Wednesday, November 10th, 2010—Bar 304
Day 304—Tuesday, November 9th, 2010
Reif's Tavern
365 commentator, friend and somewhat frequent guest star, Biff, found tonight’s bar for me. Last week when Bifferoonie was in town we went to one bar on the Upper East Side that we hoped wouldn’t be insane on Halloween night. Well, our hopes were dashed as we could hear drunken screams a block away and sure as shit on a shingle, the joint was a madhouse of people bombed to the gills and glocked out of their gourds. Biff said she knew of another place called Reif’s Tavern and it was a winner. A dark, old school dive bar with a friendly bartender named Michelle, behind the bar. We had a good time in there and I told her I’d be back to do an official 365 night there. And, as I’ve done in the past, much to co-pilot Al’s delight, I’ll quote Neil Young and say, “Tonight’s The Night!”
Here we are, Reif's Tavern. As the awning says, it's been on the block since 1942, let's go check it out.
There's a decent crowd in here for a Tuesday night, but I spy a seat in the center of the bar.
And I meet friendly bartender Bob as soon as I sit down. And Bob's not only just the bartender here, he's one of the owners, his last name is Reif. He, his sister, Taryn and his mother now run the tavern.
And a glance upwards reveals a tin ceiling, once again proving the theory that all the best bars have a tin ceiling overhead.
My view of the bar and an obligatory bar room mirror shot all in one.
Some of the beers on draft available at Reif's.
A long wooden railing and stools stand opposite the bar.
Look at this trio of merry-makers. Let's go see who they are.
It turns out they're regulars here at Reif's and very friendly people. From left: Eileen, Toby and Eric.
Eileen and Toby pointed out this picture which is the tavern's logo made up of a composite of every regular from the place. Pretty cool!
Above that picture is a photo of the original owner and barkeep from 1942, John Reif.
There's a nice back room in the bar...
Complete with a state of the art pool table.
There's also a beer garden and according to this sign, it's open. Let's check it out.
Wow, a large space with tables and chairs. There's also gas grills in the back and if you bring your own meat, you can grill it up back here.
Meanwhile, back at the bar, things have picked up, there's quite a crowd here, let's go meet some of them.
This is Boneau who has his own design studio. Check it and some of his paintings at his website here: boneau design.
Bob came over and poured the three of us a shot. Cheers!
(After I left the bar I realized I left my notebook behind, I hope from here on in I have the name's right, but if I screwed up your name, you can correct me in the comments section.) Chilling out behind me were Michelle and Ian (I think.)
I'm pretty sure these guys names are Mike and John, but I definitely know that they're from Chicago, because we had a nice chat about the Midwest and the Billy Goat Tavern.
For some reason I'm completely drawing a blank on this guy's name. He was a real nice fellow and he's the head bartender at the new Lincoln Restaurant in the Lincoln Center, so maybe our paths will cross again.
Here's Rob with a poster of his band, Diesel America. Check them out online here: Diesel America.
Rob gave me an official Diesel America wristband. Kick out the jams, Motherfuckers and goodnight, everybody!
Review
While frat bars continue to pop up like pimples on a 13-year-old’s noggin’ on the Upper East Side, Reif’s Tavern has been a family-owned watering hole since 1942. The front room houses a well worn wooden bar with locals from the neighborhood gathered around it. The bar is one of the friendliest I’ve been to and even if you’re brand new to the place, you’re greeted and treated as a regular. The back room houses a pool table and chairs and there’s an outside patio area that’s open all year long.
There’s a full bar at Reif’s with martini specials on Wednesdays. They offer up a decent selection of draft and bottled beers including: Corona, Magners, Pabst and Miller Light (no wonder Biff likes it in here.) Happy hour runs from Monday to Friday with two buck cans of Pabsts and one dollar off drinks.
They don’t serve food, but you can bring in slices from the pizza parlor on the corner, or if you feel like grilling you can utilize the grills in the beer garden. Just bring your own meat and turn on the gas.
Reif's Tavern
302 E. 92nd St. (Near Second Ave.)
212-426-0519
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Jukebox Request From Tim Clack in New York City
Clacky’s taking a brief break from the bar crawl to do some sight-seeing, but in the meantime he sent in this request for a song by an appropriately titled band, Ausralian Crawlers. Here they are with “Beautiful People.” This goes out to Clacky and all the Aussie mates out there!
P.S.
Fat Al over at the fine blog, The Half Empty Glass has a nice post about our night on the town, check it out here: The Half Empty Glass.
21 Comments
Reader Comments (21)
Those narrow dives,,,gotta love em. Neil Young mention was like esp, I was just reading about a fire at his warehouse in Calif. lucky the Fire Dpt was able to salvage most of his collections. Great bar here and lots of wood,,,DIesel America wristband makes you look like a tough MoFo.
Damn, Marty, nice find (via Biff). This one goes on our must-see list. 1942 vintage — that's gold, boy!
Great find Biff!
(does this mean another banner in the works?)
This is my kind of joint. Good crowd of people. Good attitudes.
Cool Beer Garden WITH Gas Grills!
I think I'd I be camped out at Reif's forever.
(it reminds me of yet another of my haunts back in "the daze".
That Logo made with the regulars is the kicker for me!
Maybe a Biff "Riding Shotgun" banner... Hmmm
(can do like a whole Ma Barker thing)
@"Boris:" Always looking forward to a new banner!
Yay, Reif's! One of the greatest bars ever, with the bestest bartenders and friendliest drinkers! If you're lucky, one of 'em might even offer you a Twizzler! (Hi, Twizzler girl - GO SAINTS!) In addition to having a suhweet back patio and a jam-packed jukebox, Reif's also hosts the Browns Backers every football Sunday (GO BROWNS)! Of course, they welcome everyone else too, which is evident from this post. So, GO [insert your team's name here] as well! Anyhoo, sorry you missed Michelle this time, but I'm glad we had a chance to meet Bob. TO FAMILY-OWNED, BRICK-LINED, TIN-ROOFED REIF'S! Long may you prosper.
In other news, Marty...It's true, you look like a bad-ass motherfucker with your wristband. From here on out, I'm calling you Diesel.
@Biff: Thanks for steering me to this bar, great place! GO BROWNS!
I love this place ! Looks awesome ! Might have to go there and cheer for the Jets on Sunday ! :)
This looks like my kind of watering hole and how cool that they let you grill in the beer garden? I just checked out Diesel America's website and the band rock's steady! Finding great new music here as well as bars!
Sadly, no one gave the finger.
love the wristband photo! looks like a nice neighborhood bar. good find biff! nice tune from clacky too never heard of that band.
That logo artwork is the mark of a bar that's dedicated to it's regulars, and perhaps vice-versa. Tin ceilings are disappearing rapidly in the Twin Cities. Local anti- smoking groups and local government are giving bars here make over money to eradicate the memory of smoking in bars since our smoking ban hit a few years back. More and more bars here are adopting the T.G.I.F. Fridays franchise look. A lot of history is getting shoveled into the dumpster here. Depressing beyond words.
@Jaws: It's happening everywhere. That's one of the reasons I'm so glad I'm doing this, at least I'll have photos of what was left when Manhattan becomes one giant Walmart.
Heh, the tin ceilings went up about a year ago.
@L: I know, they told me that last night, it's still the sign of a good bar no matter when the ceiling went up.
@365: Dude you could almost pass as some kinda New york version of James Hetfield...
Thanks for juke box request yet again. You were WAY uptown last night....we had to crash early last night because we're totally rooted from wandering around over the Brooklyn bridge and surrounding areas in the cold wind but I think I took some great shots...however I just can't be arsed uploading them yet.
It would have been a treat to head along the Reifs. Good choice Biff! Real family charm to place and friendly folk as well. I'm starting to understand the charm of the tin roof...slowly...Awesome BBQ's in the beer garden. Thats a very Aussie thing too.
You know what?
I love drinking in this town. No one seems to have any reservations about having a conversation or shooting the shit...and it's not because we're from out of town it's because everybody else loves drinking in this town too.
To Drinking in this town!
@Clacky: Truer words have never been spoken !
Party !!!
@Tim Clack: You're right about drinking in this city, just one of the many things I love about living here! To drinking in this town!
@GENE: Reunion time tomorrow and hopefully Clacky and Shannon will be there!
oh oh!! I'm too drunk to read, but that photo of You Marty, YOU the metaleux as we call them in France is the best I've ever seen ! YOU FUCKING ROCK!
Oh shit what hapens! I went to give an english lesson to my student at 7pm and I'm back home now at 3am, what happened!!!! I think my student, 53 years old she is, finnaly gave me my lesson.... older are ok when youth are so drunk, ok respect ! Ok, I'm english teacher but SHE IS the fuckin alcohool teacher! YAAAHOU! jesus hole dup !!! haha
@365 and Gene: We'll be there. Now all we need is a venue.
Beautiful ceiling! Love the composite pic, very cool. Looks like a lot of friendly people and a fun place to hang out.
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