The brain is just like any other muscle—if you don’t use it, you lose it. But unless you’re an academic cramming for an exam, why would you want to give up a night of drinking to develop your intellect? Whether you’re a pocket protector-wearing geek or you read one book a year, there’s a bar out there to stimulate your cerebral desires. Flex your gray matter and your liver at one of these brainy NYC bars.
KGB
85 E. 4th St. (2nd & 3rd Aves.)
East Village 212.505.3360
Look for Gawker types and literary hangers-on at this East Village joint. There are reading nights of all genres: fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. But even if you don’t know your Chekhov from your Morrison, a few samples from the 20-plus types of vodka at this Ukrainian-themed haunt should loosen you up enough to nod and play along.
Pete’s Candy Store
709 Lorimer St. (Frost & Richardson Sts.)
Williamsburg 718.302.3770
Your fourth-grade spelling bee was nothing less than a disaster. You couldn’t make it past loquacious! (That “u” after “q” rule was always bummer.) But now it’s time for a comeback. Thankfully, Pete’s Candy Store gives you the opportunity to do just that every other Monday night. Other brainy evenings include trivia night on Wednesdays, and for the old souls, bingo on Tuesdays. And don’t worry, any accidental mental blunders can be blamed on the expertly made cosmos and martinis.
Black Rabbit
91 Greenpoint Ave. (Franklin St. & Manhattan Ave.)
Greenpoint 718.349.1595
If only your bio-chem professor would have caught on to this tactic—Black Rabbit’s “Nerd Alert!” trivia night on Tuesdays awards winners with a $25 bar tab at this Prohibition-themed Greenpoint hangout. That’s reason enough to start studying up, like, now.
Galapagos Art Space
16 Main St. (@ Water St.)
DUMBO 718.222.8500
“Nerd Nite” has no qualms about what it is and whom it caters to. Nicknamed the “Discovery Channel with Beer,” the lecture series, which recently relocated from Angels & Kings across the Manhattan Bridge to Galapagos, covers topics on subject matter like the neurobiology of zombies—a good conversation starter, indeed.
Union Hall
702 Union St. (@ 5th Ave.)
Park Slope 718.638.4400
Your nerdy lifestyle doesn’t have to be apparent to everyone. The Secret Science Club is an underground monthly lecture series that meets every first Wednesday of the month at Union Hall (although, the next meeting will be held at Union Hall’s brand-spanking new music venue,
The Bell House—it seems not all nerds are impartial to nightlife). Expect real brains, like a Princeton professor, lecturing on out-of-this world stuff like, er, math. Also look forward to science-themed tunes and cocktails with names like the Bamboozler. Sounds nerdalicious.
~ Randi Eichenbaum
