Attention all fressers reading this blog:You should get to Crocodile Lounge on 14th street between First and Second avenue as fast as your legs will carry you. The concept of this bar is so genius that I'm sort of at a loss for words... Are you ready?
Free pizza.
Somebody got the idea that pizza isn't all that expensive to make. And that if your customers are getting it for free, they won't have an excuse to go around the corner to get some greasy slice somewhere else and perhaps not return. No, the guys who founded Crocodile Lounge figured it was worth the one or two dollars they have to spend on pizza materials to keep their customers right there.
And it worked like hell! My pal Noah, Mike and I went there for a drink and wound up drinking a lot more beer and staying longer than we intended to. (Did I add that the beer is also reasonably priced? Another point in Croc's favor. And they have skeet ball!)
The big question (of course) is: How was the pizza?
Not bad, actually.
It certainly wasn't the best pizza I've ever eaten, but it's perfectly decent by New York standards. (Beats the hell out of anything I ever tasted, pizza-wise up at Dartmouth.) As I was leaving, I looked across the street to the extremely touted new pizza place Artichoke. There was a line outside the door. I tasted the pizza at Artichoke a few weeks ago and I thought it was good. And if you had a taste test between Artichoke and Crocodile Lounge, Artichoke would win. But, frankly, I'd rather be at Croc, sipping beers, playing skeet ball and actually having a place to sit down.
