Daniel S. Burnstein
The Greenpoint standby formerly known as Lost and Found and Lulu’s is the latest house to fall to the Alligator/Charleston/Crocodile free-pizza bar empire. As relentless as the Mongols but much more delicious, Alligator the Great took Lost and Found peacefully and, as a result, the vassal was largely unharmed.The short casualty list includes the lukewarm hotdogs nobody really liked, a decrepit skee-ball game, Big Buck Hunter and a whole lot of dust bunnies.
The bar’s drink menu is much the same, with many local brews on tap— beers are all $4 or $5 and cocktails top out around $10—and a similarly shaggy and charming staff pours them for you. A row of Moroccan hanging lamps has spruced up the main bar area, which feels ever-soslightly cleaner and more nondescript.
Though most of the bar was taken up by a wedding reception after-party on one recent night, I anticipate a continuation of the local bearded, be-flannelled sausage fest that draws certain fetishists like so many lady pigs to dirt-caked, tantalizing truffles.
The newly narrower back room still houses live music, though I’d be interested to know if rowdy bands like Shellshag and Matt and Kim will continue to fill the downsized stage.When I went, a quiet acoustic act played, wrapping up early. Utilizing the freedup space are two raised platforms from which to leer down at fellow patrons, one of which has only a couch for seating. As in the rest of the kingdom, a thin-crust pizza arrives with each drink purchased, with extra toppings available for $1 each—a recession-friendly, if not totally healthy, way to save on dinner.
The bar’s drink menu is much the same, with many local brews on tap— beers are all $4 or $5 and cocktails top out around $10—and a similarly shaggy and charming staff pours them for you. A row of Moroccan hanging lamps has spruced up the main bar area, which feels ever-soslightly cleaner and more nondescript.
Though most of the bar was taken up by a wedding reception after-party on one recent night, I anticipate a continuation of the local bearded, be-flannelled sausage fest that draws certain fetishists like so many lady pigs to dirt-caked, tantalizing truffles.
The newly narrower back room still houses live music, though I’d be interested to know if rowdy bands like Shellshag and Matt and Kim will continue to fill the downsized stage.When I went, a quiet acoustic act played, wrapping up early. Utilizing the freedup space are two raised platforms from which to leer down at fellow patrons, one of which has only a couch for seating. As in the rest of the kingdom, a thin-crust pizza arrives with each drink purchased, with extra toppings available for $1 each—a recession-friendly, if not totally healthy, way to save on dinner.
Let’s face it: you’re going to start drinking early tonight no matter where you are, so why not also attempt to nourish yourself with free pizza? It’s the premise on which an entire empire rests, and, thus far, has proven sound. Just be careful about inhaling the whole thing at 3 a.m. on a night of many liquors, or you may see it again sooner than you expect.Those bartenders lose some of their happy-go-lucky charm when forced to mop up your bad ideas, and nobody wants that.
> Alligator Lounge
113 Franklin St. (at Greenpoint Ave.), Brooklyn, 718-383-6000
