The Creek and The Cave

‘Vibrant’ is a detestable word. The kind of adjective you read in every tour book ever written as an excuse to avoid getting the right details of the place in question.

But I’d love to write tour books, detestable though they may sometimes be.

So: New York’s improv comedy scene is ‘vibrant.’

There are the main comedy theaters such as the Magnet, Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, and the PIT and then – the true test of vibrancy – there are the small upstart performance spaces. The Cave, a forty-seat theater inside The Creek, is one such space.

The Creek, at 1093 Jackson avenue in Queens, has clearly sought to cater to this upcoming comedy crowd. On any given night the bulk of the patrons at the bar downstairs – and some few at the restaurant upstairs – will have either just performed or are about to.

As such, it parallels the improv scene: it’s mostly men. And mostly somewhat shlumpy, nerdy men. Bachelorettes beware... unless you come on one of the irregular nights when the stage of The Cave caters to a musician or filmmaker.

The food, also befitting its primary clientele, is a fattening traditional mexican and reasonably priced ($12 or so for the priciest items).

Still, the drinks are affordable ($5 Bloody Mary’s that will leave you staggering) and the environs are homey and convivial.

Suck on those adjectives Fodor’s.