LOUIE AND CHAN HAPPY HOUR

As you may have guessed, K and I are fairly local creatures. We like our neighbourhood with its dogs and strollers, old people in furs, joggers running along the Hudson; we walk in Central Park and visit the Museum of Natural History; and it is close to work for me, so much so that I can get there in a half hour walk. That is a luxury in New York and it always feels relaxing to be in the Upper West Side. But, dear reader, we also like to get out of our neighbourhood, and are especially prone to visits in the Village (East, West and Greenwich).

The Village as you will know is a mythic place in a mythic city. It is curious to be living in New York when you already know so much of it before. You recognise the yellow cabs honking as soon as the light goes green, the hot dog vendors with the steam rising from their carts, the people playing baseball, the beggars with their cardboard signs, the commuters with their satchels. It feels eerily familiar and there are landmarks on my daily route, be that Tom’s, the restaurant in Seinfeld, or Columbia University itself where the names of Herodotus, Cicero, Plato loom on the library I walk into. To be certain, I had visited the City several times before this time not least when I lived in Philadelphia some years before. But it is different to be here for an extended period. Often I am reminded of Frederico Garcia Lorca when he wrote in ‘The King of Harlem’ in Poet in New York,

They.

They who drink silver whiskey by volcanoes

and swallow little pieces of heart on the frozen mountains of the bear.

With this, what I mean to say is that being in New York obeys another kind of logic, a kind of dream logic. It has a different reality to the one I am used to. That is why the Village is so appealing – for its layers of history, for its ongoing dynamism, for its wonderful stores and interesting people, for all the things that make this city great for artists and writers and diners. Here, one can wander, and forget for a moment, the divide between rich and poor or whatever else it is that seems to ail this place.

For us, the biggest challenge is living within our means and there are better deals in the Village than where we live. I have been out for cheap Vietnamese and good slices in between browsing bookstores and sitting in Union Square. For anyone interested in deals, thankfully, there are happy hours all over New York. Often beer or wine comes for $5, cocktails for a touch more, and, oysters are $1. I cannot resist that and to my mind there is not many better ways to spend $10 (plus tip).

This night we were catching up with friends before going to gallery openings in Chinatown. One of K’s friends had a show around the corner and she recommended a small, intimate, tasteful restaurant called Louie and Chan. It is darkly lit, kind of hushed and reverent. As always, we take a seat at the bar. I might add that it is dark outside, having just ticked over to five o’clock. One minute earlier and we would have been an abject couple without a sense of decorum or the punctuality to time our run for happy hour.

We settle in and, as always, our glasses are filled to the brim with ice water. The barman pours us a house red, a light, fruity Italian with echoes of cranberry. The high quality wine is why this place was recommended to us, but what sets their happy hour apart is the food on offer. For $5 one can get a wood fired pizza with buffalo mozzarella, torn basil leaves and hot salami. It is a little bigger than the slice you can get from any corner here, which sell plain cheese for between $1 and $3. But the quality at Louie and Chan is exceptional. The ingredients are fresh and the flavours mingle perfectly on the palate. This is the happiest of hours that makes one smile to be in New York. But, what is a romantic Italian meal without pasta?

This is where Louie and Chan truly excel. The pasta is chewy and dextrous, a kind of pliable noodle with a delicate tomato sugo dusted with parmesan in an umami rich splendour of flavour that is recognisable, comforting and always pleasurable. This happy hour is really worth it, and, for when we leave our little bubble, a beautiful reminder of why New York is a city to behold and savour.

Louie and Chan
303 Broome Street, New York NY 10002
Subway: B, D at Grand Street; F at Delancey; M, J, Z at Essex Street.