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“Rayuela”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	Latin/Mexican	Lower East Side	Moderate	Good

One of my favorite things about summer is that I have a lot more time to get into some great books. I love to read and somehow in the winter, I just don’t do it as much as I do in the summer when I’m out at the beach on those weekends away. In terms of literary style, while Craig is all about the classics, I’m more into contemporary fiction. This summer, I feel particularly blessed by the wonderful books I have read, all exquisitely written page-turners: The History of Love (Nicole Kraus), Water for Elephants (Sara Gruen), A Thousand Splendid Suns (Khaled Housseini), The Glass Castle (Jeanette Walls), and most recently, The Bookseller of Kabul (Asne Seierstad). I’m now looking for some Labor Day reading (suggestions are welcome), but based on some fun meals at a new restaurant called Rayuela on the Lower East Side, I might just have to include the 1963 novel of the same name by Argentine writer Julio Cortázar. I’d never heard of this book, nor did I know that Rayuela was Spanish for “hopscotch,” but I learned both of these things from Héctor Sanz, an owner of the Rayuela. I also learned that while Freestyle Latin sounds like a fancy 1970s roller-skating move, it’s actually the cuisine served at this ambitious new restaurant. Allow me to elaborate. The first thing you’ll notice about Rayuela is its look. From the outside—an iron, glass, and brick façade—the word “Rayuela” is written in a sexy swooping silver light script. Step inside, and you’ll find a festive space pulsing with life (read: hipsters leaning into lounge tables, and South American hotties crowding the bar). Even when it’s not quite full at the bar (which is rare) the place feels effortlessly fabulous, like a cool bar somewhere in Buenos Aires that’s landed on Allen Street. Granted, the bar here serves drinks like you’ve never seen before. These are fruity but still serious cocktails by Junior Merino that highlight single spirits, like the Mezcal ($11)—a smoky blend of Mezcal, ginger, pineapple and Cointreau that pretty much guarantees a hangover if you exceed one. Ditto the Rye ($11), which was a personal favorite—mixed with guava, mint, lemon and agave nector. Hangovers, I have learned, are sometimes a necessary part of the dinner experience. Drink lots of water, take two Tylenol, and you should be fine.

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Posted: August 27, 2007

Other restaurants in Lower East Side :
+ Mojo   + WD-50   + Schiller's Liquor Bar   + Azul Bistro   + Barrio Chino   + 71 Clinton Fresh Food-- Closed   + Little Giant   + Kuma Inn   + Falai   + The Stanton Social   + The Tides   + Thor   + The Orchard   + El Bocadito-- CLOSED   + Bondi Road   + Rayuela   + Suba   + Bun (boone)   + Sorella   + The Fat Hippo   + Pulino's   

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