A Super Summer Friday!

I'm currently on vacation, but I thought I'd do a little auto-post post.  Why not?!  Enjoy!  :)


I believe it's known throughout the universe how much I adore my Summer Fridays.  I have some ideas about how to spend my Fridays this year, but for the first one, I had a grand day with some of my glorious co-workers!  We did sort of a pub crawl!  Ish.  But we had a dandy time and I thought I'd share it with you - maybe it will be inspiring!

My glorious co-workers and I so enjoy having some nibblies and cocktails at Bathtub Gin.  However, Bathtub Gin doesn't open until 6pm, so whatever would we do to occupy our time on a Summer Friday?  What DIDN'T we do?!  Well, one thing we didn't do was go to the High Line.  We had talked about it, but, frankly, walking along the High Line in 90 degree blazing sunlight is not my idea of a good time anymore, so we improvised.

 

First, one GCW (glorious co-worker) and I went to Southern Hospitality for lunch.  I was hankering for a little barbecue, and when I read they had fried green tomatoes on the menu, we were in!  I'm generally not one to head to chain restaurants, but what the heck.  Fried green tomatoes are always worth it.  And, surprisingly, these were good!  Tart and firm, with a delicious BBQ-y, mayo-y, ranch-y, yummy-y dipping sauce.  Thumbs up on the fried green tomatoes.  Though the portion size was odd - three little ones and one big one is not easily divisible by two.  We figured something out, though.  Looking at the photo makes me want to go there again right now...

The top photo is my glass of sweet tea.  It was delicious.  Then I got the BBQ pulled chicken sliders (sorry, vegetarian police - BBQ is my go-to vegetarian rule breaker).  They were yummy as well!  They put some slaw on the sandwich and it was crunchy and vinegary, not goopy.  The buns were potato rolls, I think, and were nice and soft.  I put a little extra BBQ sauce on the plate for dipping.  I enjoyed them.  They were pretty light, as BBQ goes.  I had read on a few food blogs that the music was too loud in Southern Hospitality, but we didn't find it to be too bad.  The place was relatively empty on a Friday afternoon, so I definitely would go back and try it again when the hankering comes to me.  

 

We chose Southern Hospitality for another reason - they're right across the street from Schmackary's, the new cookie shop that makes incredible cookies.  They were having a fundraiser for Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS and two of my very favorite people were working there to raise money.  So of course we had to stop by!  The shop was busy and hopefully making a lot of money.  I didn't get pictures of my cookies, darn it (I got the cookies and cream and peanut butter cup), but I did get a picture of two of my very favorite people (though my head looks ginormous).  Happy trip to Schmackary's. 

 

Off to the E train, headed downtown.  Then we went to The Park, a very cute spot.  We just sat in their bar area and had beverages until it was time to go to Bathtub Gin.  Oh, the stories we told!  The laughs we had!  Seriously, my GCWs are fantastically witty people.  The bar was empty when we got there around 4:30, but was packed at 5:45 when we picked up to go!  One of our merry band needed an ATM - usually my iPhone is so reliable with the AroundMe app, but this time it let us down.  But, I did find a couple of restaurants that I've always wanted to try as we wandered around looking for cash!  So that was good.  Then we went in the back entrance of Chelsea Market, hit the ATM, exited the front and went to Bathtub Gin.  Oh, and I still need to go back to Chelsea Market on a Summer Friday.  So much to look at! 

 

 Finally, the piece de resistance - Bathtub Gin!  They weren't quite ready to seat us when we got there.  I had time to run over to the nearby tapas restaurant and look at their menu.  They serve fideos!  I definitely have to try that place out.  We didn't have to wait for long to get to our favorite banquette in Bathtub Gin.  We settled in and checked out the drink menu - it's fun that they have a seasonal drink menu.  Of course, I can't remember what my drink was called.  It was Gin Gin something.  Oh well.  It was delicious and strong, I do remember that.  Everyone had a different cocktail and I'm pretty sure we were all happy with them.  I'll put photos of the cocktails below.  We also had some of the small plates - the french fries are tremendously yummy, as is the hummus. 

We only had one drink, since they are so potent and it had been a long 'pub crawl' day.  When we left, around 7:30, we couldn't believe it was still light outside!  But it was a stellar fun day and we've already started making plans for doing something together once a month.  Hooray for GCWs!!  Hooray for Summer Fridays!  Long may they reign...