Sweet Sweet Abilene

Abilene, my temptress.  Every time I have something to go home to, I find myself going home to you instead.  You are so warm, inviting.  There are so few bars that I feel uninhibited going into alone – and you, Abilene, are one of them.

After a long day, I want (need) a quiet place to sit and have a drink.  Somewhere that’s not my apartment,  somewhere people won’t try to interact with me.  A sensitive environment with sensitive lighting (candlelight and/or light emulating candlelight).  Some soft, somber music. All that is Abilene.

In the summertime, Abilene is cool and breezy, with big windows opening onto the last beautiful section of Court Street, before it falls off under the smelly BQE.  People sit outside reading, smoking cigarettes, playing with their tiny dogs.   In the wintertime, Abilene becomes strikingly dark and voyeuristic (those same windows act like the glass partitions at sea world).  I’ll admit that I don’t know what “too dark” means these days, where each bar is out dimming the next, but Abilene sure evokes the question.  The night street looks impossibly bright while sitting in Abilene, like staring into a well-lit home from the dark outdoors.

As for content, Abilene is all right.  A pretty decent happy hour:  $4 drafts and wells drinks everyday from 4 to 7 – and a pretty affordable all-the-time menu that includes Genesee Cream Ale and a cheap shot for $6 (either alone for $3), High Life bottles for $3, and your standard draft or craft draft for $4-5 or $6 respectively.  If you sit too long (not hard here) and your stomach starts to rumble, Abilene has your usual assortment of bar grub – although their menu says that Bonnie’s Grill is taking over their kitchen, so expect a more extensive and exciting food menu on its way.

Abilene
442 Court St (between 2nd and 3rd Pl)
[Carroll Gardens]

Photo Credit: abilenebarbrooklyn.com