

By now my stomach was grumbling and Shawn suggested we stop by Jerry's Cafe which is nearby and is famous for their cheeseburger, among other things.

It's just a couple of blocks away and here we are!

Since it's a holiday weekend it's unusually slow and we have our choice of seats at the bar.

Friendly and cute bartender, Angela serves up a Corona and lime using Jerry's patented lime inserter.

Ana's the lovely manager of Jerry's and she was doing some research for the bar. "Drink up?" I'll drink to that!

Cheers!

A shot of the zebra-styled bar.

Ana is also a mathematician and Angela is an actress. So while Angela tapdances a drink your way, Ana is busy preparing your bill.

Happy hour!

There's tables and chairs opposite the bar and in the back room. Art and photos line the walls.

And it's not just your run of the mill art on the walls either. The owners are art collectors and this is a Robert Rauschenberg original.

Here's another Rauschenberg piece.

There's several photos by John Albash on the walls, with inscriptions by him below the photos. This one says, "Jersey boy in market place."

Here's an original Andy Warhol piece. And thanks to Shawn and Toast, we all know now what would've happened if he would've met P.T. Barnum and shared a glass of wine.

A couple of pieces of art by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, who did The Gates installation in Central Park a while back.

A famous photo of painter Marcel Duchamp playing chess with a model.

Meanwhile back at the bar, Shawn, Ana and Angela are discussing various ways to throw people out when they want to use the bathroom without asking or buying anything.

Robert came in and gave me several suggestions for bars, which I dutifully recorded in my notebook.

Here's Natasha and Siobhan who are artists and are from...(drumroll)...Melbourne, Australia! I keep running into Australians and I love it. You can check out Natasha's website here: Natasha Johns-Messenger.

Angela poses with Brian, who's rumored to be 21-years-old.

And finally, the star of tonight's show, the cheeseburger from Jerry's Cafe!

Delicious!

And here's the man responsible for the delicious burger, Santiago, posing with Shawn as we get ready to leave. Goodnight, everybody!

Review
Okay, this was a massive post to put together, so once again I slack on the review section here and I’m posting a review from New York magazine. I’ll be back to writing reviews tomorrow, unless I’m too lazy to do it. Thanks so much to Shawn, Ana and Angela for a wonderful evening on the bar crawl!

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In 2008, the original Jerry’s in Soho fell victim to skyrocketing rent. Owner Jerry Joseph picked up and moved operations to Tribeca, where he opened a short-lived fast-food joint called YourAsian. He’s now reverted back to his roots: Despite the diner décor and the location on an out-of-the-way block of Chambers Street, the full bar up front and Gramercy Park Hotel alum chef in the kitchen make it clear that Jerry’s is a far cry from a gritty greasy spoon. The shiny, black-and-white checkered floor is set off by red vinyl booths and a dash of zebra print here and there. The staples are the star of the menu—the namesake burger, cooked to order, is served on a brioche bun with perfectly crisp shoestring fries—but adventurous inclusions like grilled-octopus risotto with mascarpone, brick roasted chicken with broccoli rabe, and grilled pizza with goat cheese and fig preserve elevate Jerry’s above the average neighborhood diner. — Randi Eichenbaum

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Jerry's Cafe
90 Chambers St. (Near Church St.)
212-608-1700

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Bonus Interview From the Greg and Dan Show on WMBD Radio!

I was interviewed by my old friends Greg Batton and Dan Diorio on the Greg and Dan Show on 1470 WMBD—Peoria’s News and Talk Station and yesterday Gene from the BBC found the podcast link. Check it out here: Marty interviewed on the Greg and Dan Show.