Blind Barber

Time Out says

Mon Sep 17 2012

Joshua Boyd, Adam Kirsch and Jeff Laub take their NYC barbershop/cocktail show to Culver City. In a space double the size of the original Blind Barber, the front room is stark white with four barber stations–call ahead for availability. If a cut, shave or trim aren't in the cards, you'll be steered through a nondescript door revealing a relatively spacious speakeasy, under dim-lamp lighting and adorned with old wood paneling and yellow fading wall-paper like something out of Hotel Earle from Barton Fink. Leather booths line the back walls with ample tables and chairs, but regulars like to congregate at the bar sampling seasonal cocktails. Posters in the bathroom may sway you into getting that 80's crew cut you've always wanted—remember the fade?—and there’s a vintage cigarette dispenser offering the shop's proprietary barber-shop products.

Vitals

Drink this: If you’re a tomato-cocktail skeptic, try the Seriously Dangerously ($12)—a merry mix of Fighting Cock 103 proof bourbon, tomato, basil, lemon, amber agave—and see how you feel about tomato juice after that. Or go for the Sweeney Ted—a nod to the Demon Barber of Fleet Street—mixed with Jameson, lemon, honey, pomegranate liqueur, egg white and Creole bitters.

Good for: Haircuts, dancing and well-made craft cocktails. Happy hour is from 6-8pm, Monday to Friday with $4 beers and $10 cocktails. Also, if you keep missing the Grilled Cheese truck, fret-no-more, because they've got eight different grilled cheese options on the menu that come with house made chips–go for the Buffalo Mozzarella with Truffle Aioli ($12).

The scene: The clandestine atmosphere here breeds on its speakeasy á la Raymond Chandler setting, but with a younger, hipper group of characters held up at the bar, laying eyes all around the room rather than retailing tells of car chases and girls that got away. The girls that got away are in fact here, dressed for attention (as are the cocktail waitresses) and with the DJ spinning, there's no need to cry in your beer – get up and dance.

The playlist: Dire Straights, The Police and U2 eventually give up the floor to a DJ spinning and dancing.

By Jonathan Cristaldi