By Melissa Limberg

Sometimes, I feel like Rihanna.  Not because I’m a worldwide musical success, but because there are nights when “I just wanna dance – I don’t really care.” This need for carefree gyration is fed by a fantastic little cubby hole of a bar deep in the lower east side where the streets seem to have forgotten how to make a sensible grid.

Home Sweet Home looks like what you’d imagine when I say a vintage taxidermy enthusiast decorated it; plenty of stuffed animals in between chandeliers and beautiful classic pieces. Hard to picture, but you’ll get it when you see it.  It’s a small bar usually filled to the brim on a good Saturday night.  They’re stocked with a full bar, feature a daily $3 draft beer HH, and they take credit cards – which is not a given on the LES. This is a place where you can come as you are – be it a mulleted hipster in a Cosby sweater, or an Upper East Sider in Ralph Lauren and boat shoes.  That’s the thing about the Lower East Side, they just don’t care what you wear as long as you’re wearing it with the urge to party. The vibe is all about shaking your groove thing, and (naturally) getting a bit tipsaaaay.

Since it’s usually full, it can be annoying to find a way to nudge yourself into the bar, but service is pretty quick and pours are completed with a heavy hand.  Price wise, you really can’t beat a round of tequila shots for $20.  Every night of the week save for Sunday, that’s Jesus’ day after all, they feature a different mash-up loving DJ.  The music is the perfect back drop for even the most skittish person so get on the dance floor and awkwardly sway.  Now, even if you don’t want to dance, plant yourself on one of the booths lining the dance floor and your eyes will feast on a flavorful buffet of people watching.

Simple suggestion, get there around 10pm and you can avoid the $3 cover on Fridays and Saturdays.  I would normally never endorse a bar with a cover charge, but I’ve always just gone early enough to avoid it.  However, I think I’d just pay it either way, which is really saying something.  Home Sweet Home is a gem on Chrystie St.