Wilfie & Nell

Does Wilfie and Nell in the West Village remind anyone else of Williamsburg? Not Hipster Williamsburg in Brooklyn, but the original, colonial style Williamsurg: Williamsburg, Virginia.

Low beamed ceilings, butcher block tables, mix-matched cloth napkins, juice glasses in place of stemware, armchairs in hidden corners, dark dark lighting, exposed brick on every wall... I kept waiting for a Martha Washington historical reenactor to come around the corner, chattering about the revolution before exiting onto a street of wooden carts and marching soldiers and sunburned Midwestern tourists.

Oh, I love Colonial Williamsburg! I might be the only 25 year old to admit that, but come on, its great! The pie alone is worth the trip. Lets all go for a fall road trip, wanna?

Until then... Wilfie & Nell is a nice substitute. (If only they served things like 'spoon bread' and 'rum cream pie' and 'venison stuffed Guinea hens'. Love me a good themed menu.) I went to Wilfie & Nell last Saturday night with one of those groups that expands and deflates and expands and deflates as the night goes on. I arrived with John and Alison around 10 and stayed until probably 3am as 4 different groups of people ebbed and flowed from our perfect corner table by that sneaky front window.

Katie and Maria came, as did Bruce and his killer stories. Katy and Val wandered in, making me scream with laughter as they always do. We made friends with the people around us, arguing over the masculinity of a gold watch or the correct pronunciation of 'Carolina Herrera.'

So it wasn't Virginia and it wasn't the 18th century but the sentiment was there. A long night in a cozy bar with 30 of my dearest friends and acquaintances. Let us all go back soon.