Profile

If Van Gogh's Radio sounds more like a band than a bar, that's because it was. When owner Tony Petillo's rock 'n roll fantasy faded a few years ago, he and his two siblings kept the band name alive by opening up a bar in their native Greenpoint neighborhood to serve all those other people for whom the Bowery's—and, later, Bedford Avenue's—siren song of bohemian utopia rang a little bit tinny. Although ubiquitous sunflowers give a nod to the mad Dutch post-Impressionist, the giant game of professional poker or The Simpsons usually being projected on the back wall dispels any hint at painterly pretention. Regular guys, low-key recent arrivals and the occasional poet keep it real with cheap drinks, video games, and a jukebox stocked by a man with confident taste in music. — Keach Hagey

Open mic night every Wednesday at 9 p.m.