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Slowly Shirley

  • Bars
  • West Village
  • price 2 of 4
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended
  1. Slowly Shirley

  2. Julia Childs at Slowly Shirley

  3. Plum Tuckered at Slowly Shirley

  4. Village Bicycle at Slowly Shirley

  5. Burger at Slowly Shirley

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Time Out says

3 out of 5 stars

If you’ve ever wanted to feel like a minor character in a David Lynch film, then slink into a black dress, smack on a dark-red lip and hightail it to the Art Deco treasure trove that is Slowly Shirley, a sultry hideaway beneath Jon Neidich and Jim Kearns’s West Village bar, the Happiest Hour. Shirley takes her late-1940s aesthetic mighty seriously, with glossy oxblood banquettes and barbacks kitted out in newsboy caps and suspenders like dancers in a Broadway musical. Once you get past the standoffish bouncer out front, you’re transported to a Truman-era fever dream.

DRINK THIS: True to form, the drinks from Pegu Club pro Kearns evoke classic cocktails of the era with names like Loose Lips Sink Ships and Ingrid Bergman. The Village Bicycle ($16) is a striking summer cocktail—pro tip: get it with Dorothy Parker gin—a perfumed, refreshingly tart stir of Kaffir lime, lychee and ginger. Looking for something that’s less sweet and more smoky? The rye F.A.F. Manhattan ($30)—the letters stand for Fancy as Fuck—nearly earns its price tag with a finish as silky as satin sheets.

GOOD FOR: Old Hollywood nostalgists. The jazz-soundtracked space boasts an awards-show after-party vibe, thanks to a fleet of black-and-white screen-star portraits, vintage light sconces that look like Oscar statuettes fused onto expensive ashtrays and gold bar-height tables laid out with free snacks while you wait for your drinks.

THE CLINCHER: The acclaimed West Coast–style double burger from Happiest Hour upstairs is happily served downstairs as a single-patty version ($12), but there are plenty of worthy snacks on offer beyond the bun. Chef Thomas Lim taps into the decade with midcentury party fare like crispy Bonsai Chicken ($8), smoked-fish dip with Ritz crackers ($10) and salt-and-pepper broccoli ($6) that’s lightly battered and irresistibly crunchy with ranch for dipping. It may not be part of a Hollywood starlet’s diet, sure, but make like Shirley and indulge.

Will Gleason
Written by
Will Gleason

Details

Address:
121 W 10th St
New York
10011
Cross street:
at Greenwich Ave
Transport:
Subway: 1 to Christopher St–Sheridan Sq
Price:
Average cocktail: $15. AmEx, MC, V.
Opening hours:
Daily 5pm-4am
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