Thursday, March 29, 2007

An Evening At: Beatrice Inn

Welcome to the first installment of a DBTH series, An Evening At:, where we document the ins and outs of New York City nightlife. Openings and closings, dive bars and lounges, hipsters and B&T, DBTH will be on the scene and letting you read all about it, because for better or worse, it's all we have.

Our first installment: A weeknight at Beatrice Inn.


As dinner winds down, a little birdy tells us it's time to head to out. A quick walk and suddenly we stroll past the Bouncer with a handshake and a smile and are inside the Beatrice Inn. Low ceilinged and sparsely decorated, things are quiet early in the evening. With no cocktail menu but a promise from Angela that "everything is really good", we order an Old Fashioned and take a seat on a banquet in the front room. A designer is smoking next to us, and an LA guy gives a birthday girl a shirtless lap dance. Classy. The drink arrives and it's all wrong, full of muddled fruit like Grandma drank in Ought 7. To set the record straight, the proper recipe is as follows:

1. Sugar Cube
2. Bitters
3. Bourbon or Rye

Muddle 1+2, Add 3, Shake, and garnish with a citrus twist. Since Angela has disappeared, we're stuck with the fruit. We follow the LA Boys, birthday girls and the rest of the crew to the Back Room, where the dance floor is heating up. It's strange to see real smoke inside a New York bar. We missed you. Bad 80's songs get the models dancing like it's Fudgie the Whale and we can't help but dig the vibe. The fact that it's a weeknight and the late hour makes it a scenester kind of night. Even as the back room packs up, the front stays quiet and accessible. After a few hours, we'd had enough.

Beatrice Inn is almost hitting on all cylinders. It reminds us of a used car with that new car smell. Or maybe that was just Matt Damhave. But like so many other NYC joints, Beatrice's inability to combine the party with a spectacular cocktail leave us wanting just a little bit more. But everyone inside had a good time, and in the end, isn't that what really counts? Of course not.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Was inexplicably at the 'Inn later then I should have been on the weekend and agree fully with your assessment. great atmosphere, back room is genius for the vibe--danced like a lunatic. the drinks are definitely on the "nearly but not quite". however given how much fun everyone is having I am willing to let that drawback slide.