The Botanica Memorial Award

B3 (Avenue B)

We raise a glass of lukewarm draft beer to the memory of Botanica, that dull, desperate bar on Houston Street deemed "Best Hetero Pickup Scene" in New York Press's annual Best of Manhattan issue eight years ago.

Sure, we checked it out. Ironically, of course. Ah... irony. The good old days.

The riddle of that wank-heavy bar's illogical win follows us to this day, but we're confident that one day -- in an opium den in South East Asia perhaps -- we'll finally meet the NY Press editor who ran the blurb and discover the Horrifying Truth.

Until then, we show honor by continuing the tradition of naming the "Best Hetero Pickup Scene."

This year's winner is "the downstairs" at B3. But only if you're into lithe, creamy girls looking to get Real World Vegas drunk while giving off that funky, snooty-sexual Alphabet City attitude.

If you're a fairly new arrival to the city, we hope we have given you what The New York Press gave us many years ago when we ourselves were young turks "searching for epicness."

See you in Thailand, kid.