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OG Bushwick Bar Tandem Will Shutter Next Month
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Oct 21, 2015
Modified Oct 21, 2015
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Sai Mokhtari/Gothamist
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Oct 21, 2015
Modified Oct 21, 2015
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Tandem, a bar whose outdoor noise level tortured me endlessly when I lived across the street from it but also makes a dope Dark 'n Stormy, will close next month, per an announcement on their Facebook page.
The Troutman Street bar's been a staple in the Bushwick food-and-drink scene for the better half of the last decade, earning its stars as the Jefferson L stop's pioneering drinking hole for gentrifying hip kids way back in the aughts. Since then, an ongoing clown car of bars and restaurants have taken over the neighborhood, but Tandem, with its $2-$3 Narragansett tallboys, spectacularly sketchy backroom dance floor, and kale-and-avocado brunch sandwich, still had its finger on the pulse, even if that pulse liked to scream outside my bedroom window at 3 a.m. on a Tuesday.
Now, Tandem is nearly dead, ending a proud chapter in the sordid history of Jefftown. Per their Facebook:
Dear Bushwick - after almost 7 years on Troutman street and countless sweaty nights in the back room, we are sad to announce the imminent closing of the bar. Sunday, November 1st will be Tandem's last day. A heartfelt thank you to all of our amazing regulars, staff, patient neighbors & random walk-ins, cheers! And for those feeling wistful upon reading this news, please join us in celebrating Tandem for one last kale salad--side room make-out--Diablo--- chilaquiles --and fog filled dance party!! For inquiries, press or private party requests, please email us at [email protected]. Thank you Bushwick!!!!
Though the bar has not yet responded to request for comment on its closure, it's been a trying time for some of Bushwick's older hipster bars now that Vogue's discovered it—Cain's Tavern on Wilson Avenue shuttered over the summer thanks to a 500 percent increase in rent, and Wreck Room, once the puke-filled coke den of your 22-year-old dreams, bid farewell to Bushwick in 2014.
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