Manhattan Bitcoin Bar Pubkey Opens in Greenwich Village

[ad_1]

A long, long time ago, in an office in Midtown far, far away, I worked for Investopedia, a money and investing website where, among other things, I wrote about blockchain, cryptocurrency , Elon Musk and Apple’s quarterly earnings. Now at Eater, I have a small food budget, but most of what I write always seems to be about financiers, food tech companies, or NFT restaurants. I guess the shoe fits.

Hopefully this background helps explain how I ended up at Pubkey, a self-proclaimed bitcoin bar that opened in Greenwich Village this fall. The bar has occupied a basement space at 85 Washington Place near Sixth Avenue that has hosted various dives popular with New York University students and local agitators over the past hundred years. More recently, it was home to a pub called Formerly Crows, which aimed to create a safe zone between fancy cocktail bars and fraternity hellholes.

In some ways, Pubkey is on a similar quest: While the wealthy are buying hugely expensive memberships to exclusive restaurants using cryptocurrency, owners of Pubkeys want to make bitcoin a force to bring people together. Ironically, bitcoin is the only form of payment not accepted at the bar, but that hasn’t stopped crypto enthusiasts from showing their support. Earlier this month, I decided to join them.

Christmas lights are draped around the chairs and stools at the back of Pubkey. Pubkey calls itself a bitcoin bar. Taxidermy and a lucky cat flank bottles of ketchup and mustard on the bar. Drinks are affordable for the neighborhood.

There’s a very dedicated and passionate group that doesn’t have many places to go in New York, says co-owner Thomas Pacchia, former director of blockchain incubation at Fidelity Investments. If you’re new and curious…Twitter and Reddit are just terrible places to learn because you’re wrapped up in some shitty conversation.

Pacchia bought the Formerly Crows space from owner Marshall Mintz, who was apparently ready to hand over the bar. He teamed up with Peter Richardson and Greg Minasian, who ran the Lower East Sides Spreadhouse Cafe before it closed. Greg Preochel, an Eleven Madison Park-trained chef who previously ran the kitchen at Manhattan’s newest American restaurant, The Turtle, handles the food.

The partners want to use the space to host community events for locals who still believe in bitcoin, despite recent setbacks. The bar houses a small recording studio, which will eventually be used to record bitcoin podcast interviews in front of a live audience, according to the owners.

The fried mozzarella comes three triangles to order ($12). Smash burgers can be ordered with one or two patties ($14 to $17). The Dirty Dog: old-fashioned mustard and fried shallot on poppy seed toast ($8). The menu lists seven hot dogs in regional styles.

Upon stepping inside, it is not immediately clear that the bar they have opened is for crypto heads. The space is more like a fancy pub, the kind of place that will probably look better once a few more beers have been spilled on the floor. Beyond the front bar, a back room is outfitted with tables, Christmas lights, a stuffed raccoon, was it real? and a TV that appeared to be playing A Christmas Story when I visited.

A framed buy bitcoin sign hangs at one end of the bar, but in reality most patrons here seemed unaware of the theme, likely having blown from nearby Sixth Avenue, known for its hellholes. and its late night restaurants. It took a little patience to find someone willing to talk shop.

It’s a bitcoin bar, but you don’t have to like bitcoins, says a customer who would only identify as MG This is for everyone. It’s the third time at the bar this week, and each time he’s traveled to lower Manhattan from the Bronx, where he lives, to show his support for what he believes is the first crypto bar. – city currency. He invited me to a meetup hosted by the Harlem Bitcoin community for the following week, then went back to his grilled cheese.

Mr G came to talk about bitcoin.

Suddenly everyone starts cheering. A cheering sign lit up at the back of the bar indicating that a food order is ready to be picked up from the kitchen. A few minutes later, hot dogs come out in a variety of regional styles: there are New Jersey rippers (a frank fried with chili on a potato bun), Chicago dogs with all the toppings and a dog al pastor who is much better than it should be. Smashed burgers, chopped cheese sandwiches, and stacked hero rolls with crispy chicharron cost a few dollars more.

Everything is cheap for the area. Nothing on the menu costs more than $21, and the most expensive hot dogs are $8 each. Drinks, including a beer cocktail made by pouring shots of sweet vermouth and Campari into a bottle of Miller High Life, are also reasonably priced.

The team plans to accept bitcoin payment down the line using the Lighting Network, a blockchain-based technology that allows individuals to instantly exchange cryptocurrencies. For now, it’s cash and card. Well, evolve more and more, says Pacchia. We would go bankrupt pretty quickly if we needed bitcoin.

Find Pubkey a few steps from the ground floor from Monday to Wednesday, from 1 p.m. to 2 a.m.; Thursday to Saturday, 1 p.m. to 4 a.m.; and Sunday, noon to 2 a.m. The kitchen remains open until one hour before closing.

Pubkey opened in a basement space that once housed Crows. Sign up for the Eater NY newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter.

[ad_2]