Monday, July 19th, 2010—Bar 190
Day 190—Sunday, July 18th, 2010
The Rusty Knot
The Village Voice recently named their top 10 Manhattan bars. Coming in at number 10 was a naughtical themed bar called the Rusty Knot. Upon further investigation I learned that the bar serves up what New York Magazine food critic Adam Platt calls the best hot dog in the city. It’s a pretzel dog and since Sunday’s are all about Sunday dinner in a bar, this looks like a good port of call for the 365 bar crawl. Anchors aweigh.
Here's the Rusty Knot. I like the unassuming non-glitzy look of the place. Let's go inside.
Wow, a lot of people in here for an early Sunday evening.
Here's Ted the bartender who quickly serves up a bottle of Red Stripe.
The woman with the umbrella hair is Jennie. It was her birthday and a majority of the crowd were here celebrating this wonderful event.
Here's Jennie and her friend T.J.
Sonya and Krissy were also part of the party.
Birthday shots are being handed out...
And here's the birthday girl drinking one. Happy birthday, Jennie!
Some of the naughtical-themed kitsch in the bar. I have to admit, the clown painting freaked me out a little.
The "autographed" celebrity photos are a hoot. Tony Curtis' says, "I'm really drunk."
John stopped by for a quick beer, he had spent a night in the bushes. It's a long story folks and one you'll have to get it from him!
I like the vintage topless bar sign, but there's that clown painting again, aaaahhhh!
There's lots of comfortable chairs to relax in up front and a nice aquarium to gaze at.
That's a great view of the Hudson River out of the front windows.
There's a well-worn pool table off to the side of the bar.
Meanwhile back at the bar, Ted is busy mixing Island style drinks.
Here's Greg, a regular at the bar and the official Four Square Mayor of the joint.
And a couple of surprise guests show up! 365 commentators, Zioum Zioum the Chainsaw and Jason Hwang.
Cheers!
And dinner is served. Jason and Zioum Zioum split the guacamole and chips and I had the pretzel dog with the house mustard. Adam Platt was right, it's the best hot dog around town. And Jason and Zioum Zioum loved the fresh guacamole and chips.
On my way out I met Paul who decided to dine on the 365 biz card. Goodnight, everybody!
Review
The Rusty Knot is a combination beach shack/tiki bar and a comfortable spot to hang out. The bar is a cozy setting with a small bar up front that seats about seven people on stools. Up front the setting is decked out like a comfortable living room with pillowy easy chairs and sturdy tables with ships on them. An aquarium adds to the fishy atmosphere and there’s a pool table off to the side. The jukebox (which offers free selections!) has some great selections with diverse artists ranging from Desmond Dekker and the Aces, The Small Faces, Nick Lowe, The Flying Burrito Brothers and The Byrds. The bartenders and patrons are a friendly bunch and there’s a great view of the Hudson River out of the front window.
The beer selection is somewhat limited, there’s cans of Budweiser and Tecate, bottled beers include Red Stripe and Brooklyn Lager and on tap you’ve got a choice of Busch, Stella and Bass. The mixed drinks are island themed and include a Zombie, a Singapore Sling, a Mai Tai and the house specialty and signature drink, The Rusty Knot. There’s also red and white wine available. The food menu is eclectic and unique with such offerings as: spiced pickles, BBQ beef tacos, chips and guacamole and the pretzel dog, which I can highly recommend.
The Rusty Knot is a fine port of call to hitch your ship to.
The Rusty Knot
425 West St. (near 11th St.)
212-645-5668
19 Comments
Reader Comments (19)
What a great looking place!
Relaxed and casual with a lively crowd.
Plenty of room to move about with good grub.
Clown painting is OK due to the absence of any Gilligan or Skipper type hats.
Sort of offsetting penalties.
A nice chance of pace on the journey.
@"Boris" Clown paintings are never OK..no excuses for them..
cant sleep they will eat me...
I love this place!
Loved the shot of Paul eating the biz card! Looks like a fun and happening spot.
Nice place! Love the tiled floors and those easy chairs. The aquarium's a nice touch too - makes it seem less like a bar and more like your den...if your den were to serve zombies and mai tais, I mean. That guac looks DE-LISH! And the dog sounds good too. I'm with you, though - they should trash that painting of the clown. Or at least face it toward the wall. I mean, for pete's sake, the dude looks like a jackass with those giant eyebrows and a lazy eye. Hmmm. Upon closer inspection, this may be a portrait of Jackie Mason.
Looking good Zioums, always a treat for the eyes! Jason's a lucky guy. As for the decor in The Rusty Knot, looks a lot like the Red Lobster here in Blaine Minnesota. As for the clown picture...well...at least it isn't John Wayne Gacy tricked out like Pogo the Clown, or that razor toothed horror from Steven King's "It". Clowns give me the creeps too. Looks like a cheery enough place to while away a couple of hours in.
Looks good. I'm definitely going to have to check that place out. I've heard of it but I always assumed it would be crowded and jackassy. Looks like I was wrong.
Rusty Knot looks like a motel bar from the seventies on Miami Beach. The view of the Hudson only adds to this, somewhat. I see Warren Beatty in Shampoo on the wall, cool place.
They should put a painting of Krusty the clown and call the bar : The Krusty Nut" !! ;)
It was nice to crawl with you, Marty!!!!!! The guacamole was very good !!
And it's Funny that you can order "pickles" in that bar!!! I'vz never seen that before since you can get pickles only if you order paté in France !!!!! But that's smart since pickles are very good to eat without paté!!!!
Oh and the toilets are clean, which is something important too!!!! But for some strange reason the music is sooo aloud in it !!!! No one can hear you peeing or puking or having sex with a clown ;)
Will definitely have to check out the pretzel dog!
~Sandeep
http://sleeplessInNewYork.wordpress.com
Zioum Zioum is right, the music in the bathroom's are crazy-ass loud. It's the only criticism of the place I have. Nice to hang out with you and Jason there, Zioum Zioum.
love this place! but i agree about the clown painting, take it down!
@ Marty and Zioum Zioum; The Kusty Nut! I love it!! Say Marty, if one of the bars you encounter actually does start selling licensed Krusty burgers after consulting with the producers of 'The Simpsons' would you eat one and review it!?! and also on the subject of clowns, we've got a commercial where I live depicting two furious clown parents berating a normal son for wanting to receive training for a well paying job and wanting to change his name from 'Pokey Bottom' to Steve or George or something like that. The clown mom is so depressed she can only give one feeble honk on her bike horn. Dad clown says; "Your mother's so depressed she can hardly speak'. Hilarious!
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that clown painting!
@Jaws: The Krusty Nut! I would definitely eat and review a Krusty burger on Monday and pay for it on Tuesday!
@Ronald McReagan: HA!
Yeah, um the clown painting would have freaked me out a little too. Now I am craving a hot dog and guacamole !!
Biff, it's the Bastard Clown Child of Eugene Levy and Forest Whitaker.
Kinda has the feel of some college guy's living room. But in a good way. And the guacamole! Yes please!!
happy birthday jennie!
I think I would love this place...love the nautical atmosphere and chips and guac....my fav...throw in a hot dog and I'm in paradise. My birthday was Sat and Jennie looks like she's in a lot better shape than I was by 5pm...I didn't have any umbrellas in my hair just a tough time staying on a water floatie! Love Sat birthdays!!! Spent at the river~didn't think it was possible to ever have a time with too much sun, water and beer. I was close tho! :')