Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010—Bar 346

Day 346—Tuesday, December 21st, 2010
Whiskey Town
If you have access to a radio or a computer on Christmas, check out the Christmas party at WFMU. Jon and Karen who are the masterminds behind Grade “A” Fancy are going to be guests on the show and it’s sure to be a walloping good time. You can read the details here: Holiday Cheer from Grade “A” Fancy.

Okay, Tonight I’m going to a bar that Gene from the BBC discovered in his travels last weekend. It’s called Whiskey Town and we stopped in for a drink and wound up having two. I told the bartender I’d be back to do the 365 thing in there and he said he’d be on duty. Like a dumbfuck I can’t remember his name, so let’s go find out what it is and more about Whiskey Town.

There's nothing better than when a bar has pure advertising such as this.

It's Tuesday, so there's plenty of seats at the bar.

And bartender Peacock is quick on his feet with an ice cold can of Budweiser. In a beer koozie no less!

Cheers and beers to you all!

The lights that hang above the wooden ceiling that illuminate the bar.

The bar from my perspective.

Oh Christmas tree...hey what are those ornaments?

Cans of Bud Light, how seasonal!

Peacock bought me a pickle-back shot, which the bar is famous for.

Seth took the photo and in return Peacock bought him a pickle back shot.

Seth gives the drink the thumbs up.

I don't know, but I'd like to think there's a little miniature of whiskey in each and every one of those stockings.

A longshot of the candle-lit bar.

I love the vintage cash register at the bar.

I snapped a photo of regulars Dan and Jordan on their way out.

Fire!

Let's check out who's Peacock talking to...

It's Adem and Lauren. Adem runs a bar nearby and I've totally lost the card he gave me. Send me directions if you see this post, Adem!

The bar has a signature vodka, Tom Lawless, which is named for the owner's grandfather.

And here's me sampling the whiskey in a lemonade drink.

Peacock gave me a t-shirt featuring the name of the whiskey and here I am pimping it. Yes, I can be bought for a t-shirt.

This doll in a store front scared the shit out of me on the way home. Mama! Goodnight, everybody!

Review
Okay, I’m getting ready to catch a plane to Peoria, so I don’t have time to write a review. I’ll let Whiskey Town tell its tale from their website. Oh Whiskey Town...

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Whiskey Town opened on July 10, 2007 by 2 brothers, George and Justin Ruotolo. Between them they have 15 years of New York Bar / Restaurant experience. They have opened, operated or owned: The Vig Bar, Tribe, W8th, PS450, Vig 27 and Punch and Judy. They ventured out on their own to open a true East Village Bar, and Whiskey Town was born.

Their philosophy is simple: well poured drinks, reasonable prices, good music, a comfortable setting and great service. One if not both of the brothers are at Whiskey Town every night.

Whiskey Town is a true East Village Bar.

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Whiskey Town
29 E. 3rd St. (Near Second Ave.)
212-505-7344
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Bonus Photo and Christmas Gift!
365 commentator Kari sent me a nice Christmas surprise, a bag of homemade toffee (some of it chocolate covered) and a nice Christmas card and a picture of her and her son Will. Check it out!

Here's the card and the toffee.

And here's Kari and her son Will. Thanks again, Kari, happy holidays!

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Bonus Biff Bar Crawl!
365 commentator and frequest guest star Bifferoonie recently went on a bar crawl and she documented it for us. I’ll let her take over now. Oh, Bifferoonie...

Betty's Fine Food & Spirits (680 N. High Street, Short North, Columbus, OH)  www.bettyscolumbus.com

Betty's is a small eatery and bar located in the heart of Columbus, Ohio's Short North Arts District. Filled to the rafters with tchotchkes, knick-knacks and posters of pin-up girls, it provides a fun, cozy place to sample some eclectic food fare (try the mac and cheese with poblano chiles and spicy sausage, or Marge's meatloaf for old-school comfort), or sip on a draft beer (currently at 17 on tap) or quirky cocktail. If you're into saving your environment one beer at a time, this is your place, as many of the draft options are pegged as Ohio-brewed, sustainable and organic; and the Betty's family of restaurants was a leader in providing biodegradable to-go containers. Open 11 AM to 2 AM, daily.

Outside shot.

My friendly bartender, Nate, handing me the first of many draft PBRs ($2.00, all the time!)

Lindsey and Brian, who were standing next to me at the bar and waiting for their world-traveling friends, Kyle and Christin.

Through the magic of the internet, here they are! TA-DA! Kyle and Christin! You can read about their adventures and check out Brian's music at www.kylebutlermusic.

A view from the end of the bar.

Tim and Laura, enjoying a couple of the many drafts featured at Betty's.

A picture of some of the taps.

Karen and Kate, who run the green website www.biggreenhead.com, reduce their carbon footprint by enjoying a couple of drafts.

Fire! (Note to Biff from Marty: Um...that’s electricity, not fire, Bifferoonie.)

Another nice couple who were very supportive of the 365 Crawl, Weston and Krissy.

The bathroom doors at Betty's. The men's room is Johnny's...

And the women's is Betty's.

Julie offers up a cheers to the 365 blog.

I interrupted two lovely ladies, Kelli and Melissa, to give them a 365 card. They were talking about moving to Manhattan, so I told them to look you up, Marty! (You're welcome) (Another note from Marty: Hello ladies!)

Yours fooly with another Marty fan, C.J.

And after all that, we went to see The Katie Todd Band (www.katietodd.com), who hail from Chicago and sounded excellent. If you have a chance to see them live, you should.

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Thanks Bifferoonie, now I have to go catch a fucking plane. Oh and I won’t be online much because my parents don’t have a computer and I can’t access the internet there. I’ll be putting up the daily post at my brother’s apartment, but won’t be online after that, so if you email or I don’t comment back for awhile, that’s the reason. Sneeze you all soon from Peoria, Illinois! Unless my plane crashes, then I won't be seeing anybody too soon.

Monday, December 20th, 2010—Bar 344

Day 344—Sunday, December 19th, 2010
Nomad (Originally headed for Frank)

First off, I want to thank Tiki Bar Susie for sending in a generous Christmas donation of 45 dollars. I don't even know how many contributions she's sent in, but she's the top donator and has helped me make it through the bar crawl. Merry Christmas to you Tiki Bar Susie and thanks for your support and generosity!

Yesterday I reported that the Stoned Crow is closing and Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York put up a link to that information today. Then while perusing other blogs, I see that EV Grieve has a post today about Hickey’s closing., check it out here: Hickey's Is Gone at EV Grieve. That really sucks monkey lungs on toast! Hickey’s was a place that the BBC recommended and it’s close by where I work and I planned on hanging out there a lot after this bar crawl was over. Now I’m wondering if anyplace will be open when I’m done. Will I be forced to...gasp...drink at a T.G.I. Fridays? The horror...the horror!

Okay, today I got my hair cut at the Fifth Avenue Dramatics NYC and they invited me to their Christmas party! So that’s tonight’s first stop and then I’m meeting one third of the BBC, Gene at Frank restaurant. We’ll be eating at the bar of course! And just like that, I’m off.

After I got my haircut today, I went over by the Union Square park to check out the artwork for sale. Last year I got my mom some local art for a Christmas present and I decided to make a tradition of that. The artwork at this table caught my eye.

I picked out two pieces and took a photo of the artist. Her name is Elinor and I asked her if she had ever heard the song, Elenore, by the Turtles. She laughed and said that her mom named her after that song. She told me that when her mom was pregnant with her she was driving and that song came on the radio and Elinor kicked her in the stomach, so it was decided that would be her name. Check out Elinor's website here: Elinor Studio. And if you'd like to purchase some of her art you can do so here: Elinor at Cafe Press.

Let's go check out the Christmas party in here.

It's a full house of festive fun in here.

A DJ was spinning tunes.

Here's my stylist, the lovely, Love with her daughter, Jertour.

And here's beautiful, Lyric who invited me to the party.

Even Santa is here!

And this Santa gives booze for presents, that's my kind of Santa!

Parties are fun, but I have to do my duty and get to a bar, so it's off we go.

And here we are at tonight's destination, Frank restaurant. This Italian place is supposed to be very popular.

Wow, it's so popular that you can hardly walk in here.

The bar is completely packed and people are waiting for seats. Time to abort and start a new plan.

Normally we'd have to take a lonely walk and look for another place and you'd be subjected to that Ricky Nelson video for the bazillionth time, but just a few doors down, I see this place and there's a bar inside. Let's check it out.

Plenty of seats in here, I called Gene and told him there was a change of plans and he said he'd be here in a little while. In the meantime...

Halil serves up an ice-cold beer. Let the Sunday bar crawl begin!

It's not a full bar, there's just beer and wine only, but as you can see, there's an extensive wine list here.

They also have a decent selection of drafts as seen here and bottled beers as well.

There's a full dining room opposite the bar, with comfortable seating and a nice, dark atmosphere.

It's a nice, romantic place for a candle-lit dinner.

And it's also a nice place to hang out at and have a few beers on a chilly Sunday evening.

And speaking about having a few beers, here's Gene! Cheers from both of us.

And it's Sunday night, time for a nice Sunday dinner.

I got the ribeye steak and it was delicious.

Gene got the lamb chops and mashed potatoes and said they were excellent.

And in a deja vu moment from Saturday, Gene's clean plate and tongue. Great hanging out with Gene all weekend and nice to have him along as this crawl grinds towards the end. Goodnight, everybody!

Review

Okay, I’ve been slacking the last couple of days in the review section and today is going to be another example of that aforementioned slackdom. It’s Monday and I’m running late for work, so here’s a chunk of Nomad’s history lifted from their website.

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For more than four years Nomad has been one of the East Village’s quiet jewels, serving authentic North African and French inflected food to local residents and to the cognoscenti.

While the restaurant started off with a small but dedicated group of aficionados, its reputation is expanding rapidly. Owner Mehenni Zebentout, a restaurateur extraordinaire from Algeria, has expanded the exquisitely designed physical space of the establishment and the scope of the menu, and Nomad is now poised for widespread recognition.

An open, inviting exterior with French doors that swing open in warm weather beckons visitors into a beautiful front room, replete with a magnificently carved metalwork bar, in the style of the Grand Maghreb. Custom mosaic tables and traditional Moroccan jewel-like lamps complete the decor. The sumptuous backroom is adorned with North African grillwork and original murals and
artesian artifacts. Entering the enchanted courtyard behind the restaurant, where a grape arbor flourishes along with flowering plants, elicits comparisons to a Mediterranean garden and offers a relaxing respite from the rigors of city streets.

And then there’s the food! Since its founding Nomad has been serving North African food that is among the finest and most authentic available in New York City. The preparation is exacting and inventive and the menu includes dozens of delectable dishes. There are slow cooked tender tagines; couscous royale, a traditional stew of vegetables served in a superb broth with lamb and chicken and house made merguez––the spicy lamb sausage of the Maghreb; seafood couscous, the North African equivalent of Bouillabaisse, featuring fresh mussels, clams and giant prawns; and fish dishes, set off with spicy seafood broth, over perfectly cooked couscous grain.

Lamb and steaks are grilled to perfection, served with perfect fries, and other French or North African side dishes. Entire Mediterranean fish, like branzino and dorado, are always fresh caught and carefully grilled, complemented by both a green salad and a couscous salad. They are also plenty of delicious options for vegetarians, making Nomad a great meeting place for friends with varied tastes. The generous portions, infused with love, remind visitors of family dinners and are guaranteed to send even the most ambitious eaters home satisfied.

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Check out their full menu here: Nomad menu. Now I have to get to work. Fuck.

Nomad
78 Second Ave. (Between 4th and 5th St.)
212-253-5410

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Clacky and Gwar
Our Australian mate, Tim Clack recently saw a concert with Megadeth and Gwar and sent in these photos, check them out below. Thanks, Clacky!

Holy shitballs! Clacky's gone and got zombiefied on us! Rock on, Clacky!

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010—Bar 339

Day 339—Monday, December 14th, 2010
Café Loup/Mars Bar (Originally headed for Spain Restaurant)
Today was one of those magical days. A last minute day off from work. Working full time and doing this bar crawl has left very little in the way of personal time and last night I asked my manager if I could have the night off so I could clear up all this shit and seeing that he’s the very best manager in the entire universe, he agreed. Well, somewhat, I’m kind of on-call in case some big rush job comes in. But usually they’d know about something like that before five o’clock and now it’s closing in on six o’clock. So if they call after six, they’re kind of fucked. Because that’s when I’m opening up my first beer. One of the many things I did today was take a box of coins to the bank and cash them in. It’s the change I’ve collected during this whole bar crawl. I love cashing in change because it’s like getting free money, at least to me. I thought maybe there was a little over a hundred bucks there, but guess what, it was over three hundred bucks! It’s like winning a mini-Lotto. So with this new-found wealth, I thought I’d treat myself to a dinner and I’ve decided to have dinner at the bar at a Spanish restaurant in my neighborhood called, Spain. I’d tell you more, but it just turned six o’clock. Time for a couple cold appetizers before we go. Cheers.

Okay, I've been going to this place since I moved into the neighborhood over 10 years ago. It's not like I'm in here every week, but I go at least a dozen times a year, so I thought it would be a classic night on the bar crawl in here. I usually come here with friends and we get a table, I've never sat at the bar, so I was looking forward to it. Well, I went in sat at the bar and ordered a Sangria. The bartender was an old bald guy and I had seen him in here before. When he brought my drink I gave him a 365 card and told him about the bar crawl and asked if I could take a picture. He didn't hesitate a second before he scowled and started yelling at me that I couldn't bring my advertising in there. I told him I wasn't selling advertising and that I just wanted to write nice things about the place and he told me to leave. I saw a waiter walk by that has waited on me many times and asked why the bartender was being so rude to me and I told him I've been coming here for years. The waiter scowled at me and said, "I've never seen your face before." And he's waited on me many times and I've always gotten good service in there and tipped well. The whole thing kind of flipped me out and I left. I was in a really fucking bad mood, and now I had to find another place to do the bar crawl. And now I'm really not in the mood at all to do this.

It's freezing out, so luckily this place is right next door. Let's check it out.

The hostess was nice and said there was plenty of room at the bar, but it was hard to get back in the bar-crawling mood after being so rudely treated at Spain.

Here's the bar. To tell you the truth, I kind of just feel like going home.

Dien the bartender was a nice guy and served up a bottle of Duvel beer.

Cheers. Okay, I'm still obsessing over those fuckers at Spain. It's one thing if I'm a stranger and a bar nicely tells me that they don't want me taking pictures and doing the 365 thing, it's happened before, but I've been in there a ton of times and they throw me out on my ear after yelling and scowling at me? Fuck, I'm really not in the mood for this now. Oh, the agony of defeat.

I was going to talk to this guy, but he's busy with his Kindle. Fuck it, nothing's working out tonight and my confidence is kind of shaken.

Not even an obligatory bar room mirror shot can perk me up. I feel like I'm letting you down. It's not the Cafe Loup's fault either, I blame those rude people at Spain. What to do when things are going sideways and nothing is fun on the old bar crawl?

Hop in a cab that's bound for...

Mars Bar! This should salvage the night! You can't have a bad time here.

Aaahh, my mood is elevated just walking into here. Everybody always asks me what my favorite bar is and I truthfully answer I don't have one, because I've been to so many great ones. But I always tell them my favorite night was Easter Sunday at the Mars Bar.

One of the cool things about Mars Bar is they champion artists and there's always original art on the walls, along with endless graffiti.

Hooray, my name's still on the cash register! Okay, I'm back in the bar-crawling mood, thanks to Mars Bar!

There's more original art up near the front window.

A view of the bar from where I've settled in.

Just like on Easter, the bartender didn't want her photo taken, but she remembered me and was very friendly and happily took my picture. This is my message to the developers that are going to tear the Mars Bar down.

Erin and Eric who were seated next to me joined in on the flip fest. Fuck you condo people!

I wasn't the only one taking photos of this iconic place.

Here's Jay, Bob and Cindy joining in on telling the building developers to go fuck themselves.

Even Santa loves the Mars Bar.

There's no place like the Mars Bar.

And one last fuck you to everybody who wants to rip this place off the block.

Here's a message I wrote back in April and it's still on the walls. "365 Bars love the Mars Bar!"

Goodnight, everybody.

Review of Café Loup

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I don’t feel qualified to review this place because I was in such a shitty frame of mind after being mind-fucked over at Spain. They were very hospitable and it wasn’t their fault I couldn’t get in a better state of mind. Here’s a review from New York magazine and I highly recommend it. In fact it’s my new go-to spot on the block. See ya Spain, wouldn’t want to be ya!

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Profile
Chef/owner Lloyd Feit gives West Villagers exactly what they want: A menu that ranges from casual (a superb burger and fries) to cassoulet, an effortlessly suave and spacious dining room, and an always-reliable kitchen. Mr. Feit buys organic as much as possible, and long before the bistro/brasserie craze brought us self-conscious places like Balthazar and Pastis, Café Loup was doing its thing without fanfare or pretense. A no-brainer for lunch or dinner if you're in the neighborhood. — Steven A. Shaw

Live Jazz
Sun., noon–3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.–9:30 p.m.

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Café Loup
105 W. 13th St. (Near Sixth Ave.)
212-255-4746

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Review of Mars Bar

It’s sad to think the Mars Bar is closing. They claim it’ll be re-opened in two to three years, but even if it is, it’ll never be the same. The good news is the bartender told me that it may be open till summer, if so, I’m going back and buying pizza for everyone on Easter Sunday again. Here’s my review from back then, I still stand by it.

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As the Bed Bath And Beyonds and Barnes and Noble “superstores” continue to ruin New York City, thank God for institutions like the Mars Bar. This concrete rectangle of graffiti and art-filled madness is a testament to old school New York artists, free thinking folks and people looking to drink and have a good time. The only Blackberry you’ll find in here is brandy and the only thing close to an iPad is an artist pad that’s passed around the bar where the locals add their original sketches.

You’ll find no TV’s at Mars Bar, but the jukebox is probably the best in the city if not the country. It’s packed with everything from mariachi to cha-cha to Chuck Berry to the Cramps to the Beach Boys and everything in between. And everyone takes turns putting on tunes at Mars Bar, so the music is always flowing along with the endless liquor. The selection isn’t huge here, so have a Budweiser and one of their massive whiskey shots and shut up and enjoy the eccentric and non-judgmental crowd.

There’s no food or kitchen here, but they have a huge pile of menus from neighborhood take-out joints. I suggest you order a pie from Two Boots for the crowd. I did and a good time was had by all! God bless the Mars Bar!

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Mars Bar
25 E. 1st St. (@Second Ave.)
212-473-9842