Day 312—Wednesday, November 17th, 2010
Biddy Early's
It’s been a while since I turned the reins over to my co-pilot and 365 commentor Al Rizo, who lives in Miami, but always finds a great bar for me to visit here in New York. Biddy Early’s is a bar that Al picked and it looks to be a classic Irish pub in the Financial District. Plus I just found out via email that both the BBC and ABC (see photos below), went there last week and they highly recommend it as well. Even though Clacky got thrown out of their kitchen.
Biddy Early was a tradtional Irish healer and if you want to read about her, you can do it here: Biddy Early. Personally I’m more interested in a beer than history, so I’ll read about Biddy later and check out the Biddy bar right now.
Here we are at Biddy Early's in the heart of the Financial District.
It's nice, dark and woody inside. (Subtle plug for Woody Radio!)
And hospitable bartender, Keith serves up a perfect pint of Guinness, which leads to...
The traditional wearin' of the Guinness.
Some of the many draft beers available at the bar.
Biddy Early was a healer back in the day and now she's hawking t-shirts. Welcome to 2010.
Here's a group of guys seated next to me at the bar. From left: Bryan, Rob, Nick, Ray and Yours Fooly.
And they were kind enough to buy shots for us. Cheers!
Here's Bryan with his friend Gerard.
Irish sport jerseys line the wall opposite the bar.
An instructional vintage Guinness sign on the wall.
Here's the kitchen that Clacky got thrown out of.
There's a large dining area in the back.
Meanwhile back at the bar, Keith is busy filling drink requests.
Time has worn on and my neighbors at the bar have left leaving empty drinks and a tip for Keith.
Caitlin and Shawn were enjoying drinks at the end of the bar.
Shawn Washburn is an artist and part of an art installation called, Visual Vaudeville. Check it out here: Visual Vaudeville. I'll be going soon and you can see a full report of it in the future here.
A look out the window and it's time to hit the road.
Cheers and goodnight, everybody!
Review
Imagine an Irish garage sale and you have the interior decorating scheme of Biddy Early’s. Irish road signs, miniature trolleys, vintage Guinness beer signs and Irish sports jerseys hang from the walls and the ceilings in this dark, wooden bar. The front area is a long narrow space complete with a dark wooden bar and friendly bartenders behind it just waiting to pour you that perfect pint of Guinness. There’s a dining room in the back with plenty of tables and chairs to sit and enjoy drinks and food.
Biddy’s has a huge selection of beers to choose from. Here’s just some of the selections to be had on tap: Old Speckled Hen (you reading this, Gene?), Guinness, Smithwick's and their own Biddy's Brew. The bottled beer selection includes: Hoegaarden, Red Stripe, Rolling Rock and Brooklyn Lager. Oh, and they also have Miller Lite (are you reading this, Biff?)
If you’re in the mood for a top of the mornin’ snack or dinner, Biddy Early’s kitchen is open till 2am, seven days of the week. The menu is large and includes such standard tavern fare as wings, calamari, sliders and potato skins. Some of the tradional Irish dishes include: Bangers and Mash, Dublin Style Fish ‘n’ Chips, Homemade Irish Stew and a Traditional Irish Breakfast featuring, sausage, black & white pudding, irish bacon, eggs your style and baked beans.
Biddy Early was a legendary Irish healer, who I wish was around today. Maybe she could get rid of this fucking hangover before I have to go to work!
Biddy Early's
43 Murray St. (near Church St)
212-732-2873
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Great Choice, Al!
Bonus Photos by Gene of the BBC!
If you follow the 365 blog reguarly, you’ll know I had visitors in last week. There was meeting of the bar crawlers as the infamous, BBC (Baltimore Bar Crawlers featuring, Gene, Smoopy and Terry) met the new kids on the tavern-hopping block, the ABC (featuring Clacky and Shannon.) Gene was snapping pictures the whole time and he sent me some photos from the trip and here they are! And once again thanks to all five of you for hanging out with me on the bar crawl, a wonderful time was had by all. Okay, take it away Gene!
The BBC meets the ABC. From left: Terry, Clacky, Shannon and Smoopy.
Terry gets horny.
A Pabst-wrapped Smoopy.
Shannon and Clacky show off Ninja dance moves and flippage.
Well-worked elbows!
Goodnight, everybody! (Here's a link to a slideshow Gene put together of their trip: The BBC Invade NYC again!)