Saturday, February 13th, 2010—Bar 34

Day 34—Friday, February 12th

Mama’s

It’s Friday night and I just got paid, as the song goes, so a perfect night to travel around town a little further in the 365 Bar Crawl. Plus, no work tomorrow so I can sleep in. Woo and hoo. I’m going to splurge and take a cab into Alphabet City. I found a cool looking bar while Googling tonight and it’s called Mama’s. Mama may have told Randy Newman not to come, but I think we’re all welcome! So let’s get out their and hail a cab and make tracks to Mama’s.

TAAAAAXIIII!

The view from inside the cab.

Motherfucker! Ten minutes later and we're only halfway there! Tons of traffic tonight.

Finally we make our destination, Mama's Bar. I walked past it twice, because there's no sign for the place outside.

When I saw the drink specials outside I knew I had found it. Time to get inside out of the freezing cold.

Holy shitballs, it's packed in here! Wall to wall people. And the music is louder than hell. That combined with everyone shouting to each other will make it impossible for me to do my usual meet and greet. So tonight will be a  photo-study of Mama's Bar.

The bartender was busy, but i got a bottle of Bud in minutes.

The lively and loud crowd at Mama's Bar.

These paintings on the paint-peeled wall are great!

There's a table at the front which this quintet is utilizing.

A giant frong sits atop a table in the corner of the bar. Riiibitt.

Some of the yard sale motif at Mama's Bar.

The man responsible for the loud tunes is DJ Michael. Here he cues up a remix of the classic, "Freddie's Dead," by Curtis Mayfield.

Kitschy chandeliers hang from the ceiling.

An original mural spans over one and a half walls in the bar.

A view from the other end of the bar. Cheers!

Empties!

I'm growing weary of the obligatory bathroom mirror shot. While I'm not abandoning it completely, I'm going to make it the "occasional" bathroom mirror shot from here on in. So tonight I leave you with...FEET! Goodnight everybody!

Review

Take equal parts punk rock, kitsch and kaboodle, remnants from a yard sale, a quirky neighborhood art gallery and plenty of booze and you’ve got the recipe for Mama’s Bar. The bar itself is a small and cozy bar decorated with a thrift store mentality and it fills up quickly. The clientle is mainly friendly folks from the neighborhood and the bartenders are happy to serve you. Some nights Mama’s has a DJ and on those nights that they don’t there’s an eclectic rock and roll jukebox.

There’s a full bar with bottled beers, mixed drinks and the specialty is the house infused vodka. Some of the flavors include: cantaloupe, grapefruit, strawberry, hot pepper and pineapple. Mama’s also has six quality beers on draft including: Six Point, Kelso of Brooklyn, Blue Moon and Guinness.

There’s no food to be had at the bar, but patrons are welcome to bring in their own munchies. In fact you might want to try nearby Mama’s Restaurant (no affilliation to the bar) which specializes in comfort food like mac and cheese and bacon wrapped meatloaf. Perfect for a comfortable, kitschy dive bar like Mama’s.

Mama’s
34 Ave. B @ 3rd St.  
212-777-5729

Friday, February 12, 2010—Bar 33

Day 33—Thursday, February 11th

Deweys Flatiron

Okay, it finally stopped snowing here and today is another request day. A fellow by the name of Spiro wrote me and told me I should try Dewey’s Flatiron Bar, which is handy because like last night’s tavern, it’s on my way home. Like I said, it stopped snowing, but it’s still a mess out there and I don’t feel like straying far. Oh, and Spiro said he might be at the bar and we’ll have a beer to together. So tonight I’ll be Richard Nixon to his Spiro, but don’t worry, I’ll pay my tab. I am NOT a crook!

Here we are, Dewey's Flatiron, let's see what this joint is all about.

Luis is the doorman/bouncer and a very nice guy. A good sign of the hospitality to come.

It's a nice looking bar. And looking even nicer is...

Eva, the lovely and very friendly bartender for the evening.

I drink my beer in full spastic mode. Gaaaaahhh!

The bar is very spacious with lots of tables and booths in the back. It was a little quiet tonight, I think people are still spooked about yesterday's blizzard.

Here's Jamal, who's not only a regular at Dewey's, he told me he's a regualar at several more. For that, I decided to make him the Master Boozer for the evening. Welcome to the elite club, Jamal!

Admiral George Dewey, the man the bar is named after.

Adam and Lauren were just getting ready to leave as I snapped their photo.

Some of the wide array of draft beers available at the bar.

Some of the specials and a trivia question I have no fucking idea as to the answer. Maybe you do.

These people were having fun and drinks at the end of the bar. From left: Maria, Chris, Jenna and Jack. Cheers!

Let's check out the upstairs bar.

It's a little smaller and cozier up here.

And yet another beautiful bartender upstairs, the lovely and friendly Gina.

Back downstairs I ask Eva for one more for the road.

She serves it up along with a little tongue. Holy Guacamole! Thanks Eva!

And of course in the end it all boils down to...obligatory bathroom mirror shot! Goodnight Everybody!

Review

Dewey's Flatiron was established in 1996 just blocks away from my favorite building in New York, the Flatiron Building. The bar itself is named after Admiral George Dewey and there’s a lot of history behind the name, but I go to bars to drink, not to learn about history and luckily there’s just as much booze in this joint as history. There’s also a lot of space, the front bar is big, the ceilings are high and there’s lots of tables and booths in the back. Plus there’s a second floor with a smaller bar upstairs. The bartenders and clientle are a friendly bunch and fun to hang out with.

The bar is a big after-work place and sports rules the days and nights on weekends. On Sundays, game-ready fans can fork over thirty bucks and then consume all the beer and chicken wings for an eight hour stretch. They have 17 plasma TV’s to watch games on and happy hour is 4:30 pm to 7:00 pm. Monday through Wednesday and Saturday happy hour specials include four buck beers and five dollar well drinks. Margaritas and Coronas are four bucks on Thursday and on Friday you can indulge in five dollar Cosmos and flavored martinis.

Dewey’s Flatiron features a full menu with burgers, pizza, rib eye steak sandwich, cajun shrimp quesadilla and linguine carbonara. They have a few healthy choices, but fuck that, you’re in a bar, you want to eat healthy? Go home and eat a fucking Lean Cuisine! Hey...where was Spiro?

Deweys Flatiron
210 Fifth Ave. (between 25th and 26th St.)
212-696-BEER (I love that phone number!)

Thursday, February 11th, 2010—Bar 32

Day 32—Wednesday, February 10th

The Limerick House

First off, after a bit of a dry spell, the donation board lights up again! My friend Emily Schein from the windy city of Chicago just sent in five bucks today and that’ll buy the first beer! Thanks and cheers to you, Emily, we’ll see you at the end of April as I take this bar crawl on the road to the midwest for week.

We had a huge snowstorm today and it continues on in the night. It’s a real fucking mess out there and I really don’t feel like slogging around town in this mess, so I’m going to stop in at a little tavern that’s on my way home. The name of the joint is the Limerick House and it’s a casual Irish bar, perfect for a few drinks to warm up on my way home. It’s a mess out there, so put on your rubbers and let’s go. That’s right, I’m an advocate of safe walking.

We'll be walking down 6th Avenue and it's a fucking, freezing mess out here.

The snow turns into a sea of brown glop on every corner. I hate winter!

The streets are pretty empty, I'm halfway wondering if the bar is even going to be open. You'd have to be a master boozer or completely insane to be going to a bar in the middle of this blizzard. Luckily I fall in to both categories.

The lights are on, time to seek shelter from this storm! And there's people inside! Unbelievable!

And Simon the bartender quickly serves a perfect antidote to a winter blizzard, a fresh pint of Guiness. This of course leads to...

The traditional wearin' of the Guiness on the head. Yeah, I know you're getting tired of this, but i never do. So there!

This is for all of you whining about the Guiness on the head thingy.

As I said, anyone going out on a night like this is a Master Boozer, so I made up some Master Boozer certificates to pass out. The first recipients were Martin and Gayle, who braved the storm to go out and enjoy the Limerick House.

There's plenty of seating in the Limerick House.

More Master Boozer certificates for this lively group of guys! From left: Julian, Earnest, Darrell and Andrew. Cheers, guys!

Lots of tunes on the jukebox. See the review for more details.

Fabian was working hard behind the bar so I awarded him the Master Boozer certificate.

Some of the nightly specials at Limerick House.

Here's Ryder and George. Ryder is just one of this woman's aliases, there's a meaning behind it, but I'll never tell!

And the final Master Boozer certificate goes to Simon the bartender whose expertly poured drinks fueled me for the rest of the walk home.

And of course the obligatory bathroom mirror shot. My favorite one so far! Goodnight everybody!

Review

There once was a bar from Nantucket...aah, I’ve never been good with limericks so fuck it. Hey that almost worked, I guess it’s my half Irish side coming out. The Limerick House is a no-frills, laid back neighborhood Irish bar, perfect for relaxing with a perfectly poured pint of Guiness. The staff and bartenders are friendly and drinks are inexpensive. There’s an eclectic jukebox with a wide array of artists ranging from Bill Haley and the Comets to Joe Cocker To Lil Wayne to the Deftones. The closest it comes to standard Irish tunes is U2. No gimmicks, no gadgets just booze served at decent prices and a cozy atmosphere. No complaints from me.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday the Limerick House has beer bucket specials. Full lunch and dinner menu including fish and chips, burgers, grilled salmon and chicken parmigiana over pasta. The house specialty is their  traditional shepherds pie. And you can wash dinner down with a cup of genuine Irish coffee. Too rah loo rah loo!

Limerick House
69 W. 23rd St. (@ 6th Ave.)
212-243-8898