UPTOWNflavor

Hugo’s Review of Carlito’s

Contributed by Hugo

I had a chance to visit Carlito’s Cafe. This place is literally a hole in the wall! But, like many things New Yorkian (I own that made-up word), “holes in the wall” always hold the most precious of gems when it comes to city life. Carlito’s is about 10 feet wide about 80 feet long. It looks like it was modified from an old bodega. When you walk in you feel like you’ve walked into someone’s livingroom. There are a couple table with candles and some cushioned seats scattered about. The walls have different displays of different art media. The bar section is toward the back where you’ll find a most attractive bartendress, Ms. Christina. I went last night for “Sunday Night Flicks” which is a series of movies they run on…well…Sunday nights. Happy Hour is from 6-8pm…beers are $3 and micheladas are $5. Maybe you alcohol-philes know what a michelada is. I did not so I decided to try it. I won’t ruin the surprise though. Definitely try the Sugar Hill Beer…it’s a native Harlem beer. They run movies on a projector which is tapped into the bar sound system.

On Mondays they have open mike poetry, other nights they have open mike anything (song, poetry, screenplays, etc) and they have invited bands playing on scattered days over the month. They also have specific art exhibits on different weeks. This is truly a rustic, grassroots, art oriented place. Like the old European coffeehouses.It just so happens that night the projector lamp burned out. But the Carlito‘s crew were not going to be overcome by technical difficulties. Israel, Christina’s b/f, got his iBook and plugged it into the sound system. They propped the laptop on the bar table and we all huddled around and watched “Raise the Red Lantern”. It was an awesome movie. Some of you might say “that is so unprofessional”! To be honest, this maneuver made a convert out of me. I thought the idea was ingenious and also spoke to the personal and familial nature that exists in Carlito‘s. I honestly felt like I was with my college friends in a dorm room or something. We all enjoyed the movie. Being around the bar itself was a plus as we got all our drinks without having to walk away from the movie.

Anyway, I loved this place and now have somewhere to go on Sunday nights as well as during the week for the invited bands. Come by and you’ll fall in love with the folks. Don’t forget to try a michelada!

Carlito’s Bar, Gallery, Performance Space

1701 Lexington Avenue, NYC

bet 106-107st (6 train to 103st)

212.534.7168

Fri-Sat 6p – 4a

Sun-Th 6p – 2a

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