Ins't or Ous't: Antik

Name: Antik
Address: 356 Bowery, NYC
Statu: Ous't

Don't tell us you're shocked. While this place seems to consistently attract a crowd, it's Antik's operation that has branded it officially Ou'st. We aren't sure what ad wizards decided to open a lounge without a bar, but it is one of the worst concepts we have ever seen. Because of the weird operation, most people make a bee line for the basement bar King's Cross, which when we went was staffed by one bartender, totally overwhelmed by a normal size crowd attempting to order drinks in a room that had no air conditioning. Impossible. So it's back back upstairs to Antik, only to remember that there is no easy way to order drinks there. So in that situation, what else can you do but leave without ordering anything?

To add insult to Antikury, a Little Birdy lets us know that he was threatened by the Antik doorman 45 feet from the entrance, saying "I walked out Antik because it was so terrible, and the doorman was busy talking to girls rather than manning the rope. I just walked around it and he told me that I have to wait for him to let me out. I told him that he should relax, and he started yelling at me for no reason. After walking down the street, the guy wouldn't shut up, and wound up running after me to get in my face, threatening me. What kind of bullshit are they running? Place is a joke"

Customers that can't get a drink, no air conditioning, and door men that threaten people is a losing combination. Antik is officially Ous't.

Dark Room Drama

IMG_1633, originally uploaded by R. K..

We thank our hated enemies at Eater for sending a trusty intern to sit through the Community Board 3 Economic Development Committee meeting last night, where Dark Room's liquor license renewal permit was denied! According to Eater:

The committee rejected Ludlow Street's Darkroom for a liquor license renewal. They cited several infractions including noise complaints a few counts of selling booze to minors. The bar will have to plead its case with the full board later this month.

Underage drinking? In the Lower East Side? No! Maybe we need to bring back prohibition! We predict that they will make their case to some sympathetic Board members and the license will be renewed at the full meeting. What else would go into that basement space besides a bar? It may as well be Dark Room.

SLA Disses Death & Co, Keeps Le Suck Alive

In a case of what the hell were they thinking, the Observer has news of two embattled East Village establishments, Death & Co. and Le Souk, who are both battling the fickle SLA. Amazingly, Death & Co. have not swayed the SLA to re-instate their license, while Le Souk has managed to hold onto theirs for another week. Exsqueeze us? Something about this is just off.

While we have had our issues with Death & Co with small operational items, overall we find it to be a rather well run cocktail den. Le Souk is another beast, with underage crowds, loud music, fights and a general garbage atmostphere. To sum up, the SLA should desire establishments like Death & Co. But since they are the SLA, they do all they can to run them out while Le Souk manages to remain open. No wonder the Governor needed some adult fun, he worked for NY State!

LCD Soundsystem Sneak Show

A Little Birdy tells us that LCD Soundsystem is playing a secret show tonight at Webster Hall, just a few nights after throwing down at Studio B, the place with some pretty decent looking females. Go over there now and try and sneak in if you want to see the show.

On The Circuit: Nicolette Rocks With Ronson

There are just so many events going on right now, we can't possibly hit them all. Luckily, we have our #1 correspondent Nicolette from Nicolette and the City there to pick up the slack.Last night I went to the Charlotte Ronson and Chrissie Miller “Summer Lovin” event at Blue & Cream. I showed up fashionably late with my cousin James at 7:00 p.m. (the event started at 6). We walked in and the doorman (same guy from Antik) said the ice cream was outside (served from two Mister Softee trucks) and the vodka was inside.

We headed on over to the open bar and we had a choice between sponsored Svedka vodka with pineapple, orange juice, or a pink concoction mixed with lemon juice, vodka, and pink lemonade. I chose the pink concoction and yes I chose it because it was pink. But hey Vodka is Vodka.

After grabbing our drinks we started to socialize. I ran into the designer of the night, Charlotte Ronson. After chatting it up with Charlotte I then ran into the Unruly Heir crew (who I met at the Unruly Heir event at Bloomingdales last week). I spent some time socializing with Kristian Laliberte and Unruly Heir creator Joe Goodwin.

After a few photo ops we headed outside. I had vanilla ice cream with rainbow sprinkles ( wow did I feel 12 again) from the Mister Softee truck while James chose Vanilla ice cream with chocolate sprinkles. We sat on the yellow ottomans outside, enjoyed our ice cream, and headed back inside for a few more drinks, some socializing and surprisingly some shopping?!? James ended up buying two shirts from Blue & Cream. By eight I decided to call it a night and headed home. It was a fun laid back night, in the nice spring weather eating ice cream and drinking vodka. Could you ask for more?

Bowery Electric Raided

Well, that didn't take long. According to Eater, Bowery Electric was raided early Saturday morning, just 5 weeks after opening. No word if the bar was shut for the rest of the weekend.

UPDATE: From a Little Birdy - "Just wanted to let you know Bowery Electric was open Saturday night." Problem solved.

Photo Credit

Antik Keeps The Bar Hidden

Antik has been up and running for a few weeks now, and besides the opening night event, things at the retooled Bowery lounge has been pretty quiet. Well, we heard they were booked for a pretty important birthday party last Friday night and things didn't go so well. A Little Birdy checks in and confirms the rumors, saying:

Went to Antik on Friday night for my friend's bday. She took the upstairs over for the night. It was really fun bc it was all our friends but i think people got a bit annoyed with the whole drink situation. They wouldn't let you order from the window/bar at the front only from the waitresses walking around which didn't come by often enough.

The venue should be happy bc she brought a good crowd of a ton of big name models, marisa tomei, jamie burke, may anderson, few guys from the strokes etc, but the people running it were trying to be all velvet rope dbag when everyone there was there for this private party. not sure why they had to act all too cool at the door, it was a bit annoying. party was fun and our friends were djing so music was good. but the place cleared out fairly early which i assume was because of the drink situation. its real comfortable, lots of tables and places to sit. if they could hire a few more waitresses i think it would be a good spot to host a party.

Slow drink delivery is not a good way to run a cocktail lounge, which goes back to our original theory. It takes more than a bar and a cocktail menu to run a proper lounge. Interaction with the bartenders, seeing the bottles and conversation with knowledgeable servers is how you run a lounge. This is apparently a mess.

Quick Hits: Hot, Hot Box, Varvatos Parties Down & More

It's Friday. You're probably a little groggy from going out last night. You're eyes are blurry and blood shot, and they can only stay open for a few seconds to read this. We'll make it fast. Quick Hits! Qui Qui Qui Quick Hits!

1. One of our favorite Little Birdy's checks in to let us know that after all this time, the Box is indeed still going strong, saying "nice surprise performance by Mos Def at 330am...place isnt burnt out yet." Scandalous! Our LB also lets us know that Kiss and Fly is apparently kicking some ass, saying "saturdays hv been hot". Indeed.

2. Some secret things have been going on behind the plywood at the new John Varvatos store on the Bowery. A LB reports, "I saw a gaggle of pretty young things leaving the new Varvatos store (old CBGB) on Wednesday night. It looked like they were having a small party or something." How fun.

3. What's up with Steve Lewis trying to pigeon hole Jayma Cardosa during his gripping 3 part interview? Mr. Lewis repeatedly refers to the co-owner as "the consummate Bottle Host", despite her partners telling him that she is doing a bit more than that. Give the lady some respect. [GNML]

Flyer Follies: Double Trouble Thursday

Did you think we were going a whole week without Flyer Follies? You must be crazier than AstraGirl and Steve Lewis combined. A Double Dose coming up. Let's see. P.I.N.K. and Vitamin Water are sorta the JMZ going into Bushwick. And the Delancey Lounge is Midtown. And the L Train may not exist. This party is seriously messed up. But open bar on the Delancey Roof from 6-7 while it's 49 and sunny.
Angels and ____. This one is almost too easy. Read the fine print and you see Trump Vodka is bringing the flavor tonight, so you know you are dealing with the finest ingredients, the hardest glass bottles, the classiest labels, and really bad vodka club sodas.

Flyer Follies: A Cannon Full of Butter

OMG Butter! OMG Nick Cannon! OMG Butter and Nick Cannon! OMG OMG OMG.

Quick Hits: Bowery Electric Soft Open

Bowery Electric, the new bar in the former Remote Lounge space, had its friends and family soft open last night. The official public opening is next week. The bar, which is owned by Mike Stuto of HiFi and Jesse Malin and Johnny T of Niagara and Black and White, broke out a velvet rope and clipboard mafia to keep the public out, a sign of what the Bowery has become. Sigh. Anywhoo, first reports have the space sparsely decorated, with a simple black and white motif inside. There are a few table spaces with wrap around banquet type seating arrangements, but judging from their other joints, this will definitely be a place to come and drink. What else would you want? Holla.

Photo Credit

Late Night Chang Sauce

Momofuku Ssam bar, lauded for its great food served late into the night, has quietly shrunken it's late night menu. A visit on a recent Tuesday shows that the late night menu is, in fact, rather limited. Gone are most of the delicious menu items that require lengthy prep time, including the now banished dinner ssam burrito. What is available are items from the cold stations, hams, bread and butter, and some line items like pork buns etc that are lined up and only require assembly. It's disappointing that all of the items aren't available after 11, but don't fear, this limited late night menu is only in place from Sunday to Wednesday - after which the full menu, with all of its glorious Chang sauce, returns until closing. Mark your calendars accordingly.

Commenter Intel: Antik

Antik, the new semi-speakeasy on the Bowery just opened last week, and already the place is generating all sorts of reviews by our faithful readers. What say thee - commneters?

· WTF?? You cant get a drink in this place to save your life. Couldn't find a waitress and there is definitely no bar for patrons. Only for waitresses if you were lucky enough to find one. Found out later today when I was talking to some friends that this place doesn't have a liquor license or something and that's why you won't find a bar in Antique. Anyway not sure where those models were, but if they would have been there I might have been able to stay around longer and die of thirst!

· This place sucks, definitely not hipster or cool. The people are whack, service is horrible, and models?? Who are they kidding? Obviously they are writing their own good comments on here.

· I'm so sick of these "speak easies" that are being rolled out one after another. Would you like a honey infused, peppermint, pomegranate, ginger, fizz????!!

Ouch, ouch and more ouch. That is not the way to open up. Because this is the site of a former bar, we are pretty sure that they are properly licensed. But it does seem like they are operating Kings Cross and Antik as two bars with cross access. We obviously need more information, and we think we know the right person.

Antik Opens Tonight

Antik is open for business as of tonight - if you are on the invite list that is - and according to reports, there is no bar in the joint. Customers will be ordering all drinks from cocktail servers who will then pop back to a service bar where they will be made.

Weird concept, since patrons who enjoy cocktails also enjoy speaking to the knowledgeable mixologists who create them. Call us crazy, but this is probably the final nail in the coffin of New York's speakeasy trend.

An Evening At: Death & Co.

What is it about Death & Co. that drives the people so crazy? The regulars love it and want it to stay forever. The neighbors hate it and want it gone immediately. And where does that leave us?

After visiting several times after it first opened, Death & Co. left us with a bad taste in our mouths. The food wasn't good, the seats were small, and the price point was, in our opinion, too high. We decided to stop going. But after almost a year, we decided to give it a chance. We showed up early in the evening to meet a friend, but when we told the door guard we were meeting someone, we had to wait outside in the cold until the rest of the party arrived. The next guests were told the same thing, saying the bar doesn't seat incomplete parties. Luckily, our party arrived before after a few minutes and we managed to get the last available small table. The other waiters never got in.

The room is still dark and well designed. Jazz is still on as background music. The cocktail list is lengthy and varied, with several creative concoctions that were tasty, but took 10 minutes to be delivered to the table. We didn't eat, but the food we saw still came in excessively small batches. The size of the room, the crowd and the music make it very loud and hard to talk. Maybe not the best place to catch up with friends, but then what is it a good place for? We aren't sure.

Do we want it be closed? Of course not. But we have our complaints. If it's a cocktail bar with food, then let people wait inside for their group. If it's too small, then allow people to reserve tables. The community issues have Death and Co. walking too fine a line, trying so hard to put it's restaurant foot forward while doing everything it can to operate as one of the most upscale cocktail lounges in town. No one can be everything. Death & Co. deserves a chance to do as it pleases, operating as a full service lounge until 4 AM, 7 nights a week. But that doesn't mean we are going to go.

K&K Do Antik

Thanks to a fast moving Little Birdy, we can drop some additional intel on the soon to open Antik. According to the LB, "It is the latest creation from nightlife impresarios Larry Kramer and Craig Koenig, the team behind the rustic-lounge Retreat." Now, R&R was not half bad during its short run, but Retreat? We are having trouble coming up with something nice to say. Best to just leave it alone. Overall, impresarios may be a little too strong of a word here.

Bonus note: The late M&R bar has also been renovated into King's Cross Tavern, which fancies itself as an English pub of sorts. It's been open for a few weeks now, with some early intel making it sound not half bad. We also hear that they have been letting people upstairs into Antik, even though it's not open yet. Stop by tonight and let us know how it goes.

Bowery Goes Antik Shopping

Bowery Row is set for a new addition to its already plentiful nightlife menu. The old Marion's Continental has quietly undergone some interior renovations and is about ready to reopen as Antik. There has been next to no news about this, but the fancy Zagat folks have heard that Antik will be "a 'semi-private' cocktail lounge". Joy. And judging by the logo, we can imagine the bar will have some sort of dark and sexy motif. No word if it is connected to Hostler Burrows Antik Gallery. Most importantly, when does it open? DBTH has heard rumors of Wednesday, March 19th, but that is unconfirmed. Since it's semi-private, we doubt any of us are invited, but we're working on correcting that.

Much more to come.

Belgium Room

Underage kids are suffering these days. The Belgium Room on St Marks has been closed for 15 days after being caught letting in minors. This is their second such violation in the last 3 months, and comes with a hefty fine. That's no good. The temporary closing is scheduled to end sometime next week, at which time the party shall resume.

Nail in the Coffin

On the wrapping of the soon to be Pinkberry on St. Marks poses the ultimate question.

Indeed.

Knitting Factory Heading East?

With it's lease expiring in 2009, it's liquor license set to expire in October, and it's building for sale, the Knitting Factory is in need of a new home. Brooklyn Vegan is reporting that the folks behind the "Knitting Factory have applied for a liquor license at 504-508 E 14th St." PaperMag got in touch with Gene from TKF, who says “it’s one of the many places we’re looking at.”

Considering that CB 3 hates to give out liquor licenses to just about everyone, and that they will be hosting live music 7 nights a week, we can't forsee them getting approved for this space. We hold out hopes that they do though. DBTH prayers are with you.

[Photo Credit]