Dumb and DUMBO

It's late Monday afternoon and I think I'm finally starting to recover from Saturday night. My friend, Max, was in town from LA, Vegas, and Humboldt County (she's a woman of the world), so I met her in DUMBO for drinks and theater.

DUMBO is ... weird. It's a super cool part of Brooklyn, literally down under the Manhattan Bridge overpass- an old industrial area turned funky. To me, it's trying to capture a neighborhood feel when no one really lives there. I was still happy to check it out, since it's a part of Brooklyn I don't know well.

We met at Rice for pho, pad thai, and sake. Nothing like a bottle of hot sake on a cold night- but it's probably better to order it for two and not just drink the whole thing yourself.

Next was a show at St. Ann's Warehouse, and the theatrics of the night began. Max, a seasoned actress and producer, has wanted to see the Kneehigh Theatre's production of Noel Coward's Brief Encounter. I don't know much about theater, but I knew if Max scheduled her trip around this performance, it was going to be a great show.

And it was! I've dabbled in a bit of drama since moving to New York, but this was the first play that didn't leave me feeling alienated and confused (oh, thank you for that, Richard Foreman).

Afterwards, we went and got drinks at the Dumbo General Store, which had a huge range of high brow brews and also the gritty stuff for a divey girl like me. One of which was:

... which is really funny when you're with a good friend who also finds the idea of pigs slapping bellies a hilarious thing to put on a beer label. Other great beers included Coney Island Lager, with popcorn and caramel notes, Double Daddy Imperial IPA (from Speakeasy Brewery in San Francisco), and the Human Blockhead Barrel Aged Lager (also from Coney Island), aged in Jack Daniels barrels. Yum! Max is contemplating the overwhelming bouquet at the bottom right.

Yep, the Porkslap label is still really funny. They know how to do it upstate in Garratsville.

A treat for your ears, actors from the Kneehigh company came out after the show to play a couple ditties with a throwback to ska. They covered Destiny's Child's "Survivor," "The Time of my Life" from Dirty Dancing, and, my favorite, "Final Countdown!" Not the greatest footage, but any of you Arrested Development fans out there will appreciate this: