Restaurant
Astor Place and NoHo
Phebe’s
Like the Bowery Bar, with its ivy patio, across the street, Phebe’s caters to a very specific postcollegiate crowd: This one is somewhere between the hardcore boozers of the UWS and the table-serviced hoity-toities of the meatpacking district. Dressed like the latter, drinking like the former, the well-groomed clientele come early and often causing weeknight waits for dinner and weekend lines for imbibing. With a ton of exposed brick and wood beams, minus the usual knickknacks, this update on a New England mill exudes a certain class while allowing its customers to shed theirs completely. Plasma TVs, half-off appetizers, and a ten-cent wing night (which for no discernible reason is overwhelmingly popular with an Asian crowd) belie a sports bar in disguise. Come to think of it, the NFL Sundays (overrun by Bengals fans who’ve adopted it as an HQ) and the summer Wednesdays with NBA MVP Steve Nash joining his Chelsea Piers soccer team for a post-game drink go to underline our suspicion. — Amos Barshad
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