« Marines | Main | Arcade Fire »

Bonita

Fri., October 5, 2007

I was to meet Megan and Vincent for dinner at Bonita in Fort Greene, only when I showed up, they didn’t seem to be there, despite cellphone discussion indicating otherwise. Were they at the Williamsburg location? They assured me they were not. I even asked the server if the place had a patio out back that I wasn’t noticing. Those sly devils: they were sitting on the same side of a table in the far back, purposely obscured by a partition, and I’m sure the look on my face was priceless when I stuck it back there.

We enjoyed the spicy alcoholic beverages, our hearty traditional Mexican entrees and an especially awesome pico de gallo that turned out not to be complementary. Megan tried a mysterious, unlabeled salsa-like condiment resting inconspicuously in a chutney-style container on the table and it was possibly the spiciest thing she’d ever tasted.

Afterwards we enjoyed drinks, company and a mangled communal slice of red velvet cake in a plastic clamshell container for a friend of a friend of a friend’s birthday celebration at Frank’s Cocktail Lounge on Fulton Street near South Elliot Place. The email invite referred to it as an “old-man bar” and New York magazine’s review praised its “truly authentic kitsch,” which all just means it’s a bar not a marketing department’s approximation of an Authentic New York-Style Bargoing Experience. It featured basic, relatively cheap drinks, generous pours, a small stage in the back for bands, and a poster-based decor that appeared to have been selected and arranged by someone with as much design sense as your dad. I liked the plastic bowl of complimentary snack-sized bags of chips at the bar. Frank, a man in an electric blue suit, leaned on the wall near the stage and kept an eye on things. He ordered our group a free round and after we called our thanks, he nodded in our direction.

Bonita

Tags: 52 Meals Project (2007), Brooklyn | Comments have been closed.