Friday, July 11, 2008

Lucy, I'm Home. . . and Drunk!


From the outside, Lucy's 51 looked like a "noir bar" because it reminds me of the kind of bars you see in Los Angeles film noir. It has the seedy red lighting, swanky velvet furniture, and frogs on the ceiling(?). No, really--there are plastic frogs glued to the ceiling.

For a classy place, Lucy's 51, located on Riverside and Forman in Toluca Lake, was not very happening last night. We had a good group (ok, it was a sausage fest with 6 guys and two girls--don't act like it's never happened to you) that was pretty sauced up from drinks at Mo's down the street, but it seemed like we were the only people there. People would walk in for five seconds and then peace. Thursday night is usually party night in my circle of friends, so it was different (read: nice) to just relax, chat, and drink.

I've always heard great things about this place. The first time I went was with my cousin Tony, and boy was this place hopping. The stereos blasted classic rock (the best bar music ever! Well, jazz gives it a run for its money, depending on location), we were already drunk, and the Toluca Lake girls were gorgeous. We had gone to the Whiskey Bend in Burbank, which is fucking shit, so anything was better than the Bend when compared. Here's the thing, though: this first time was also on a Thursday night. I guess Lucy's 51 is a sporadic bar--sometimes it rocks, sometimes it doesn't.

Martini's are the drinks of choice at Lucy's 51. The list is huge and diverse. They mix anything from blueberries to mojito mix to peach schnapps to, I wouldn't be surprised if they had Benzoil. The dirty martini is my favorite drink, so I like to order it at every bar I go to just to see how it compares to others. I figure, you make a good dirty martini, I'm gonna have a good time. Don't get me wrong, I had a great time last night, but that drink was shit. It didn't taste like vodka or olives. Actually, it kinda tasted like rubber to be honest. I still drank it, but my liver felt elastic on the drive home. I hear the food is pretty good, but we didn't get around to it.

Credit card holders beware: there is a $10 minimum on credit cards, so if you order one drink, well, you might as well order two. Coincidentally (read: sarcasm), the martinis are priced at exactly $9. My last drinks were two Newcastles, not that I'm complaining or anything.

No one really noticed when we left, but it was still a good atmosphere to be a part of. I say, if you're in the neighborhood and have some time to kill, go in and have a drink. But it's not something worth making a trip for.

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