Thursday, October 29, 2009

Don't Find Yourself in a Dark Alley Unless it's...Freeman's - Freeman's Alley, off Rivington, b/tw Bowery & Christie Sts.



Folks, I'm going to level with you, the food at Freeman's is not great--only ok at best, although striving for the right things--but Freeman's is a spot you want to try to feel like you've had a NY dining experience or an experience in NY at all.  Freeman's has been open since 2004 and I've been there several times, but there's always a small thrill in even finding the spot that is off of an alley, aptly named Freeman's alley, off of Rivington St. on the Lower East Side.  NYers (myself included) are notorious for wanting to be the first to find and try something new and then be able to talk about it unabashedly.  I tried Freeman's in 2004 after moving back to NY from spending a year in London and upon finding the spot and entering the den (or really a lair, given the taxidermy on the walls) of a restaurant, I felt justified in shunning lovely Europe for forever-striving and pushing-the-envelope NYC.  I recall the food being much better back then - there was something on the menu with butternut squash and sour cream that was just divine - but again, it was never ultimately about the food.  It was and is about the fact that Freeman's is still clandestine in its locale, hip and cutting edge in its ambience, staff and clientele (I liked the Nick Rhodes thing that the hostess was trying to pull off) and now four times the size of the original, but still cozy, hunting lodge-esque and serving artisanal cocktails and very tolerable food.  Good luck finding it, but go with friends, enjoy the scene, the cocktails and the artichoke dip, reserve the back room for a birthday celebration, but don't expect culinary wizardry.

1 comment:

  1. Our hostess was a woman, Nick Rhodes? I guess Nick Rhodes WAS a woman. Gotta love the taxidermy. Concord grape julep was the best thing of the evening.

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