September 18, 2011
Live, from New York, it’s Cheeseburger Saturday Night. Tonight’s host is Jules, on St. Marks Place in the East Village and featuring the Ready For Prime Beef Player, Marty Wombacher. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome your host, Jules!
Okay, it's one of the MAD nights where it's still light out as we start out. We're heading to Jules, a French Bistro/Jazz Bar in the East Village and I thought it might be crowded later on, so I thought we'd head over there a little early and beat the Saturday crowd.
The chess players are hard at it in Union Square Park.
And here we are, Jules on St. Marks Place in the East Village.
Let's go in and see what's happening.
Just as I thought, we beat the crowd, let's go grab a stool at the bar.
And the lovely and friendly bartender Zsuzsa, serves up a bottle of Coney Island Lager. And since we're early, it's happy hour and beers are just three bucks a bottle. Cheers!
The specials for the evening are displayed on this chalkboard next to the bar.
Here's the dining area opposite the bar. It's a comfortable space with wooden tables and a red leather banquette lining the all.
There's outside tables to sit at and it's nice because it's a step down and you're not sitting right out on the sidewalk. A nice spot for people watching.
Some of the draft beers available at Jules.
Here's the stage where the musicians set up. It's early, so there's just a lone drum set there now. The live music starts around 8pm, for now jazz music is played over the house speakers at a conversational level.
A long shot of the other end of the bar.
The view from my bar stool as night starts to fall on St. Marks Place.
Zsuzsa behind the bar listening to a customer. She's a great bartender who's attentive to the people at the bar.
And here's the cheeseburger and frittes. it looks delicious...
And it is!
Okay, I'm done with dinner and it's out of Jules and on to St. Mark's Bookshop.
If you saw yesterday's post, you'll rememeber it's "Buy A Book Weekend."
Let's go in and find a book, there's always a great and unique selection in here.
I found this coffee table book about Max's Kansas City, which was rung up by Jed, who we met in April. You won't find this at a Barnes and Noble. And remember, if you don't live in New York, you can do what GENE and Ragin RR did and buy some books online. Do it today and let's make "Buy A Book Weekend" a big success. Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark.
My Meal
I had the Jules Bistro Burger with cheddar cheese and frittes. The burger was tasty and the bun was bakery fresh and knocked it out of the ball park. I always say a fresh bun makes the burger and this one was slightly toasted and melted in my mouth along with the burger. Delicious!
Other dinner selections from the menu include: Onglet de Boeuf Aux Echalotes which is grilled hanger steak with shallot sauce, mushroom risotto topped with parmesan and truffle oil; Steak Frites; Moules Frites and Le Canard de 7 Heures which is braised duck leg with sausages, bacon and pig trotters, buttery vegetables and steamed fingerling potato. In addition to the fine food and drink, Jules has live jazz, seven nights a week with no cover charge.
Cheeseburger Rating
Three Wimpy's, a delicious and savory cheeseburger.
Jules
65 St. Marks Place (Near First Ave.)
212-477-5560
Further reading: New York Magazine, Shecky's and The Village Voice.
You Might Also Like: Animal House, Animal Crackers and Animal Farm.
Win a game, lose a game,
Don’t feel sad when things go bad,
You just do the best you can.
26 Comments
Reader Comments (26)
I love Jules Bistro and the live music is really nice. I like to sit outside and people watch too. Glad you had a good time. The burger looks delish. I want some fries now.
Great looking Burger! Looks like a cool place with a very lovely bartender! May be grilling burgers out in the yard tonight. The weather is perfect for a fire afterwards! Love this fall weather! Enjoy your Sunday Marty!
One or two doors from Jule's lived my ex who was a social worker until she found she had a social disease, needless to say, she blamed me and kicked me. She had many, many boyfriends I was just one. I'd love to pay her a shit and puke on her doorstep. Was a very bitter social worker. I'm telling you, watch out for her. St Marks Sadie, I call her.
@Melanie: I have walked by Jules so many times and never went in, glad I did yesterday!
@Professor Dungpie: Have a great barbecue, send me a photo if you grill up a cheeseburger and I'll post it.
@Mykola Mick Demetiuk: Thanks for the warning, I'll watch out for her!
As much as I dont like to eat fries.. i'd like to eat those...
Mykola's ex reminds me of that chick in your book with the vaggie inserts.. ewwwww.maybe those two know eachother..
Jules sounds like a really cool bar! I need to get to NYC one of these days!
Looked like a great night out after a 'rrrough' week Son.
Zsuzsa, is a great bartender with an even greater name!
"Book 'em Daddio!"
Wow, incredibly delicious looking. The food looked pretty good too.
Yes a very delicious burger, looks perfect. Jules looks like a great old bar, like a place that's been there quite a while. Then again, St Marks is one of my favorite areas as I usually go to Holiday Cocktail just down the street. I would love to see Professor Dungpie's burger also. Then I think I should take a picture of my Eggplant Parmigiana and send that in as I'm getting ready to make it now. I am using the recipe from Mike's Deli on Arthur Ave in the Bronx, so we shall see.
@Gidget: Maybe it's the same woman!
@Meleah: When you do, let me know and we'll go out for a drink or five!
@"Boris:" Yes, a great and relaxing night and that book about Max's has some amazing photos!
@csp: Ha! Agreed!
@Al: Jules has been on the block for about 16 years, but seems like its been there forever. The crowd's a little older and not as wild on the weekend as some of the places in the EV these days. I'm hoping Professor Dungpie sends in a photo or two of his barbecue, you reading this Professor?
well once again i gotta say that MAD certainly looks like he eats better than me...could not believe some of the comments at New York Magazine —although dated wow—yelp had friendlier but still a few stingers...glad MAD had an enjoyable meal and experience (after another bitcin' week...
I'm saddened to see that everyone's pitched out the baby with the bath, in that we say that it can't be one or the other, it could be both. I mean, just because we listen to classical music doesn't mean that we can't listen to jazz.
~Don Bluth
rr
oh yea looks like a nice purchase...still gotta grab Jaws' and Danny's works...then this might be next...
@rr: I didn't even read the commentst at New York magazine, but Jules is a good place with great food and friendly people. Great quote as always!
I should point out I have no invested interest in Jule's. (Other then hoping Zsuzsa prefers dating down). I was curious to read the negative Jule's reviews @ NY Mag. User reviews, although generally helpful, can be pretty skewed. There are only 12 user reviews, 3 of which are the same person. Anyways, 10 is hardly enough reviews to allow the law of averages to kick in. The person who voted 3 times didn't like the live Jazz music as it was too loud. (Why would you go to a small Jazz Bistro then? There are no real volume controls on acoustic instruments.), didn't like 1 entree, and thought their juice and check tool to long to arrive. (During Jule's busiest time of the week.) For this the reviewer gave Jule's three ZERO star reviews. For a zero star review, I expect at least a cockroach in the soup or something. To go through the time and effort to put 3 zero star reviews, I would hope the waitress bitch slapped her date at least. I checked Yelp, and Jule's had an average of 4 stars out of 5 over 187 reviews. The moral of the story, statistics are a bitch.
That should read "vested interests" not invested. Please forgive me, I'm not a native English speaker, I'm not from England.
I wish I was sitting on that patio eating some pig trotters right about now.
oh noez, i wanted to keep jules for myself -- jules is my happy place. been going there since they first opened. would have breakfast, lunch, brunch, dinner there. sit in one corner and just read or do my french homework way before ev was a hip happening place. i remember one time, i arrived there at around 3 or 4pm (during transition between lunch and dinner, when the kitchen is closed) and they gave me a baguette. and one time, i gave $27 on a $13 bill and said keep the change, and the server said it was too much and tried to hand me back some of the bills. waiting at jules, much like in france, is a time honored profession. the waiters/waitresses/bartenders/managers there take their jobs seriously and are efficient and professional.
zsuzsa is great. she can be at times be overwhelmed, which can be misconstrued as being ill-tempered, but she's just busy. she both has to take the the orders from the floor as well as the bar. eric and loire, when zsuzsa is off, the other bartenders there are also great.
and back then, there was no yelp or apps to find a place. everything was just word of mouth. so i don't pay attention much on yelp or zagat reviews. yes, the jazz is loud, but someone complaining about that is like someone complaining going to a concert that is loud. jules is not perfect. there are days that the staff has an off day, which should not be a reflection of the place overall.
sorry, but it ain't frites if it's eaten with ketchup (am just a purist when it comes to french food). aside from cheeseburger, most in the menu are great and affordable. i'm not gonna divulge the other specials they have in there, since i wanna keep it for myself. but if one comes often enough, one will discover them.
and mind you, jules only has a beer and wine license, and they've been around for ~25 years. unlike all these new bars/restaurants who need to apply for a liquor license and argue that it's the only way for them to make money and pay rent, and then close in less than a year.they should follow jules steps, i.e., provide a good and consistent food and service and one doesn't need a liquor license be a restaurant in the ev.
apologies for the long-winded comment, but i really, really love jules. if i keep going on, i'd be like this woman who really loves cats.
@csp: No need for apologies, yank!
@Biff: Me too, sadly I have to get ready to trot off to work. Oink, oink.
@esquared: No need for apologies from you either, great comment and I loved the link!
I love the patio! Looks like a very cool place.
@Britta: You should definitely check it out on your next trip here!
Interesting that you say the live music is at a "conversational level. I live across the street on the sixth floor, and sometimes the conversational level is so loud that I can't hear my TV.
It would be nice if they had respect for their neighbors.
@Bob pirillo: I didn't say that the live music was played at a conversational level, I said the jazz music played on the house speakers is conversational. I wasn't there for the live music, as I wrote in the post, I went early.
@MAD: Yankees suck.
@Bob: That reminds me, don't move next to a Jazz Bistro. (I know, smart aleky, sorry.)
Mmmmm books and cheeseburgers, sounds like a perfect night!
I love the atmosphere and live jazz @ Jules, but rarely go. As vegetarians, there are just no options there for dining. They used to have at least one or two vegetarian courses on the menu, but recent visits we found nothing. All we could order were fries and a salad.
Please, Jules - some vegetarian items!
and i meant ~15years. that's a typo there. but it seems like they've been there for that long.
they have daily specials, which at times have vegetarian items. but if one is a pesce-vegetarian, they have good selections "from the sea" menu.
and on a side note -- jules is part of the forgois group, which includes restaurants such as cercle rouge in tribeca, bar tabac in brooklyn, and le sing vert in chelsea, et. als. crowd is different at those respective places, nonetheless, one can expect a pleasant dining or otherwise experience in any of those.
imma shut up now.
allons-y to jules
@Lindsay: It was a great night and a great burger! And the three dollar beers were the icing on the cake...oh shit, I forgot to get cake!
@Serge: You should talk to the manager about that, maybe if enough vegetarians spoke up, they'd bring back some vegetarian fare, till then there's always French Onion Soup.
@esquared: Thanks for the information, I'll have to check out some of the other places.