B-I-N-G-O

When I tell people that one of my favorite things to do in the city is to play BINGO, I definitely get some strange looks. But this little tid-bit is actual, and there is a New York institution that supports such random activities: Tortilla Flats in the West Village.

Upon landing in NYC, seven years ago, I stumbled into this hodge-podge of a place with my first roommate, Laurie. We ended up there because we were lost, and her friend Courtney bartended at the bar next door. We went in for cheap and dirty Mexican food, and even cheaper and dirtier margaritas. Since that moment I was sold. When I ventured back on one fine Tuesday evening, and I was handed a BINGO card upon entering the establishment, I was in love.

Since that moment, once or twice a year, you will find me and a pile of friends nestled in one of the booths, laughing at something that is not so funny from a sober-perspective, but hilarious to us. There is a pitcher of margaritas present, and a several concentrated faces as B-2, O-69 and I-18 are called.

It never fails, one of us ALWAYS wins and then the fun doubles... or the fun become trouble, depending on how you look at it. A tray of tequila shots finds its way to our table and the hilarity pursues. The fact that we are all 30-something and playing a game our parents do on vacation and we REVEL in it, is just proof that anything goes in the Big Apple... Ah, Manhattan, such a quirky place to play.