Jadis

Like a pristine lily pad in a yuppie scum filled pond, Jadis may be one of the few civilized places left on the Lower East Side. Going out on a Friday or Saturday night in Manhattan usually comes with a few guarantees -- a fight for the bartender's attention, a scramble for a bar stool or booth, a hoarse voice from yelling my conversation over speakers blasting the latest banal indie rockers, and an empty wallet at the end of the night. So Jadis is a great new discovery, courtesy of my friend Heej -- exposed brick walls and a scalloped brick ceiling; tiny, flickering oil lamps; bottles and bottles of wine in glass cabinets; dark stained tables with low stools and a huge black leather modular couch. Where else on the LES can you roll in with a birthday party of 12 on a Saturday night, commandeer two roomy tables for a solid six hours, and tear through seven bottles of prosecco, as well as a great selection of wines by the glass, Kronembourg in bottles and Stella on tap? Need to stave off the hangover? Share a generous cheese board with green grapes and baguette rounds ($16), or a charcuterie board with smoked duck, salami, duck liver mousse, and country paté ($16) with everyone at the table. Our friendly, lovely Spanish waitress even brought us all glasses of ice water between popping prosecco corks -- a civilized gesture in this age of high table turnover. The uncrowded crowd was mostly nice Asian i-banker kittens and the geeky men who chase them, allowing us to be the most obnoxious group in the place. Over two dozen of Jadis's full bottles of reds, whites, and sparklings from around the world go for less than $30, so even a long evening like ours was pretty easy on the wallet. It also appears to still be off the Jersey weekend warrior/art school trustafarian radars, making for a pleasantly low-key, adult hang. Jadis is everything that other place down the street was supposed to be and more.

Jadis
42 Rivington between Forsythe and Eldridge
F to 2nd Ave., D to Grand St.