Beast Bar

If the owners of Beast read this.. add vegan items! Please!

Subject: Black Panthers, Heroin dealers and Tipping the Velvet

The Beast - what a crazy history! I wanted to like the restaurant, but I just couldn't after getting a look. My first sight after walking in the door was an overweight bartender in a sweaty tank top and a cowboy hat. Second image: perhaps the most atrocious "stained glass" windows in all of creation. The food, dry and salty, scared me right out of the place. At least the liquor was cheap. Run. And run far.

Subject: Re: Black Panthers, Heroin dealers and Tipping the Velvet

Disappointed wrote: The Beast - what a crazy history! I wanted to like the restaurant, but I just couldn't after getting a look. My first sight after walking in the door was an overweight bartender in a sweaty tank top and a cowboy hat. Second image: perhaps the most atrocious "stained glass" windows in all of creation. The food, dry and salty, scared me right out of the place. At least the liquor was cheap. Run. And run far.

i live one block from beast. i was skeptical. at first, and now...there's something special about being human. and american. we all have the right to our opinions. so make it your job to make your own. beast is lovely! it seems like a grassroots business, oiling it's wheels, trying to bring community to a communtiy. i spoke with the chef for a bit on saturday night. local food, local staff, and local work. they have changed a "Black Panthers, Heroin dealers and Tipping the Velvet" establishment into they're own!

so it's not soho! we live in prospect heights!!! enjoy! and the food is luscious...but again make your own opinion.
your neighbor.

art is in the eye of the beholder. oh and what is wrong with the BLACK PANTHERS ANY WAY.......?

Subject: Beast

I love the fact that Vanderbilt is getting its due, and love the space at Beast, and LOVE the food. But while I love the option of Tapas, why not offer entree sizes of each dish too? The food was great, but the sizes being too small required 3 serving to be full at dinner. $33 for dinner entree??? and the only substantial things that would be an entree the Chicken and Burger, they were out of on a very quiet Tues evening I was there. So when I comment to the waitress that its probably a sign people want something a bit more substantial, she harped back, " or maybe they are just good dishes". The space is great, although it could have used a designer, how about the VERY DRAB, back room?? and having an open kitchen, just for the sake of having an open kitchen?? would have made much better use of the space, by slapping the kitchen in the back by the restrooms, and having the whole room around the bar a hopefully bustling dining room. The deserts were tasty too, but again VERY small portioned, I left still feeling like a beast for more food. The concept is great if your over tables full of vegetarians saying "I can't have this, I can't have that" blah, blah,blah! but the decor and concept, let alone the name, lend itself to visions of heartier portions, while the food quality, and unfortunately QUANTITY lend itself to visions of a five star upscale Manhattan boite .

Subject: beast bar

just went to beast bar.

liked the manchego bites, parmesan potatoes, dessert, pot de creme, delicious. think it could actually use more small tapas dishes.

nice addition to neighborhood...

Beast = MEAT!!! Not all things to all people.

I'm just saying, it never hurts to have something vegetarian on the menu that meat-eaters and non meat eaters alike can enjoy. As a vegetarian, I don't sit at the table saying "I can't have this or that...blah blah blah", I simply look at the menu before I go in and if there is nothing I can eat I leave. Usually, even if there is one thing I can have I will check it out. It is a friendly gesture to the vegetarian locals to add something they can eat and I certainly don't feel that it takes anything away from carnivores. Prospect Heights in particular is severely lacking in vegan options, so I think it would actually be very positive for just one restaurant to include an option or two for the many veggies in the area. We are a desperate bunch at this point!

Desperate perhaps, but not many of you. Remember Green Paradise? Vegan and raw. Couldn't make it and closed. I do agree there could be a vegetarian option, but why a vegan would even think of eating at a place called Beast... that's what I don't get.

Subject: Re: vegan dessert?!

skip wrote: beast is cool. have you guys been or what? there was a vegan brownie dessert special....and it was mmmmmmmm good. had some yum cherries with it.

What? Are you friggin serious?! Ok, going tonight.

Subject: Re: Time Out New York Write-up

guest wrote: Time out writes up restaurants when they open up. The square sections is for restaurants that have already been written up in the opening section. Zagat contacts everyone. That is how they sell their book.
The word is out if you get written up a second time in Time Out as a topic, such as a featured food item. Just stating the facts.

jeeh, does someone have issues with others' success?

yea, i saw that. they review is pretty right on. some good stuff, some stuff that needs work. i imagine opening up a new place takes some time to perfect. i'm willing to give the Beast the benefit of the doubt...especially because i am slightly addicted to the "crack" bread :shock:

I popped in on opening night as well and didn't like the 'sphere. However I went back a couple of nights ago and had a really friendly waitress who was quite nice and accomodating about my annoying veganism. My hubby for a burger who's bun didn't quite fit the burger and a paltry amount of potatoes on the side. We probably won't go back, it is way to expensive for the hood, but had to try it and if you've got money to burn I guess it's a nice special occasion type of place.

rhodamine wrote: not a pretentious crowd with waitstaff that demand you "get on the list" before being seated... even when the place is clearly virtually empty

They did?! That is just crazy, definitely a way to insure that people will not be coming back.

DeeDee wrote: Actually, Beast does have 4-5 beers on tap.

huh! well, i guess i was only there on opening night... maybe they didnt have the taps going yet... i thyink it was only bottles. but alas, i didnt stick around long enough to take specific notice, really.