There's a scene in Blake Edwards' 1982 gender-bending musical, Victor Victoria, in which a starving, destitute Julie Andrews scams a fancy restaurant by freeing a cockroach from her purse. Andrews then causes a total scene, accusing the upscale bistro of being filthy. Just because a girl lives hand-to-mouth doesn't mean she shouldn't get a taste of the good life. Luckily, at City Tavern you don't have to horde bugs in your bag in order to feast on oysters for just a few ducats. On Monday nights from 4 until 9, the little suckers set you back only a buck apiece — that is, if you sit in the dark-wooded, charming bar area. Sean Moriarty, the attentive and smart-dressed bartender, serves the Tavern's high-top tables with ESP-like stealth, making sure the drinks are always full and the oysters keep coming. Show up earlier than 6, and you can sample crisp calamari and spicy Buffalo wings for two clams (as in dollars).
