Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Greenwich Village @ W. 65th and Lorain Ave.

This dive, though not the mother of all dives is the lesser mentioned slightly soiled step-sister of dive bars. Very unimpressive from the outside; it shares a somewhat busy corner with a barber shop, short-order cafe, and a recreation center, it makes up for it on the inside. It has a nice long solid oak bar, decent selection of liquors, though mostly liqueurs and bottom-shelf variety, a pool table, dartboard (bring your own darts), and open kitchen until 2:00 p.m. The menu is nothing spectacular, but it does have a nice chicken breast on kaiser that will do until the hair of the dog has worked its talismanic wonders. The beer selection is modest and everything comes in a bottle. But G-Ville as it is known to its truly dedicated customers, those of us there the night we reviewed, does have a nice juke box, with tunes ranging from classic rock, to blues, to rap/hip-hop and r&b. There are a couple of big televisions that brought out the patriot in all of us, couldn't have been the booze, as we watched Phelps stretch for his 7th gold. The clientele is sorted and includes the perennial block booze-slut of both persuasions. There is not doubt that the bloom is off the rose for Greenwich Village, but its one truly saving grace is its back patio, especially on a nice day. It has four or five tables and is a nice hideaway if you want to get a smoke and enjoy a few out of view of the guys doing the spare change tango. It may not win our coveted "dive grand prix", but its definitely in the running.

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