Pete’s Tavern

On Friday before Hurricane Irene hit NYC, Ken and I headed out for a walk around the neighborhood. We were in the mood for a late dinner and ended up going to Pete’s Tavern for a quick bite to eat. We ate outside since the weather was pleasant (although a bit on the muggy side).

Pete’s Tavern is famous for being the oldest standing bar in New York. Lots of pictures of celebrities visiting the tavern paints the walls of the bar and restaurant – we saw pictures of Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt and Al Pacino! We didn’t see any celebrities the night we visited, just lots of tourists and neighborhood regulars.

We started out with a garden salad:

Nothing amazing but the dressing wasn’t too bad. It was actually similar to a salad-in-a-bag – definitely something I wouldn’t order again.

The best part of dinner was the bread – slightly sweet white bread that we had multiple servings of:

We also shared the veal meatballs with spaghetti:

Not as good as The Meatball Shop’s, but these meatballs were actually very hearty and delicious. The tomato sauce was also really good (made with a bit of umami paste, I’m guessing) but the noodles were really overcooked.

Pete’s Tavern is fun for drinks, especially since it’s so laid back, but I’d definitely pass on the food.