Day 319—Wednesday, November 24th, 2010
Dervish (Originally headed for Via Brasil)
Tonight’s bar choice comes over the river, through the continents and straight to the 365 blog. Yesterday an amazing thing happened, I met and took a photo of a couple at last night's stop and the man in the photo was a roommate of a follower and sometime commentator here at 365, Pops. Pops lives in Brazil and left the following comment: “Incredible. In 1997 I went to UC Berkeley to do an MBA. While I was there I was the roommate of a guy called Alok, the same one you took a picture at Savoy! Unfuckingbelievable! I haven't seen his face for almost 10 Years! Thanks for showing me that he´s alive and ok! Also, you should check a Brazilian bar sometime. I talk to some friends that live in NY and they pointed me to: Cabana Carioca, Ipanema, Via Brasil, Favela Cabana or Brasilia. They said you can have the best caipirinha money can buy! Take care and keep crawling!”
Pretty nuts, huh? I’ve been to Ipanema, but none of the others and I promise I’ll try to visit them all before it’s though. Tonight I’ve decided on Via Brasil. So, there you go, Pops, this bar’s for you!
Via Brasil is on 46th Street, so we'll hoof it up there, it's starting to get chilly out.
Goddamn slow walkers in this part of town!
And these people are creating a huge jam-up on the sidewalk by gawking at the window display in Macy's windows. It's not a TV show people, let's move along!
The barricades are up for tomorrow's Thanksgiving Day parade. Something I'll never attend as I have a tradition of sleeping through it.
And here we are, 46th Street, Little Brazil.
Via Brasil, let the crawl begin!
Sadly, I was informed by the bartender that the owner doesn't allow pictures inside. Sorry, Pops, I tried. Time for a lonely walk in search of a bar.
I remember going to the Upstairs Bar in this hotel. A great stop along the crawl.
And look who's outside, the owner of The Upstairs Bar, Frank with his cigar-smoking friend who I forgot to ask his name. Frank told me he's a faithful follower of the 365 bar crawl. Cheers to Frank!
A lot of the bars I'm passing are jammed with people. This is like a Friday night because most people don't have to work tomorrow. I wonder if there's a bar in here?
Not only is there a bar, it's empty. This may not make for the most exciting stop on the crawl, but fuck it, I've walked a lot and I'm beat, this is tonight's stop.
I've got my choice of seats here, nice!
And even nicer is friendly and beautiful bartender, Julia who serves up an ice-cold bottle of Corona!
Cheers and Happy Rockefeller, everybody!
There's a nice painting of the bar behind the bar.
Some of the beers available on draft.
Swanky red leather booths line the walls opposite the bar.
There's a dining room above and a giganzo TV for Gene!
Julia deep in thought behind the bar.
A long shot of the highly-polished wooden bar.
Ha, that should be the motto of the bar crawl!
About a month ago, my friend Rick Halberg who pens the Groovyrick's Blog, sent in a donation and said all he wanted was a pretty girl to wave to him. I keep forgetting to do this, but tonight this wave is for you Rick! And goodnight, everybody.
Review
Okay, it’s a holiday and I have places to go and a bar to visit later, you can read all about that in tomorrow’s post. But since it’s a holiday, I’m going to slack and post a review from New York magazine.
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The large, multi-chambered Turkish spot is ornate in a distinctly pre-theater way: In the mezzanine lounge, dramatic wall sconces are framed by crimson trompe l’oeil curtains; on the ground floor, a mural painted with the words “The Show Must Go On!” hangs behind the long, mahogany bar. The dinner menu is clearly priced for the theater crowd, though dishes, once ordered, are slow to arrive at the table. But the food’s quite satisfying once delivered. Especially good are appetizers like lemon-and-basil-infused yogurt cacik (akin to Greek tzatziki); dolmas stuffed with spinach and ground pine nuts; and hearty, nicely spiced red lentil soup. The entrees are less consistent, so it’s best to stick to lamb dishes like traditional doner and hunkar begendi, cubes of meat in a baba ghanoush-style puree of eggplant and roasted tomato. — Sarah Gold
Recommended Dishes
Red lentil soup, $6.50; Saray-style lemon cacik, $6; Traditional doner, $15.75
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Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! I don’t say this enough, but THANKS for reading and supporting this blog, it means a lot to me. Cheers to you all!
Dervish
146 W. 47th St. (Near Seventh Ave.)
212-997-0070