Profile

Barrage is one of several gay lounges to descend upon midtown—before, the only real option was Stella's (a randy collision of theater queens and in-your-face go-go boys). On the heels of Hannah's Lava Lounge (working for a kooky, it's-cool-to-wear-your-fez-in-here East Village feel), Barrage's lack of any discernible identity works in its favor: The crowd doesn't know whether to be bitchy (Chelsea) or wacky and off-kilter (East Village). Stripped of these options, the people at Barrage usually err on the side of friendliness—which means it's a great place to go if you actually want to meet people, and a very bad place to go if you want to brood over a Stoli raspberry.