Schillers Liquor Bar on Rivington and Norfolk.
You will get laid after going to Schillers. At least if you can still walk when you head out the door, because let me tell you they make some damn good drinks.
With old subway tiles, numbered bottles lining the walls, and a bathroom that startles everyone the first time they walk in, the ambiance is hard to beat. When you add in fresh oysters, a perfect manhattan (I order the Jerry Thomas), and sliders made from Pat LaFrieda’s brisket it’s pretty unbeatable (especially during happy hour which runs until 7:30).
Had a manhattan there last night!
I don’t know how many of my stories have started out at Schiller’s, but I suspect it’s quite a few (here’s one I found). I go there for dates and I go there after work for happy hour. I go with friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, exes, and my partner’s partners. The bartenders are handsome, the staff is impossibly beautiful and generous, and if I don’t stop gushing I’m going to have buy a ring or something.
If you’re on the Lower East Side, and you can get in (it gets crowded late and on weekends) then go. Stop by. Say hello. Have a drink and just take it all in. And if you happen to sit in the corner of the bar with a dirty book next to your drink, then all the better.