Monday, October 25th, 2010—Bar 288

Day 288—Sunday, October 24th, 2010
Bua
Okay, I have to go to the doctor’s to get my bloodwork done early tomorrow morning to check my cholesterol and to see if my liver is starting to quiver, so I’m heading out early. I’m going to a bar on St. Marks Place called Bua that was suggested by Megan from La Flaca where I went last Thursday. She used to work there and recommended it for the bar crawl, so it’s off to Bua we go!

Here it is, Bua bar, let's check it out.

Wow, this is one dark bar, the only lighting in the place is candles. Nice!

Shane's the bartender for the evening and he's quick with a beer.

Cheers, everybody!

The walls are brick and the bottles are illuminated by flickering candles.

Nice quote behind the bar.

Victoria's a former New Yorker who now lives in San Francisco.

A shot of the bar in all it's darkened glory!

The candle=lit brick walls in the bar give it an earthy atmosphere.

There's wooden communal tables and a nice window view of the street in the back room.

A wooden railing lines the walls.

These two ladies are seated next to me at the bar, let's go and say hi.

It turns out they're both from Amsterdam. Felicia on the left lives here now and Hanneka is visiting. Cheers, ladies!

A long shot of the bar.

Okay, time for Sunday dinner. Shane recommended the pulled pork sliders, so that's what I'm having.

And here they are.

They're served with pickles and homemade country mustard.

Delicious!

Burp.

And Shane continues the one finger bartender salute. Goodnight, everybody! (Thanks to Fat Al over at the Half Empty Glass for a shout out about the new tradition here.)

Review
As I stated above in the introduction, I have to go get my bloodwork done early today (it’ll probably come out as foam!) so I have no time to write the review. Here’s a review from New York magazine (it’s one of their critics’ picks). Good luck getting through Monday!

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Long before Bua called it home, 122 St. Marks Place was the original locale of musical hub Sin-é, where a scrappy Jeff Buckley used to play for tips. Now a comfy bar full of Tisch and Cooper Union students, the joint’s Irish in name (Bua is Gaelic for “victory”) but not in practice, forgoing the usual pub hodgepodge for more capricious comforts: cauldrons of sangria and a sprightly cocktail menu instead of an extensive whiskey library, Berkshire pulled-pork sliders in place of bangers and mash or shepherd’s pie. The space itself is divided into two big rooms, each as large as your typical Manhattan dive, with long oak benches ensuring room for dozens. (The outdoor patio’s wicker furniture, however, is a slightly deceiving touch—drinks aren’t allowed outside.) And with shows long a thing of the past, the bar’s patrons are now the main attraction: In the space’s flickering candlelight, the chatty twentysomethings all look lovely.  — Tom Blunt

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BUA
122-126 St. Marks Pl. (Near 1st St.)
212-979-6276

Sunday, August 14th, 2010—Bar 217

Day 217—Saturday, August 15th, 2010
Mark
Okay, the PayPal donation bell has rung and I want to thank 365 commentator, blogger and lover of wood, Kari for a generous donation of 20 dollars! Within her message Kari said that she wanted a cheeseburger. Well, ask for a cheeseburger and you will get a cheeseburger Kari! For today is Cheeseburger Saturday Night and I think I’ve found a place that has great sliders. There’s a place I discovered through Google called Mark and they specialize in sliders and fries. The reviews I’ve found have been great, so let’s go check Mark out. Kari, this cheeseburger is on you, thanks so much!

On my walk over to St. Marks Place I stumbled upon a street fair on University, so I had to stop and get a...

Corn dog!

And what is it with socks being sold at street fairs? Please go away!

As 365 commentator "raginnr" knows, I've been plagued by sock sellers for over a decade. Check out this place on St. Marks. It's not time for new socks, so leave me the fuck alone! You socksucker you!

And here we are at the Mark burger bar.

It looks nice and cozy here.

And friendly and cute bartender Angie serves up a cold Six Point draft. And she didn't even make fun of me when I ordered it as a Five Point. I've always been a point off my whole life.

The menu is above the bar and grill.

There's an ongoing slider challenge here and the latest winner is Ryan, who ate 18 sliders in one sitting. If you can beat this, your sliders are free and you get your name on the board.

The backroom has comfortable chairs and tables to relax and dine at.

And there's a nice patio in the front with a great view of St. Marks Place.

The fryer buckets are standing tall, waiting for fries.

This guy got a warm welcome as he came in, let's go see who he is.

His name is Wendell and he's a regular in here. Angie said he's not the number one customer, but he's close.

Erik is the head chef here. He graduated from culinary school in Portland, Oregon and he designed the menu.

The sliders start out here...

And they end up here. I'm getting hungry!

Here's Angie with waitress Donna. Both Donna and Erik have been here since day one, over ten months ago.

I place my order and Erik rolls up his sleeves and gets ready to get down to business.

And ta-da! Here's my order. I got a regular and a bacon slider and fries.

And the verdit is...great slider! One of the best I've ever had.

All done, goodnight, everybody!

Review
A burger joint has risen among the ramen, noodle and frozen yogurt shops on St. Marks Place. Actually it’s a slider place and it’s approriately and simply titled, Mark. The bar is a long, shotgun, railroad space with an outside patio, tables in the front and back and a long wooden bar in the middle. The customers are mainly neighborhood regulars, jonesing for their daily two buck slider and fries fix. The bartenders and staff are super friendly and it’s easy to see why this new kid on the block has become a popular spot.

The bar is limited to draft beer and wine, with the draft offerings including, Blue Point, Toasted Lager, Six Point and Guinness all for five bucks a pint. There’s two types of sliders, the regular with cheese and onions (do I have to spell it out?), and a bacon slider where the bacon is incorporated inside the burger. The burger is a mix of chuck, short rib and sirloin and is ground fresh in-house on a daily basis. The buns are driven in daily from a bakery in Pennsylvania. Other items on the menu include a cup of chili, fresh cut french fries and homemade pecan pie. Everything here is homemade even the four types of ketchup including: regular, barbecue, chipotle and jalapeno. And the jalapeno really packs a hot punch. The mustard is homemade as well and made with Guinness beer. And speaking of Guinness, there’s a Guinness milkshake on the menu. I was going to try it, but after five Six Points, two sliders and fries, I was done! And happily so.

Mark
33 St. Marks Place (Near Second Ave.)
212-677-3132

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010—Bar 177

Day 177—Monday, July 5th, 2010
Grassroots Tavern
Okay, first off, 365 resident artist, “Boris” has been busy putting some new additions to the 365 Bar Store. There are now black T-shirts available in men’s and women’s styles. Just check on the additional colors menu off to the right of the shirt. And in honor of those 365 followers in Australia, “Boris” has set up special, “I Follow Down Under” shirts. They come in four different styles and you have your choice of a regular logo, or if you really want to show you follow down under, there’s an upside down logo as well. The choice is yours! Check it out in the apparel section of the store here: 365 Bar Store. Great job “Boris!” And remember that if you need some artwork for your website, “Boris” is available for freelance work. In addition, “Boris” can create a logo, design a CD or book cover or create just about anything you need. Just send me your request and I’ll pass it along to “Boris.” And, as you’ll see in the next paragraph, it was nice timing for “Boris” to think up this special design for our Australian mates!

I was going to go to Coney Island today, since I have the day off work, but right now it’s 99 degrees here and there’s no way I’m going down in the subway where it always feels about 20 degrees hotter. I didn’t have to go any further than my email to decide what bar to go to instead of journeying to Coney Island (and don’t worry, I will be going there before summer’s over.) I got an email from Rohan, who lives in Melbourne, Australia and said he’d love for me to stop at Grassroots Tavern on St. Marks Place. He said it’s where he hangs out when he’s in town. So that’s today’s bar. See how easy this works? Okay let’s go get beat in the heat!

And we're off, it's hotter than shit out here, I pray the air conditioning is working at Grassroots.

Bank ads on pizza boxes. Is nothing sacred anymore?

Despite the heat, there's a lot of activity in Union Square Park. Artists selling their work and this heady chess game are just part of the action.

And after a sweat-soaked walk, here we are, the Grassrots Tavern on St. Marks Place. Love the neon sign!

And for once, since I'm not working and it's early, I can take advantage of the Happy Hour specials!

Aaahh, the air conditioner is working and the place looks great. Nice tin ceiling and there's plenty of spots at the bar.

Keith was the friendly bartender on duty. Rohan asked in his email to see if John still worked there and he does, but he had the day off today.

Seated next to me was Veronica Saddler, who lives in the neighborhood. Veronica didn't want her picture taken, but she volunteered to take a shot of yours truly. It turns out Veronica is a pinhole photographer (as is 365 commentator Jason Hwang) and here's her website where you can check out her impressive photos: Veronica Saddler Photography.

There's well-worn tables off to the side and in the back of the spacious bar.

Vintage dart boards hang in the back room of the bar.

Riian and Riley were beating the heat at the bar.

Whitney flashes the 365 card while hoisting his drink. Cheers!

And Chris joins the party just in time for me to snap a photo.

Here's some of the beers available. As you can see, you're not going to go broke drinking in here.

Vintage coasters and pitchers hang over the bottles of booze at the bar.

The sun sets on St. Marks.

Robert and Stephanie were enjoying drinks at a side table and were very enthusiastic about the 365 bar crawl project.

A perfect spot on a hot summer day, great suggestion, Rohan! Cheers and goodnight everybody! (Photo by: Veronica Saddler.)

Review
Sometimes it nice to get back to the basics and drink in a no-frills bar, with decently priced drinks and an old-school flavor to it. Grassroots Tavern lives up to its name, it’s an old school New York dive bar and it’s nice that it hasn’t been pushed off the block with a chainstore or bar. Grasroots Tavern has been a fixture on the block since 1974. The bar is long and wooden and definitely shows history of many pitchers of beer and drinks that have been hoisted from it. There’s tables to the side and a back room with functioning dart boards and an antique trophy case. There’s a good selection on the jukebox with artists ranging from Johnny Cash, to Neil Young, to John Lee Hooker to the Pretenders.

There’s a full bar and drinks are cheap. Budweiser and Michelob drafts are just three bucks and you can get a pitcher for nine dollars. Bottled Buds go for $3.50 and a bottle of Heineken or Corona will cost you $4.50. Happy Hour runs Monday through Friday with one dollar off pints and two bucks off pitchers, so this place is definitely easy on the pocketbook, which is a good thing these days. You can also get a heaping bowl of popcorn for a buck to soak up some of the suds.

And the air conditioner works, which on a day like this makes the joint a real cool choice. Cheers!
    
Grassroots Tavern
20 St. Marks Pl. (Between 2nd & 3rd Aves.)
212-475-9443