Greenwich Village to Get Another Gastropub, If You Want to Call It ThatThe definition of a gastropub, as Adam Platt points out in his E.U. review this week, is open to question. But there’s no doubt that even the most broadly defined one is an upgrade over a bar with bad food, or no food at all. The Half-Pint, on West 3rd Street, will soon be pouring hand-drawn cask ale and over 60 kinds of bottled beer for NYU students and other locals, as well as administering a better-than-it-has-to-be food program. Chef-owner Mark Whelan’s menu includes fried Wisconsin cheese curds, crusted yellowfin tuna over salad, and some creative rethinkings of familiar bar standards, such as a ground-bratwurst burger, and a Reuben pizza with French dressing, sauerkraut, pastrami, and Swiss cheese. (For our part, we plan to stick to cask ale and traditional bar pies with Esposito sausage and cremini mushrooms. At least for the first few pints.) The Half Pint is slotted to open Memorial Day weekend.
The Half-Pint, 76 W. 3rd St., nr. Thompson St.; no phone yet.
The Half Pint menu
NewsFeed
Did We Mention That This Post Concerns Beer?Starting today, every Thursday will be Cask Ale Night at Jimmy’s, the East Village gastropub run by Jimmy “Pots and Pans” Carbone. Cask brew is really something special — an unpasteurized, all-natural ale carbonated only by the action of the live yeast still fermenting inside the keg, and served up via hand-operated pumps from an unrefrigerated container. The taste is more raw and intense in every way: Typically sweet up front, it has a bitter finish, not mention a mouthfeel that’s comparable to food. Jimmy’s isn’t the only bar in New York serving it — nearby d.b.a. has it every night. But if you’re a regular there, you now have a new Thursday-night spot.
Jimmy’s, 43 E. 7th St., nr. Second Ave.; 212-982-3006.
