This one's gonna be short and sweet: here's a new, low-key bar offering cheap drinks and we like it. From the owners of Welcome To The Johnson's comes another bar below the Lower East Side, to BelDel, if we're still saying that. We like the comfortable seating, extended happy hour (4pm-9pm Weds-Sun, $2 beers, $2 well drinks) and their choice of a house beer, choosing, like Abilene, the very inexpensive PBR alternative Genessee Cream Ale ($2 all the time). We also like their nod to the bar's previous life as a candy store -- glass shelves and rows behind the bar showcase more choices than a concession stand -- Runts, candy laces, etc. A word to the wise, don't try to buy one of the golfball sized gobstopper by the register, they're only for show. There's no gimmick here, though, only simple decor, tried and true music (Bowie, Bloc Party), and no plans to add Nerds to drinks anytime soon.
Sweet Paradise
14 Orchard Street, between Canal and Hester Streets
(212) 228-3612
