We’re Picking Up Good Libations
Remember when Curbed announced that Libation was on the market for $5.5 million, prompting a flurry of mock-elegiac blog posts and even a rumor that it might become a downtown outpost of the 40/40 Club? Eight months later, the place is still alive with customers who line up on weekends. As of this week Libation is under a “new management” team that doesn’t plan to change much.
Openings
Jock Bait Coming to Heart of Lower Eastpacking DistrictRumors that Libation was going to become an outpost of 40/40 Club haven’t come to fruition, but now Natasha Navidad, a former manager-barkeep from Bull’s Head Tavern and the Black Bear Lodge is bringing 72 high-definition TVs to the space that was formerly Tenement— an ESPNcroachment the likes of which haven’t been seen since Bounce Deuce put its plasmas all up in the East Village’s face. The sports bar will be called the Blue Seats, after the seats in Madison Square Garden, but the food should be a step up from concession-stand grub: raw oysters and Philly-cheesesteak sliders for dinner (with a “twilight menu” served till 4 a.m.) and French toast for brunch. Have there been liquor-license delays? Yes, of course, but the place expects to open, serving blueberry mojitos, on July 30.
The Blue Seats menu
The Blue Seats, 157 Ludlow St., nr. Stanton St.; 212-614-1494.