Tommy Mendes, seasoned Dimes Square restaurateur, is a funny guy who squeezes the hell out of the lemons life has given him.
I had the pleasure of joining Tommy at an outdoor table at his restaurant, Bar Belly, while we exercised our freedom of speech and washed down drinks courtesy of the bartender. We talked in all directions, from the last of the authentic neighborhoods left in NYC to the truths of being an entrepreneur. Also, how hot girls demand free drinks and how to tell them no.
He warned me at the start of our conversation that I wouldn’t believe the stories he has, and I admit my mouth fell open a few times.
Tommy’s restaurant lives on the open streets of Dimes Square—the head-turning, notable-figure-attracting scene between Chinatown and the LES. A common sight in Dimes Square includes a girl in vintage shoes squishing a cigarette into the pavement, which she just used to reset her nervous system.
It’s a place where less effort is cool and everyone cuts their own bangs. The men and women dress loudly but discreetly, eschewing clothes that were tailored by big brands, and no two people are in the same outfit—a concept that afflicts the West Village.
In a neighborhood where a game of How-many-mezcal-Old-Fashioneds-and-Aperol-Spritzes-can-you-fit-on-a-single-tiny-metal-table is played on every corner, how did Tommy Mendes come to own this highly successful restaurant bar, I wondered.
Turns out, much of his success is credited to the cool ease with which he interacts with the world around him. Tommy believes in going out of his way to be kind to strangers because you never know where it will lead.
Years ago, Tommy sparked a conversation with another young man leaving a coffee shop in the West Village. They quickly became friends, and this once-stranger, now friend, invited him to invest in a bar on Orchard Street. Tommy seized the opportunity to take full ownership of the bar, and years later, Bar Belly was born.
We scooped our drinks from the table and strolled down Orchard Street. Once we found a bench, he lit a cigarette and divulged everything. I used the silence during Tommy’s drags as opportunities to ask questions and pick his brain. I wanted to know what it takes to own your own—to be an entrepreneur.
“As a business owner,” Tommy explains, “you need to put friends on probation.”
For Tommy, friends who text about the weather with no call to action are blocked for two weeks at a time. Recently, the Department of Transportation sent Tommy a demand letter to get rid of his outdoor seating, along with it, half a million dollars in revenue from the highly popular tables. “It’ll be fine,” Tommy assured me, fearlessly.
With that kind of mail in his inbox, Tommy doesn’t have the capacity to field “what’s up?” texts from friends looking to fill the time.
During another drag, I quizzed Tommy about what makes Bar Belly successful.
“There’s no secret sauce in New York, but there kind of is,” Tommy said. “It’s saying, ‘Hey, how’re you doing?’ to people.”
Tommy is a New Yorker through and through, but despite the stereotypes associated with that background, he believes being nice is everything. A quality he looks for in his patrons. He would rather give a table to a nice person than “10 finance bros with a $2K bar tab.” When hot girls come up to him and ask for a drink on the house, he asks them for one good reason why. Tommy has played the long game by building a kind community and trusting it will pay him back. The lines around the corner on weekends show that his philosophy has paid off.
My conversation with Tommy Mendes was like cracking a window for cool air or ripping off a sports bra. He reminded me of how this city still grinds on face-to-face conversation with strangers, a city where lasting relationships can be built on the simple fact that you were in the same place at the same time. You just happened to be inside the same four walls and shared the natural urge to connect stories.
Tommy noted that a lot of conversations will lead nowhere, but in this city, you never know. One could lead to you owning a highly successful bar in a booming neighborhood in the best city in the world.
If you visit Bar Belly, ask Tommy how he’s doing. I’m sure you will get an answer.
