Starting the week off good, as usual with a nice cup of Coffee at my daily coffee stop Once Upon a Tarte on Sullivan Street in Soho. Finished the week up pretty good, trip to The Metropolitan Museum of Art (some Inspiration) and a night out for some drinks and a Spotted Pig Burger. Plan to meet up around 8:15 at the Pig. Well as everyone knows, it can be a bit difficult to procure a table here, unless you come after 12:30 or so. But 8:15 on a Sunday Night, you're gonna wait. And wait we did. I figured I'd arrive early and scope things out. Got there at Ten Minutes to Eight. Talked to the Maitre'd, asked how long it would be for a table and that we wanted to sit upstairs. "Upstairs is going to be an hour or more," he stated and asked if I wanted to leave my cel number and he would call. Sounds like a plan. "OK." So I figured I'd head over to The White Horse Tavern for a beer or two while I waited.
Now for those of you who don't know, The White Horse is quite famous. It's been around for some 130 years or so and is the place where famed poet Dylan Thomas drank himself to death. The place is has seen many famous patrons, including, Bob Dylan, Mary Travers, Jim Morrison, Norman Mailer, and famous Beats such as Jack Kerouac. Well, anyway I've had drinks at the White Horse many times over the years. And in the past few years of so many being out of work with our economy in shambles and little money around, The White Horse with $5.00 Beers and $6.00 drinks is not a bad place to drink if you need a couple pops but don't want to get Raked over The Coals as with $12.00 plus drinks. It's not unusual for places to be charging 16 and 17Dollars for one freakin cocktail, "A Travesty." So Beers and Cocktails at reasonable rates, but it is the History and the fact that it so old and of another era of which very little is to be found anymore, The White Horse Tavern is very attractive prospect.
So i go into the White Horse and grab the last two stools at the bar. Order up a nice Rolling Rock tallneck and get myself comfy with Cel and Beer waiting to meet up with friend Joel. . Joel gives me a call,he just got off the train. I tell him to come on over to The White Horse. He asks if we're eating there? I retort "No" that we have to wiat for our table at the Pig.
So now back to The Spotted Pig, The Burger, waiting for a table.. We're half way into our second beers and I get a call from the Maitre'd, our table is ready. We scoot over to the Pig. We get there and they go to give us a table downstairs, then the Maitre'd remembers we wanted to sit upstairs. He apologizes. "No big deal," and we end up having a couple more drinks at the Bar downstairs as we wait for our table. Thirty-five minutes later we get to sit down. "Finally!"
We order a couple more drinks, Bourbon Old Fashion and Scotch on The Rocks. We put in an order for Deviled Eggs and Devils on Horseback, "Two Devils." Both are pretty good, as are the two Burgers we get, but guess how much it cost. Well we spent $30 for our drinks downstairs, then $110 for our drinks, Deviled Eggs and Burgers upstairs for a grand total of $140 for a few drinks and beers, a couple tiny appetizers, and the two renowned Spotted Pig Burgers. Was it worth it? Yes and No! No because if you consider that we could have had Burgers and the same amount o drinks at, let's say the equally or more famous Corner Bistro for about $60. Complete. We could have saved $80 and done this all over again, twice instead of once. Then again the Yes is that you've got to treat yourself every now and then. To some this $140 would be no big deal. They do it all the time and think nothing of it. To me it is a little bit of a big deal, and it should be. I don't do this everyday. Hey, i had a good time, and yes it was worth it. Oh yeah, didn't I say already it wasn't worth it, "Well Yes and No" it all depends on how you look at it, and we did have a good time, The White Horse Tavern and The Spotted Pig, two places worth checking out. And just one short block apart!
PS .... In the Info section of The Spotted Pig's website where they give you all sorts of info on the restaurant, "excuse me, Gastropub), where to park, hours of operation, etc.,. In the Info section there's a spot Who owns The Spotted Pig? answer they give is
April Bloomfield, Ken Friedman, and some pals. I'll fill in the blanks of "and some pals," in case you don't know, thee "and some Pals" are Mario Batali, Jay Z, and Bono. Yes Bono as in U2 Bono.... Just for your information.
Later.
Daniel Bellino Zwicke
THE WHITE HORSE TAVERN
DYLAN THOMAS'S LAST DRINK
photo Daniel Bellino Zwicke
UPSTAIRS at The SPOTTED PIG
