Anotheroom

In celebration of Heather's birthday, I took her out for a trendy date night. The main event of the evening was a restaurant called Locanda Verde in Tribeca. Last year, she clipped a review out of Time Out: New York and put it on my pillow. This was soon before the wedding and put on the back burner for a while. Once the wedding was over, back on my pillow it went. To Heather's credit, I'm not a guy who picks up on subtlety. Needless to say, it's a restaurant that Heather has wanted to try for quite some time now and apparently she is not alone. I tried to make reservations about a week and a half in advance and was unable. This is why I had to wait until this past Friday to do it. Oops. Better late than never I guess.

We almost never make it down to Tribeca, and with our reservations at 8:15, we had some time to kill. Heather, never being one to pass up an opportunity to try places in a neighborhood we're unfamiliar with, suggests we drop by a nearby establishment called Anotheroom. This is the third of three bars by the same owner, Craig Weiss, the others being The Room and The Otheroom. There are also locations in Florida and California called The Room and The Otheroom. I thought it would have been funnier to keep giving them different names to distinguish them like Yet Anotheroom or Anotheroom Still. Craig, if you're reading this, you can have those names for free.

One of the things I like when I walk into a bar is actual places to sit at said bar. Stools and such. It helps when you get to a place early enough. We were lucky to have seating because it's not a big place. There are only about eight stools total. They also have seating and small tables around the perimeter of the place. It's got kind of a dark and intimate feel to it with candles on the tables and bar. A beer is more attractive when it's backlit. Try it sometime.

When Heather told me about the place, I got it in my head that it was a wine bar. I'm not sure why; she may not have said it. But when we got there, I noticed it had quite a beer list. I get excited about big beer lists. In fact, it was bigger than the wine list. I asked Heather if she would feel left out if I had a beer instead of a glass of wine. She then told me that I was a grown man who can make his own decisions. Heather is nothing if not empowering.

I decided to go with a pint of Indian Brown Ale from Dogfish Head brewery. I've posted about Dogfish Head in the past and am fairly familiar with a few of their beers. I don't know how I missed this beer because it was delicious. It was dark, thick and almost a little smoky with a hint of coffee. It was so good, I had another one. Heather started out the evening with a malbec. It was good and everything you would want and expect from a malbec, but not a very generous pour. For her second round, Heather went with Blackthorn's Cider. It was okay, but we both agreed that it was a little watered down.

One thing to note about this establishment is that the restroom had a peculiar sliding door. It was kind of like going to the bathroom inside a storage elevator or a minivan. Who doesn't want to do that? I like Anotheroom and will probably go back. We would have stayed for a third round, but as you know, we had reservations. And I didn't want that listing on my pillow again...