Monday, July 26th, 2010—Bar 197

Day 197—Sunday, July 25th, 2010
P.J. Clarke's
Okay, for those of you who just follow the crawl during the week, you should really check out yesterday’s post. It was a great night out and one of the best so far, here’s the link: Sunday’s post.

Seeing the film “Goodfellas” last night, put me in an old school New York frame of mind, so tonight I thought I’d go to the classic New York tavern, P.J. Clarke’s. It’s one of New York’s most well known bars and some of the former regulars include Frank Sinatra, Jackie O., Nat King Cole and Buddy Holly proposed to Maria Elena Santiago in here in 1958.

I found this great P.J. Clarke’s story from the actor Richard Harris online and here it is: “I adore the hamburgers at P.J. Clarke's. In my drinking days, it was my first stop from the airport. A fellow named Vinny used to be the bartender there, and when I told him I wanted the usual, he lined up six double vodkas. I told an interviewer that once, and he said, ‘That's a lot of bull, that's one of your exaggerated stories!’ I said, ‘call a taxi.’ We walked into P. J. Clarke's, I said, ‘Vinny, my usual.’ And he lined up six double vodkas.”

Ha ha ha! That’s great, I think I’ll stick to beer though and I think I see a cheeseburger in my future!

Okay, we're two blocks away, here we are at 53rd and 3rd. Cheers to Dee Dee Ramone who used to work this block.

There it is, it looks like it's the one after 909. Okay, I'm done with the song puns.

Here it is, the legendary P.J. Clarke's.

The bar's crowded as usual, but I spy a seat I can wiggle into.

And bartender Michael is quick on the draw with an ice cold beer.

Here's some of the draft beer available.

There's a big crowd in here considering it's Sunday night.

As you can see, there's an extensive list of bottled beers available.

Here's Jillian, the lovely hostess for the back dining room.

And here's the back dining room in all its red-checkered table cloth glory.

The raw bar stands opposite the bar.

The whiskey list.

Mark and Can were seated next to me at the bar and had a few suggestions for the bar crawl, I may try one of them tonight.

It's Sunday night and that means Sunday dinner at a bar. Here's my appetizer, homemade potato chips and baked blue cheese dip.

The condiments are set up which can only mean...

Cheeseburger! Bartender Justin serves up the Cadillac Burger.

It truly lives up to its name.

A tasty burger indeed!

A glance out of the window as I leave. Goodnight, everybody!

Review
P.J. Clarke’s is a New York institution. It’s open till four in the morning every day of the week and you’ll find a decent crowd of locals, tourists, business people and construction workers all enjoying the old school ambiance. If you’re lucky to score a stool at the front wooden bar, the bartenders will happily serve you up a beer or a drink that you can choose from one of the chalk board menus hanging up in the back wall of the bar. The bartenders wear white shirts and black ties and are quick with a drink and some of the friendliest servers in town.

P.J. Clarke’s has a full bar and a dining area in the back. The menu includes delicious appetizers such as: Homemade Potato Chips & Baked Blue Cheese Dip, Crisp Parmesan Tater Tots and ‘Hand Picked’ Jumbo Lump Crab Cake. There’s a raw bar that has offerings of, East & West Coast Oysters, Littleneck and Cherrystone Clams, Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail, and a Raw Sampler Platter including four oysters, four jumbo shrimp, three littlenecks and three cherrystones. There’s a wide range of entrees including five choices of steak and daily specials, but take my advice and skip them and order the The Cadillac Burger which is smoked country bacon and American cheese and a perfectly cooked burger. Nat King Cole named it and you should eat it if you’re there. The name isn’t a lie.

P.J. Clarke's
915 Third Ave.  (@55th St.)
212-317-1616