Sunday, July 11, 2010

Josie's

300 Amsterdam Ave
New York, NY 10023
(212) 769-1212
http://www.josiesnyc.com/josie_west/josie_west.html

Reviewed 7/29/2008


This place was a balm--no, more like a blast of chilled air flowing through the tresses--on a sweltering July evening.

A girlfriend and I were foraging for eateries following a few hours of dancing at Lincoln Center. We were sweaty and tired but needed fuel before meeting up with Batman around midnight. [Okay so it was just a showing of "The Dark Knight," but we can fantasize.]

We didn't know what was good on the Upper West Side (it's been a while since I lived there) and were just too F-ing hot to walk farther uptown.

We passed by Josie's initially, then returned to it a block later. It is neither particularly stylish nor conspicuous, so why we didn't just stop there in the first place is ironic for us given our grungy preferences. The heat had gotten to us perhaps.

Josie's accommodates opposing food preferences, offering a fair variety of meat and veggie dishes. A Hindu-style eater, I had a tofu stir-fry over brown rice, and Lil' Carliners, a/k/a meat-devourer, had turkey meatloaf. We were both very satisfied. And our waitress was wonderful. She kept callings us "girls," which I found endearing because her tone made it sound like she knew us. (We aren't exactly spring chickens anymore, though might be mistaken for them--in the dim light, anyway.) Plus, being called "girls" somehow reminded me that I was in NY rather than, well, where I live now.

We wanted the scrumptious-sounding desserts (I remember something heavy and chocolate on the menu. Not delicate stuff, but hardcore comfort food material) but didn't want to be sans seat at The Dark Night so we left.

If I were still living in the Gotham, I could totally see myself becoming a regular at Josie's. The prices are reasonable and the place seems to offer frill-free, stick-to-the-ribs fare.
As a visitor of the city on this particular summer night, Josie's fit the bill. It fed us, cooled us off, and refreshed us for the remainder of our evening with the Big Bat.

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