Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010—Bar 51

Day 51—Monday, March 1st
Rudy’s Bar & Grill

First off the Donation bar rang big time tonight! My friend and former co-worker James Mollo sent me the following donation:

Donation Details
Total amount: $87.00 USD
Currency:  U.S. Dollars
Purpose:  living the dream
Contributor: James Mollo
Message: Hello! Got a bunch of overtime on my last paycheck, so here's some fazooles.

That was very generous I thank you James for the fazooles! After last Saturday’s bill I can use it! This also gives me a chance to say something about the Donation button. I decided last week I wasn’t going to try and sell advertising on here right now. Between working a full time job and doing the 365 Bar Crawl, then writing it, resizing photos and posting a column a day, I just don’t have time for it. This can get expensive, so if you’re enjoying this advertising-free site and can donate just five bucks once in a while it will really help keep this going. I know a lot of people can’t these days and to those people I say, just enjoy the site. But those of you who can, consider it a cover charge for the entertainment this brings to you. If you're paranoid about online donation, send me an email and I'll give you my address of where to send a donation for drinks. If you come to New York, I'll buy you one back!

Okay, enough begging for change! I haven’t hit a dive bar for awhile on the 365 crawl, so tonight I thought I’d dive in head first to one of New York’s original dive bars, Rudy’s Bar & Grill. Rudy’s was one of the first bars opened in New York City after prohibition ended. So put on your drinking trunks and let’s dive head first into the sauce at Rudy’s!

Nice neon sign at Rudy's, deep in the heart of Hell's Kitchen in New York City.

A giant ceramic pig is there to welcome you to Rudy's.'

Here's the original door that opened the bar way back in 1933.

There's a full crowd for a Monday night. The joint is jumping!

Joe the bartender serves up the first Budweiser of the night and after I tell him about the 365 website he comps the beer! Thanks, Joe!

Some of the art and pictures on the wall at Rudy's.

Kyle and Scotty were enjoying drinks at the bar and Kyle advised me about Google analytics, which I'll look into after a few more drinks.

The crowd at the bar.

Seated next to me at the bar were my drinking neighbors, Melanie and Borey. Borey had some bar suggestions which I will follow through with on the bar crawl.

There's many beers to be had here, all at a price we can afford in these tough economic times.

Here's Eclson and  Guilherme, they are from Brazil and heard about Rudy's from a friend who had been here. It was their second night in New York and their second night in Rudy's. Welcome to the U.S.A. guys!

Joe holds court at the bar.

Seated at one of the red vinyl banquettes that line the walls were, Elaine, Henny and Michael.

Some of the drafts available at Rudy's.

Joe and Sasha were having a nice quiet time in their banquette, till I bugged them for a photo. They were gracious enough to oblige. Cheers!

The grill always has plenty of scrumptious hot dogs cooking up.

And they're free!

I took a short video, but the lights on the camera were freaking people out and Joe asked me to shut it off. He was nice about it though, so all was cool and I had another beer. (P.S. If you're having trouble viewing this, try using the Safari Browser, for some reason, Firefox isn't working for me. And thanks to Sam Wong for finding the camera lights for the bar crawl!)

Here's a quick video of the outside of Rudy's. Goodnight everybody!

Review

Hell’s Kitchen has been made over in the last decade and it’s a far cry from the days when gangsters from the Irish American Mob ran the neighborhood back in the day. There’s new restaurants, the shops and deli’s are squeaky clean, but one joint refuses to join in the gentrification: Rudy’s Bar and Grill. The door on the bar is the original door that opened the saloon back in 1933 by the Rudy family. Jack, the current owner started swilling suds in Rudy’s when he was 16-years-old and has made sure the bar stays true to its bombed-out, dive bar roots.

The space is small and it fills up quickly with thirsty drinkers lining up at the bar to purchase pitchers of Bud for nine bucks. Other brews on draft include, Bass Pale Ale, Stella Artois and there’s Rudy’s very own blonde ale at just $2.50 a pint. The bar offers up a selection of 14 bottled beers including, Rolling Rock, Budweiser, Corona and Pork Slap Ale in a can. Most of the bottles are three bucks and none are over four, so if your wallet’s thin, this is the place to tie one on.

Rudy’s has an eclectic jazz and rock 'n' roll jukebox, friendly bartenders and a fun and thirsty crowd of interesting characters. Plus a giant ceramic happy pig greets you at the door. And did I mention the free hot dogs? The hot dogs are FREE! That’s the cherry on top of the dive!

Rudy’s Bar and Grill
627 9th Ave (near 44th Street)
212-974-9169