Big Bar

Brothers Walter and Raymond Lycholat opened Big Bar in 1990, when this stretch of the East Village was rougher than it is now and they wanted, in Raymond's words, a place to make a living and somewhere to go. The room is the size of a small studio apartment: a semicircle bar, five worn booths, eleven stools, and what might be the smallest bathroom in the city. There's one beer on tap, a Blue Point Lager, and bartenders who can make most classics passably well. It's cash only, and the soundtrack ranges from De La Soul to John Zorn depending on who's behind the bar.