Slankets, Sliders and Southwest Ale at NYC's Bryant Park

November 20, 2009 at 4:04 PM | by JetSetCD | 0 Comments

Almost six months ago, Southwest Airlines gave New Yorkers an outright gift: the Southwest Porch, a relaxing, open-air venue in the middle of the city at Bryant Park. During the day, workers from offices in Midtown would sit in the adirondack chairs and on the cushioned lounges to eat their packed lunches, and at night, they can return for a drink and snacks when the bar opens.

The Porch is a pleasant surprise for its lack of pretension and excess of good food choices (being from Top Chef Tom Colicchio' s 'wichcraft chain). We expected it to close down for the winter when the leaves began to fall, but instead the Porch has re-inaugurated itself via a winter menu and introduction of fire pits and slankets, the slankets in celebration of Southwest's recent SkyMall cover.

We dropped in for Twitter party a few days ago, and although it wasn't cold enough to warrant use of the fire pits or slankets, there were at least mini pork sliders and whole s'mores kits passed around. Since we were big fans of the Southwest Summer Ale, we had to try the winter Southwest Ale, and it's just as tasty. And to enjoy the rocking chairs and slankets on offer, you don't even have to order anything; the Porch welcomes people who just want to sit and read or work on their laptops, since they've got outlets and the free WiFi of Bryant Park.

If you stop by, the Porch is open Monday-Saturday from noon-9pm and Sundays from noon-7pm and of course it sits at the southwest corner of the park. Ask to use one of the blue slankets to the left of the bar, and cuddle in for a long winter (and take some Southwest packs of peanuts to go).

[Photo: Jaunted]

Jaunted

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Tags: New York City / Southwest Airlines / Beer Travel / Winter Travel / Bryant Park / → All Tags