Julius

A few weeks back I took these pictures when I was at Julius for a night they have hosted by super talented John Cameron Mitchell called Mattachine.  

Maybe because the bar is so old - it's been a bar since 1864 and is the longest running gay bar in the city (since the 1950's) that the kitchen is up front not hidden in the back.  In the days when I would eat mystery meet (oops I meant to say meat, but I suppose mystery meet is also appropriate for a gay bar) I can remember having a few very fine burgers here.  There is something about ordering a food the way you would a drink that I like very much.  The short order cook is out in the open preparing your food so you can watch as the cheese melts on your burger and your fries turn brown.

Maybe it's nostalgia, it reminds me of when I used to go to the lunch counter at Kresges with my grandmother as a child.  This is the ultimate comfort food for adults, the perfect thing to wash down with a cold beer.

Of course my foodie predilections make me wish they would use local cheddar and grass fed beef, but it also makes me realize the power of memory when it comes to eating, not to mention the power of a booze fueled hunger.

Open for lunch welcoming to all, this is a historic New York bar that is worth checking out for a beer and what some still say is a damn fine burger and for those, like me, leery of the beef, there is always mozzarella sticks.

Julius is located on the corner of West 10th and Waverley Place in Greenwich Village.

Goat Czech

I took this little mini video one night at a local East Village Gay bar call Eastern Bloc (owned by Anderson Cooper's BF so I'm told).  I'd never noticed this sign before and thought it was amusing. I don't usually cover nightlife, but hey....it does bring me to a food related issue which is:  why is it that so many bars don't serve food?  Particularly gay bars, which are the ones I mostly go to.  The only one I know of in all of the city that does serve food is Julius, the oldest gay bar in NYC and the oldest bar in the village, which has a small open kitchen and sells burgers, fries, onion rings and assorted sandwiches and in the old days you used to be able step just outside and buy some chicken to go on the corner (ahem...).