I'll say up front that this was _very_ cool, but the coolest part comes _after_ the normal sauntering in for drinks, so scroll if you're impatient.
This bar is The Hot Thing in this part of Paris, so I expected something big and pretentious. I found something small and _profoundly_ legit.
I had only one very short night to kill in Paris, and heard this was THE cool place in this part of town. So I showed up on a rainy Thursday at midnight, when most places that claim to be open until 2 were closing at 11:30, and found Dick still pleasantly (but not over-crowded) hopping. I had no trouble getting up to the bar, and told the bartender in my limited French that it was my first time here and I wanted whatever he recommended. He gamely responded in French (even though it turns out they were all native English speakers) that the Zombie was the best, but he was up front about the fact that it was quite pricey at 17 Euro. But he said it was strong and fun, and I was game. What I got wasn't just a delicious and ass-kicking drink, it was a small piece of performance art, with Cameron dipping his finger in high-proof rum, then in a candle to light it, and then in my drink. That would have been enough, but then he shook something incendiary on top (not sure what), and a 12" column of flame climbed out of my drink. That would have been enough, but the then took a swig of the high-proof rum, dipped his finger in the rum, then flame, and then holding his finger in front of his mouth, blew a couple of feet of flame across the back of the bar.
This was so cool to see, I ended up ordering a second one just to get some pictures. I left, heading back to my airbnb for the night, happily buzzing on how great this place was.
I got to my airbnb, only to find that my phone was dead, and I needed the door code from it. No problem, I had planned ahead and brought a secondary battery and cable. I plugged it in, but --- nothing. I stopped by a local tiny market and offered the guy a few Euro per minute to plug in my phone. It wouldn't boot. I'll add that I worked for Motorola at one point, so I know some things about phones. I couldn't boot it.
I walked back towards Dirty Dick, not sure what I would do. I couldn't get into my apartment! Then it hit me that I could get the door code from my the AirBnB web site.
When I got back to the bar, they had closed. I was talking to some other customers, standing outside the door, asking if it was closed. They assured me it was --- and locked. I tried the door (and at this point I needed to use the bathroom) but it was indeed locked.
I started to walk away, but suddenly the door opened, and I was waved inside. Cameron, the bartender, had spotted me through the window, and sent someone to let me in!
I hit the bathroom. When I came out, before I could say anything, there was a group at the bar closing out the night with a shot of rum, and they waved me over and poured one for me before I could say anything. Not kidding.
After that group departed, I sheepishly approached the bar with a 20 in hand. I explained that my phone was dead, and I couldn't get to my bed, and I understood that asking to use someone's phone to get on AirBnB was creepy, but if we kept the phone on the bar, in plain sight, while I just logged into airbnb.com to get my code...
They cut me off, waved aside the 20, and brought me behind the bar to use a laptop they had there to log into airbnb. I had trouble remembering my password, but while I was trying to log in on the laptop, one of the bartenders had plugged in my phone again. He held down the power and home keys at the same time, and the phone came to life. This was a trick I'd forgotten --- schooled in phone tech by the bartender! I abandoned the laptop, and quickly recovered the code from my phone --- he wrote it while I read it aloud from across the bar.
I was ready to leave, and said "I know you aren't asking for money, but please, just throw this in the tip jar --- it's just gratitude" as I put a 20 on the bar. One of the bartenders looked at me for just an instant, then in a flash grabbed a bottle from the top shelf, poured a glass, and pushed it toward me across the bar. "There. THAT'S a 20e rum." and he grinned at me as I gladly put back an excellent aged rum shot and the 20 went to the til.
This would have been a five-star experience if it had ended after the amazing, delicious, pyrotechnic Zombie drink. But what became clear is that Dirty Dick is __LEGIT__ --- truly cool, nice, talented people, doing their damnedest to ensure that you will have a nice time when you come to this small bar nestled in an admittedly somewhat seedy part of town.
It's worth the trip. I couldn't recommend it more. read more