Our correspondent vowed to have a drink at every single bar in Hoboken and did so successfully with Spirits in the Sixth Borough. Every Friday morning, we’ll pick up where he left off, showing you distinctive bars in each New York City borough perhaps for the very first time, perhaps to refresh your memory of a fun place you’ve ducked into, or perhaps to suggest a new spot for you to check out as you gear up for the weekend. You can follow our sudsy travels every week with LocalBozo.com’s “Drink Here Now.”

Double Wide
505 E. 12th Street near Avenue A, East Village
917-261-6461
Getting There: 4,5,6,L,N,Q,R to 14th Street-Union Square
http://www.doublewidebar.com

In exploring some downtown area bars after dinner on a recent night I came upon Double Wide purely by happenstance. The allure of the trailer based moniker, opposite pointing white arrows and the promise of $5 well drinks all night was too much to pass up at the Southern-inspired bar, which had surprisingly been open for a few years prior. Gimmicked to be a special sort of dive, my party and I ‘triple-lindied’ our way inside and grabbed a bar seat at the bourbon based neighborhood spot.

Double Wide is an undeniably charming place- not that you’d drop in for fancy cocktails or anything- but thematically the bar is designed to be a dive, without necessarily being such if that makes sense. Exposed brick walls serve to showcase the ample rows of different liquors stocked up behind the bar, where friendly bartenders are slinging $3 “Moonshines,” Margaritas and nearly a dozen rotating taps. Meanwhile the adjacent lounge room opens up to a collection of different tables and a dartboard, projection screen and other beer related knick-knacks on the wall that make for eye catching commentary. And we didn’t visit the patio on the particularly quiet night we dropped by, but from all accounts, it’s just another fine addition to an already strong area bar.

Double Wide’s Southern brunch is also a big winner at the East Village haunt where entrees like their “Fried Chicken & Waffle” topped with cinnamon sour cream and their “Tex-Mex Grits” are especially authentic. But for a glance at what the place does best, dig into their “Short Rib Frito Pie” made with slow-cooked chili or their “Deviled Eggs,” a creamy and delicious take on the traditional dish. Couple these dishes with a “Michelada” or a “Sweet Tea Vodka Lemonade” made with ginger beer and you may as well spot the dew dropping from the honeysuckle from the old rocking chair on your Texas porch. You get the point- the place is very cool and very Southern- even with The Bachelor on TV during our visit.

The Rundown

Bar Type - Designed to be a friendly neighborhood dive bar with a Southern twang.

When to Visit – Double Wide’s brunch is definitely worth checking out- but for our money, a weeknight trip for Happy Hour is the time to duck in. There’s plenty of beer and wine to appease any drinker at the casual haunt and enough bourbon to curl the hairs on your nose.

Value - Whether it’s $3 Moonshine you’re after or $5 well drinks, you’re likely to find plenty of specials at Double Wide every night. Happy Hour lasts until 8pm and fortunately we enjoyed $3 Tecates, $4 craft brews and a single $5 Margarita during our stay.

The Lowdown – It was particularly shocking to find a trailer park bar that I haven’t visited- which probably made my first foray to Double Wide such a good experience. The place is nothing much from the outside, and that’s exactly what we love about bars of this ilk. But inside there’s plenty of character despite its short history and is going to be an immediate addition to our East Village spots when we’re looking to casually wind down in the area.