Pour One Out #8: Bohemian Bar
A weekly-ish newsletter featuring Brooklyn bars to try on your way to where you're going. Written by your friend and fellow fan of nightcaps, Molly Wilcox.
“I drink to make other people more interesting.” ~ Ernest Hemingway
Photo from Bohemian Bar’s Instagram
Every time I’m anywhere remotely near Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens, I fall in love with New York just a little bit more. It’s quiet, lush, and cozy, lined with brownstones and old Italian delis and the occasional 1950s Corvette. Then I stumbled into Brooklyn Heights for the first time this past week, and I was even more floored by the vast beauty to be found within Kings County. The average home price is $1.5 million, though there plenty of five-bedroom, $17 million homes sprinkled with $7 million two-bedroom homes. (Pour one out for Millennials ever trying to buy a home in New York, am I right?) In that sense, to a twenty-something on a writer’s salary, these neighborhoods ooze aspiration. They are neighborhoods you want to live in, where you’d spend evening strolls getting lost among the multi-million dollar brownstones at golden hour.
But the reason it’s so appealing, I think, is that the neighborhoods aren’t flashy. There aren’t Lamborghini-driving, Balenciaga-wearing folk like you’d find all over LA. Instead the place is filled with average-Joe-looking individuals in Yankees hats secretly making millions. Notable celebrities who live in or frequent these neighborhoods include Solange Knowles, Norah Jones, Kerri Russell, Jay-Z and, my favorite person to drool over, Daniel Craig. In that sense, it’s a neighborhood where artists might actually commune, although perhaps not at the Bohemian Bar…
Photos from The Bohemian Bar’s Instagram
Bar Spotlight: Bohemian Bar
📍Location: 97 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11201. Nestled in between Cobble Hill and Brooklyn Heights is the bustling Atlantic Avenue. A street I didn’t know existed until the bar I was originally going to review was unexpectedly closed due to a break-in (more on that down the road). Thus, I headed west from Downtown Brooklyn toward the water. On my 20 minute walk over I passed churches, wine bars, and neighborhood restaurants, lined with tall London Plane trees and kids on scooters. It was the first nice night of spring, and the neighborhood was vibrant. The sun sets directly west of Atlantic Avenue, so if you can find a seat outside, you’ll be dripping in golden light.
📚 History: The Bohemian Bar opened in 2020 and seems to fit into the swankiness of the surrounding neighborhood perfectly. It has a sleek, marbled horseshoe bar and its drenched in light wood, teak and wicker, as if the bar could belong in both Paris and Havana. Pothos plants and fiddle leaf figs decorate the otherwise monotone decor and give the space life. Leather booths line one wall and the terrace-like front of the room is drenched in light. The bar design though, covered in stacks of records, plants, and marble, draws all the attention. Bohemien Bar prides itself on its sound system, which they established by working with Perry Brandston and Peter Raho, who specialize in creating unique sound experiences in a variety of settings. Together they designed a speaker system for Bohemien that allow the sound to travel without bouncing on surfaces; a combination of 2 line arrays (floor to ceiling speakers), a pair of Altec 604 8G and 14 open baffle full range speakers. They’re perfectly set-up for DJ sets, which they host on weekends.
💫 Vibe: I can’t imagine the great Bohemian artists actually having a drink in a place that caters so much to Millennials (stark white, marble, light wood, pothos plants, record players, etc.), and I think if Hemingway had ever belly-ed up to the bar drunkenly demanding a whiskey, he probably would’ve been kicked out. In fact, he probably would’ve smashed one glass and been barred entry for life. The bohemians would’ve been much more at ease sitting at the dimly-lit, sticky dive bar down the street to freely banter about the topics or art, truth, beauty and love. And I’m also pretty positive that the Bohemians of our time (not the ones on perfectly curated Pinterest pages or the ones who spend weeks bartering and taking acid in the desert on hot-pink fur-lined bikes), but the musicians and poets and radicals and artists probably wouldn’t frequent this Bohemian Bar either. Despite all that, it’s not a bad place to be. In fact, I really enjoyed sitting at the bar sipping my foofy cocktail and splitting a burger and fish tacos. I would absolutely return to the bar and would even recommend it to friends. And because of this, I’m having a much-needed epiphany that I’m not as ~bohemian~ as I wish I was. Damn.
🍸 Taste: They have a steady range of fancy cocktails, from whiskey-based to gin to the ever-trending Mezcal. Their menu says that their cocktails are inspired by “free thinkers, artists, musicians, wanderers and adventurers. Each drink is the expression of the Bohemian’s mindset.” In reality, they’re just a handful of hand-crafted cocktails. I got no sense that Thoreau, Hemingway, Picasso, Zelda or Kerouac had inspired these drinks, although it’s fun to play pretend regardless.
💸 Price: Cocktails are $15, tap beer is $8, wine ranges from $12 to $16, which are pretty typical New York City prices. The burger was $19 and the fish tacos were $16.
🚽 Bathroom: There are two bathrooms side by side that are as white and clean and curated as the rest of the space. No qualms.
💿 Music for your journey: This bar is so pleasant to be in on a warm, sunny day, that the music for your journey has to reflect that. Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell, I Want to Hold Your Hand by The Beatles, Uptown Girl by Billy Joel, My Sweet Lord by George Harrison. (This is one of those many instances that I wish Joe Rogan didn’t ruin everything and Joni Mitchell was still on Spotify.) Also, here’s a playlist of all of the music from the past Pour One Outs (minus Joni) for your listening pleasure!
💭 Final Thoughts: I don’t think you’ll necessarily end up finding the topic of your next book or masterpiece at the Bohemian Bar, but you’ll probably find some cute, wonder-bread type people to talk to who are wearing the latest Aritzia spring collection or some khaki chinos. This bar feels like summer and it’s perfect for a date-night in a posh and gorgeous neighborhood. Before or after your cocktail hour, I’d recommend walking down to the water and strolling along Brooklyn Bridge Park to breathe in the best view of Manhattan around.
Golden Hour at Bohemian Bar.
That's all for now folks. If you go to the Bohemian Bar and like it, tell me more and send me selfies. If you hate it, forgive me and tell me why.
Catch you next week my ~S A U C Y~ friends! ;)
[Pitch a bar I should review and give me feedback, follow my poorly executed Instagram, and share my unsolicited opinions with your friends!]