Kingswood
122 W. 10th St., nr. Greenwich Ave.; 212-645-0018
With the ascendancy of faux gastropubs and fancy wine bars, bar dining is practically a gourmet event these days. So where do you go to find a proper meal in a proper bar, filled, the way bars used to be, with brawny, beer-drinking gents and their voluble, statuesque girlfriends? Our choice is Kingswood, in the Village, where the copper-topped bar has two sides to it, the excellent house burger is as big as a manhole cover, and on most nights the crowd is so loud you can’t hear yourself think. This refreshing state of affairs is enlivened by the rest of the food, too, which ranges from giant, herb-encrusted rack of lamb to the kind of polished seafood preparations (superb Goan fish curry) you’d be lucky to find in more serious, and much less fun, dining establishments uptown.