Saturday, July 31st, 2010—Bar 202
Day 202—Friday, July 30th, 2010
Landmark Tavern
Another day, another generous donation. This one’s an anonymous one, but you know who you are and I thank you very much for the more than generous donation of twenty dollars. Let me know when you get to Manhattan next and I’ll use part of it to buy you a beer, thanks!
And thanks to 365 commentator, Jaws for buying a shirt yesterday from the 365 Bar Store that “Boris” maintains. Jaws is going to send in a picture of himself modeling the shirt but till then he sent in this photo of the world’s largest woodpecker, behold:
Badooomp! Thanks, Jaws!
On the 200th bar post from Puffy’s, Fat Al, who’s one half of the blogging team that creates the fine and often humorous blog, The Half Empty Glass, I go to a landmark tavern coincidentally called, The Landmark Tavern. Fat Al is the one who clued me in about Fedora’s bar, so he knows his shit and I immediately put it on my list. I decided to go tonight because it’s located at the corner of 46th and 11th and is a bit off the beaten paths of all the other Hell’s Kitchen bars, so maybe it won’t be packed on a Friday night. Let’s go see.
My friend and co-worker Decker donated twenty bucks and said it was in honor of my Goodfellas night which wasn't cheap. Thanks Decker!
And now through the magic of Al Gore's internet, here we are at the Landmark Tavern.
So much for off the beaten path, it's jam-packed in here.
I manage to squeeze in at the bar and order a beer and Tom the bartender happily serves it up.
As I take my first sip I look up and see a tin ceiling, the sign of a classic bar. Fat Al did not steer us wrong tonight.
Here's a group of people, let's go bother them with the 365 camera.
They turned out to be nice people and wanted to take a photo with me. Here I am in super goofy-looking mode with Sue and Anup. Really nice people and supportive of the 365 idea.
This woman wanted in the picture as well, but ran out the door before I could get her name. Goodbye Mystery Woman!
I finally snagged a seat at the bar and here's my view from it.
It's a long bar with rows and rows of booze bottles for your drinking pleasure.
Here's Michael Younge one of the proprietors of the Landmark Tavern.
The bar is well-worn and has old-school classic New York charm.
Tom in action on a busy Friday night.
Honest Abe.
Here's Christina and Lisa who were seated next to me at the bar and had just downed a tequila shot.
There's tables opposite the bar.
Surprisingly on such a crowded night these window-side seats are empty. Hey, what's that on the tables...
Okay, a quick glance out the window and I'm on my way out the door. Goodnight, everybody!
Review
The Landmark Tavern certainly lives up to its name. It’s one of the oldest bars, not only in the Hell’s Kitchen area where it resides but in all of New York. It’s been open since 1868 and survived as a speakeasy in the prohibition years. The saloon still has its old-world charm with dark wooden walls and a long wooden bar and stools. The barkeeps are friendly and there’s a full dining area in the back.
There’s a full bar featuring a good selection of draft and bottled beers and over 16 different single malt whiskeys are available. There’s also a large wine list and specialty coffees including, Irish, French and Calypso. There’s a bar menu that features such offerings as: Irish Bangers And Mash, Popcorn Shrimp, Sirloin Steak Wrap and a Basket Of Fries with garlic mayonnaise. There’s also a full dining room in the back with entrees such as: Long Island Duck Breast, Fresh Herb Marinated Chicken Breast, Grilled Sirloin Steak and Lamb Shanks.
The bar is open early at 11:30 in the morning and doesn’t close till 3:00am the following morning, so there’s always time to fit the Landmark Tavern into your drinking schedule.
Landmark Tavern
626 Eleventh Ave. (@ 46th St.)
212-247-2562
15 Comments
Reader Comments (15)
Landmark will be a top ten bar or maybe top five when all is said and done. I hasn't changed at all and that's a good thing. Your seat at the bar gave us a perfect view of the backbar and the customers, the tin ceiling and dark woods. This is a Ten. You know what else is a ten? Sue, what a pretty lady. Gonna be hard to top this one.
The Landmark Tavern definately qualifies as a landmark. And if that tree in the photo I sent you has a mind, it's probably losing it right about now!
The woodpecker is a bit disturbing :) The bar has a much better quality of wood.
Nice to know that there is an old Bar in my neighborhood , & didn't know about that one .
I think ZioumZioum & I walked by it when we where walking around taking pictures .
& speaking of ZioumZioum , why are You ignoring Your duties !!! Yes there is allot of paper work for our marriage , but I finished most of mine & still have time to comment about how your not commenting , HaHa .
I agree with Al, a top ten spot for sure. Great suggestion, Fat Al! And great crawling Marty!
hey now...glad you found a seat...looks like a great stop...are we talkin' top ten and we still have so far to go...what are the rules?...whose setting down the rules?...just wondering...please let me know. i want real rules for this...evev though i cant handle the "real rules"...@365 on occasion sneak in that friday night thing with pics and quotes from a movie or mix it with two or three...that's if your soaked brain can handle it...KOC
rr
Thats a pretty cool pub. I'm surprised you stuck it out considering the crowd in there, Marty.
Sometimes you've just gotta do what you've gotta do but seemed like a relaxed vibe considering it was a friday. There's a nice contrast of dank and tidiness in there. I finally get the charm of the tin roof and the wood bars....and I'm not talking about Jaw's tree!
Somebody please build that tree some pants!!
Also...You haven't taken in any live music in a while matey!
I'll buy you another round during the week so maybe you can find a gritty Rock bar next weekend.
I'll keep an eye out for any suggestions.
\m/ \m/
@:Marty,Regina & Al: Is there a Top 10 list where we can all vote? I think there definitely should be.
I'll be voting Mars Bar! Shit, I can't wait to go there.
@ Marty: Some movie suggestions for fridays?....The Excorsist, Wrongfully Accused, Step Brothers
and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly....almost forgot...Taxi Driver.
@Tim Clack: Great movie suggestions! Instead of a top ten, I'm going to be putting a calendar where we can all vote for the bartender and bar of the month for the calendar, I'll officially announce it in a few weeks.
@Tim Clack, I don't know of any list, I just commented on this one being a very, very good bar and a "top ten" is just a figure of speech. I think its premature to start that list with 163 bars to go, but Marty may encourage us to start our own, then compare notes with him,,,that might be fun. My list would have to include dark bars with solid amount of wood and very few televisions. Oh and a few old farts for good measure.
Marty,,,,that sounds good,,,,bartenders can be really nice, or complete assholes as you have seen. I think if there was ever a great bar with a shitty bartender I would have to vote for the asshole at Dublin House,,,,so far.
@ Marty: That sounds Awesome! In that case I'll wait till November that way I can decide by actually being there.
@ Al: Too true about being premature. I guess I'm getting a bit excited about my trip to the Big Apple (I'm looking at a map of manhattan...It looks more like a big beer bottle to me...thats a good sign!)
I'm also taking a liking to the dark bars. There's not many like it it in Aus outside of the Capitals. A lot of the old pubs where I'm from (Newcastle- North of Sydney) have been bought out and revamped to target the night clubbing crowds or families.
There's still a great pub culture here though as there is in NY but you have to go to Sydney or Melbourne to find the seedy little dives and dark bars.
Wow! Another awesome tiled floor! Totally dig that. Plus, the windows are really nice. Probably pretty cold in that area during the wintertime, but, hey, that's what beers are for! To warm you up on a cold night! Or cool you down on a hot one. Yay, beer! Anyway, the menu looks pretty tasty. Up til now, I always thought that Calypso was just a type of music published by Putumayo Music. But they always say that music is food for the ears, so now I know that music is also food for the stomach. Or at least Calypso is. And I would also like to give a shout-out to Honest Abe. Not only did he help to abolish slavery, he also, as evidenced by that picture up there, had a haircut that stood the test of time. Truly, I'll bet if you walk into any bar in any country, you'll see at least one dude with that 'do. It's intentionally tousled. Systematically disordered. Dirtily styled. Mousy. Manly. Moussed. In short, he's got "The Rudd." Way to go, Abe. You were ahead of your time. I'll bet you would've killed it in "Dinner for Schmucks."
That woodpecked cracks me up!!!
The Landmark Tavern looks like an absolutely wonderful place. How cool that you met more people who are supportive of the 365 bars tour.
What a neat place The Landmark Tavern is and I would love to visit there some day.
Great job Marty!!
What a big .......... TREE !!!!!!! :D I never got any as big in my hands!!! MOUHAHAHHA
@ Hwang : Get the fuck outta here!!!! I'm not drinking budweiser at home while I translate all your immigrant paper into French !! LOL :D Sarkoland gonna freak out with the "half chinese half puertorican born american and who want to be French" note!!!! wooowooo!!!!! And yes I think I remember about this bar!
FIRE !!!!!