Bar Review - Quench
by Joanne Kenny
282 Smith Street
(@ Sackett Street)
Brooklyn 11231
Tel: (718) 875-1500 (F or G Train to Carroll Gardens)
 Amid the glut of overpriced
antiques and boutiques and ambitious restaurateurs of Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, now lies
Quench. Quench, a bar which opened just prior to the new year, is located at 282 Smith
Street (F or G Train to Carroll Gardens). Now the new yuppie residents and even hungry
Manhattanites who have recently read Smith Street to be the new "restaurant row"
have a lounge in the neighborhood to, hmmm, "quench" their alcoholic desires
while waiting for a reservation or for their friend to spin at Halcyon, (227 Smith Street
- F or G Train to Bergen Street) the cafe/antique shop/record store and DJ hangout which
somehow, oddly, works.
Quench is a modern, Manhattan-or-swanky styled bar with frosted glass
windows, frosted globular lights, large round mirrors behind the bar, and a wooden bar
embedded with lights. The night I went there, a quiet weekday after work, there was ample
seating at the bar as well as a few roomy booths for larger crowds--I was assured that
weekend nights are so packed you have to fight for a place to stand. The music chosen for
the evening was old favorites and old friends like Frank and Ella. I was the first patron,
though a steady heterogeneous stream of customers filtered in as the evening progressed.
Quench offers a menu of cutesy neighborhood inspired drink specials like the
"Q-wench", "G Train", "BQE Cooler", and "Peach
Cobble-hill" which range from $6 to $7.50. They had 4 beers on tap - the fashionable
Stella Artois, the old-standby Guinness, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and local fave Brooklyn
Lager. They also have a good bottled beer and wines by-the-glass selection. I opted for
the "G Train": Bombay gin, Chambord, and a splash of grapefruit juice - quite
refreshing on an early spring-like evening. I was a bit apprehensive when the bartender
asked someone how to make it, but she had no problem the second time around. She also knew
her regulars' drinks and her friendliness more than made up for any lack of experience.
I'm curious if Smith Street can sustain its new boom and wonder where old-time
neighborhood folks will go once their long time watering holes are forced to close shop
(sadly already happening). I also wonder when the people who actually live in the
neighborhood, myself included, will be completely fed up with the throngs of visitors.
Still, Quench adds something that the newly faced Smith Street has been lacking.
Until now, the closest the area has come to a laid-back lounge was Last
Exit, (more relaxed in atmosphere than Quench, but the same general idea)
located at 136 Atlantic Avenue, between Clinton and Henry. Nevertheless, I do miss the
somewhat gritty Smith Street I moved to three years ago. A Smith Street where I didn't
have to wait hours for a table (although the choices were mostly diners or pizza), where I
wasn't run over by baby carriages, or asked directions. Will Brooklyn ever find its way
back to this neighborhood?
~
Joanne Kenny JKENNY@penguinputnam.com has been
working amongst bookish people for the last seven years. She is, to put it lightly,
a Boston Red Sox enthusiast and also enjoys the pursuit of skeet-ball zen.
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