Shuls & Shpayz: Boswijk

Restaurant Abidjan

1136 Broadway, Bushwick

Gotham City Lounge

1293 Myrtle Avenue, Bushwick

After Complex.com released a slide show article a few years ago highlighting their picks of the top 50 dive bars in New York City, one in particular stood out from the pack. Gotham City Lounge in the northern reaches of Brooklyn. One of the few in the list not located in Manhattan nor near other relatively high traffic areas, it is themed after superheroes and comics, more or less a public exhibit of the owner's collections. Jon and I had been talking about going there for a while, and so we finally acted on our plans. Considering this part of Bushwick, Brooklyn is over an hour by subway, I wanted to capitalize on the time spent out there, so I added a visit to Restaurant Abidjan to the day. Gotham City Lounge does not open until 6pm, so we figured to grab dinner Abidjan before, which is only 10 minutes away by foot. We got off the Kosciuszko stop on the J train which we had picked up from Canal Street in lower Manhattan, and walked a few storefronts up on Broadway until we came to number 1136. A colorful and patriotic awning reads "Bon Manger, Le Bon Gout", which translates literally from French to mean "Good Eating, Good Taste." Abidjan's menu covers West African cuisine, specifically the country and former French colony of Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast). The neon-rimmed windows present pictorials of the dishes available, stews, fishes, and meats. We found the door locked when we got there so we had to ring the buzzer. After you're let inside, you'll find a spacious, bright dining room with vinyl-covered tables. Near the windows is an ancient but huge TV that happened to having some Gospel and Praise programs blaring. Then we went up to the counter to check out the menu with all the pictures.When we sat down, there was no one in the restaurant, but by the time we left it was more than half-full. We ordered with the cashier and ended up with 2 barbecued fish and attieke combos and 1 chicken in peanut stew with foutou on the side. I also ordered the ginger juice, which was just ok. We did encounter one thing they did not have available on the menu: lamb. We were also brought a gallon jug of water. And from the sign on the window, the water is specially Kangen ionized and alkalized water, whatever that means. The grilled whole fish was excellent, dressed in onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, and including a spicy tomato-based sauce, with the rice/couscous hybrid side. To use Jon's words, the chicken in peanut sauce was like having "peanut butter soup" and there was a certain sweetness to it. The attieke is an Ivorian side dish made of cassava, while the foutou, is like a gooey mashed potato, a thick paste made of starchy root vegetables boiled, pounded, and molded into a soft mound resembling Play-Doh. After a couple more of our group who had come to the area just for the bar met us at Abidjan, we paid the extremely reasonable bill (less than $40 for 3 of us), and piled into the car (instead of walking 10 minutes) over to Myrtle Avenue from Broadway. Upon arriving to the entrance of the Gotham City Lounge, with 3D murals of Batman and Superman on the exterior wall, we were left to buzz yet again in Bushwick to be allowed entry. Graciously we were let in, and we were all quite surprised to find out how small the interior of the bar really is. A pool table pretty much right when you step foot in, with small circular tables along the wall and a few random bar stool chairs scattered about, then a projector screen on the left and a projector on the right, which was showing the pre-game festivities of the NBA All-Star game not before the owner switched the channel to AMC in time to declare that Sunday nights are Walking Dead nights. Fortunately it was not at all crowded, actually there were maybe just 5 people, occupied primarily by the pool table so we moseyed our way up to the bar and took some seats while figuring out what to order. I'd read about their superhero-tribute mixed drinks, and was particularly excited for the Green Lantern (Zubrowka vodka, apple schnapps, and sprite). At $8 a pop, mixed drinks here are not out of the ordinary for New York, but the beer prices really make GCL stand out. With no draughts and soda in plastic liter bottles, PBR cans are available for $2 and their special is PBR and a shot of whiskey for $3. I also tried the Harley Quinn (raspberry vodka, gin, and lemonade), and we chatted with the bartender awhile, who was telling us it had been a while since he had made some of the drinks because most people just go for the PBR special, not surprisingly. After the drinks were downed, we piled in the car again and drove back to Queens to watch the rest of the All-Star game on my flat-screen TV that is "too small" according to IG. Pressing 2 buzzers in Bushwick revealed a great and unique Sunday night experience.