country-swing-rockabilly carbonated espresso in a former candy store now rated by Zagat's, after spelling

This past Monday after the spelling bee, I was hanging out at the bar with Matty Charles of Matty Charles & the Valentines.

Pete's Candy Store, which has a snazzily updated website with Matty right up and center, has a new drink menu, so I asked Matty for a Java Float but then felt kind of bad as he had to mix all these girly ingredients, including a Manhattan Special espresso soda, when I think he'd have preferred to be doing something more manly, like uncapping beers with his teeth.

I am a huge espresso aficionado, even more so than an alcohol aficionado, so I looked up the Manhattan Special site when I got home and discovered that, while the company has been making soda since 1895, they won't tell me where to buy any without filling out a form and awaiting a personal reply.

In any case, espresso soda - brilliant. Even comes in diet.

I bought MC & the V's album Land Beyond the Sea on iTunes and will likely review it later, although I've already seen them at Pete's, and they were lovely. Easily the sincerest thing in all of the hipsterdom that is Williamsburg.