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Brooklyn Ice House

318 Van Brunt St (Pioneer St and King St) Transit: Cab it from Carroll Street subway stop (F)

(718) 222-1865

If it’s true, per rumor, that the Brooklyn Ice House and the dive bar sitting right next to it, Red Hook Bait & Tackle, send each other their drunks when they get out of hand, then Red Hook Bait & Tackle surely gets the short end of the stick, as you’ll generally find an artier crowd there than the hard-poundin’, hard eatin’ lot that populate the Ice House, although the latter’s folks are not necessarily unsophisticated.

Formerly known as Pioneer Bar-B-Q, the place serves up beef brisket and pulled pork sandwiches, and is also known for its cheap shots—$3, all the time—and its potty mouth humor. (Sign in the front window: “Have you pulled your pork today?”) But what struck me is how the Ice House somehow perfectly walks a line between highbrow and lowbrow. For every un-tethered dog licking your ankles and gap-toothed fat guy grinning creepily, there’s a dude typing on his laptop and a $7 Belgian beer on tap. (Try the La Chouffe. It’s good, kind of an herbal taste. My wife told me that.)

They’ve also got a Family Guy pinball machine (lowbrow) and board games including Candy Land (highbrow), Boggle (highbrow) and Pop Smarts (lowbrow). Your ass will feel every single spring in the vinyl booth running along the side of the wall, but you won’t notice it, so busy will you be trying to figure out what music is playing overhead. It’s the Miami Vice theme song, you’ll finally realize, but as to whether that’s highbrow or lowbrow, it’s impossible to say.

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