PAPER magazine / K&M

This is a review that I wrote for PAPER magazine back in May 2006. Sadly, K&M bar has since closed, but it was a cheerful shabby-chic spot in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

K&M
There once was a pierogi place called Krystyna and Margaret, which was itself probably once a 1920s Williamsburg barbershop. Now it's a bar named K&M (a nod to the former owners) with an aluminum ceiling rusty from decades of boiling pierogi. Six months, two tetanus shots and sixteen stitches later, K&M has emerged as a muted 1950s local rock 'n' roll hangout, complete with retro bar stools and an antique red exit sign above the door. Andrea, the bartender, bubbles with enthusiasm for K&M and its emerging clientele, which so far is a cross section of local artists, curious dogs and the usual evening beer swillers. With 10 countries represented in the beer selection, this place specializes in the stuff- -whether you're looking for a domestic brew, something more exotic (Lindeman's Framboise, Belgium, $10) or a downright quaint draught (Greene King Abbot Ale, U.K., $5)- -although there's a full bar, too. DJs spin Monday through Wednesday and pop hits are banned, but anything else goes, except regarding the decor: A warning on a favorite postcard, "No fuckheads of any type", is probably directed at the thieves who stole one of the chairs.