Freeman's

Freeman's restaurant hides at the end of Freeman's Alley right around Bowery and Rivington. Inside it looks like a bizarre sort of hunting lodge, with all these dead deer heads everywhere. The scene is decidedly hipster, but/and the food is decidedly tasty. I ate there the other night with some friends. To start, we enjoyed the devils on horseback, which are dates stuffed with some kind of cheese and wrapped in bacon. I am a bit of a dates-wrapped-in-bacon connoisseur. My favorite ones actually are the purest, to be found at my favorite tapas place, Xunta (1st Avenue and 10th/11th St.) I am not a huge fan of when restaurants stick an almond in there, like at Pipa (north of Union Square, in ABC Carpet store). But the cheese addition at Freeman's is pretty decent. My friends also shared the artichoke dip appetizer. Apparently the dip itself is gluten-free, but they serve it with bread, so there goes that. For my main dish, I had the chicken. Yes, that sounds boring, but, make no mistake, it was amazing! It is a roast chicken with green beans and these crunchy chickpeas (do they fry them?). I can't wait to go back and have it again!