Thursday, December 16th, 2010—Bar 340

Day 340—Wednesday, December 15th, 2010
Audrey Lounge (in the St. Giles Tuscany Hotel)
One of my favorite blogs is Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York. It’s a blog that documents how the landscape of New York is changing and how important institutions and places are vanishing. The writing is clever and insightful and it shows how our culture and New York is changing, most times for the worse. In addition, Jeremiah interviews people that are doing things connected with New York City and I was honored that he asked me to do a Q. and A. for the blog. Today it’s up and you can read it here: Marty’s Q. and A. at Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York. Thanks Jeremiah, keep fighting the good fight!

Okay, back to the bar crawl. Well, I’m still a little shell-shocked after being thrown out of Spain’s bar last night. I need to bounce back and I think I know the place to go. The other day I got a direct message on Twitter and here it is.

Hmm...imagine that, a bar that actually appreciates someone roaming the city and documenting bar and tavern culture at every stop. What a concept! So it’s nice to be invited somewhere where my services are appreciated. Plus it’s not far from where I work, so bundle up, it’s as cold as the staff at Spain out there.

It's about 14 blocks from here, so we'll just hoof it on over. It's cold out, but it's not too windy, so it's not that bad out here.

Okay, after about twelve blocks, forget what I said earlier, I'm freezing my ass off over here, where the hell is this place.

Here's the hotel, The St. Giles Tuscany.

And here's the bar, let's get inside and get warmed up.

The bar is small, but I see a seat and the lighting in here is warming me up already.

I didn't feel like drinking a cold beer, so Rebecca, the pretty and friendly bartender mixed me up a specialty cocktail. It's called the Riker's Island. Kind of a scary title for a drink.

And the drink is served.

And it's delicious! I'm officially warmed up at this point.

Here's the back of the bar in all its lit-up magenta glory.

A long shot of the cozy, candle-lit bar.

There's tables in the back of the room overlooking the lobby and a Christmas tree.

There's also a small lounge area back here to enjoy a drink and chill out. What's that on the wall?

Fire! This goes out to Gidget and Jaws, who are currently digging themselves out of their snow covered cities.

A couple of window seats opposite the bar.

Meanwhile, back at the bar, Rebecca poses with Brian and Peter. We had a nice conversation at the bar with topics ranging from music and new bands, to suicide, to Duane Reade, to New York apartment living to what the internet is doing to our society. A fun conversation and a fun night.

Rebecca highly endorses Absolut Brooklyn, which Absolut has made in conjunction with Spike Lee. In fact she's not only the President of the Absolut Brooklyn fan club...

She's also a member. Goodnight, everybody!

Review
The Audrey Lounge in the St. Giles Tuscany Hotel is a nice, small, cozy magenta hued bar. The bar itself seats about a half a dozen people with tables and chairs to the side and behind it and a candle-lit nook to the side. The bartenders are friendly and the crowd is a mix of people staying at the hotel and neighborhood locals. Music is played at a conversational level and the vibe is chill and friendly. And there's a fireplace on the wall!

There’s a full bar with a selection of about a half a dozen bottled beers and cocktails. They also have a decent selection of bourbon and single malts and Rebecca recommends the Big Apple Martini and The Riker’s Island from the specialty cocktail list. I’m sworn to secrecy about the ingredients of the drinks, so you’ll have to stop in to check them out yourself.

Thanks to the Audrey Lounge for inviting me over. A lovely time was had by all.

Audrey Lounge (in the St. Giles Tuscany Hotel)
120 E 39th (Between Park and Lexington)
212-686-1600

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Bonus Cockroach Art From Jaws

The old "Joe's Apt." show was mentioned in the comments section and here's Jaws' take on cockroaches in NYC!