friday night cocktails!

yesterday, the S.O. realized he could get out of work to have dinner with his high school buddy (a real estate tycoon AND model in from dallas for a weekend). they left choosing the venue in my capable, but overplanning, hands. the criteria: people watching, outdoor option, food the picky S.O. will eat. after lots (and lots) of thought, i settled on morandi, keith mcnally's (balthazar, pastis, schiller's) somewhat newish italian joint in the west village.

basically, it was perfect: a sweet, adorable hostess; a not-offensively-crowded bar to wait at (we didn't have reservations); a generally attractive crowd, plus a celeb-sighting (carla gugino); opened french doors leading out to a quasi-sidewalk cafe; and who doesn't like italian?

the food was fine. it didn't impress my standard outlets (New York magazine, the New York Times, Chowhound), but the S.O. and his buddy really liked it. the baccala fritti, their take on fish & chips and a friday night special, was delicious (actually the fries were just average, but the salt cod... YUM!).

the space was great (rustic, warm), there were cocktails and good wines (i loved the negroni and the S.O. loved the Tuscan red), and never a shortage of people to watch.

plus it was walking distance to horrible buddha bar. i wouldn't have gone except it was the birthday boy's choice. we had two bottles, and i requested another carafe of soda water. our waitress (a petite blonde idiot) flat out said, "No." i asked the DJ to play better dance music. he might as well have said no ("i don't play commercial crap"). we walked around TWICE looking to recruit attractive girls for the birthday boy, and the best we found were these cheezy blondes, both wearing trashy-cheap outfits. the only ok parts were the guy at the door who was actually friendly rather than stoic and aloof. and the guy who showed us to our table, who maneuvered around buddha bar's ugly patrons with major skillz.

morandi
211 waverly place between seventh avenue south and charles st
new york, ny 10014
212.627.7575

buddha bar
17 little west 12th street between ninth ave and washington st
new york, ny 10014
212.647.7314 (but why you'd want to call is beyond me)

photo credit: Robert Presutti for The New York Times