Day 133—Saturday, May 22nd, 2010
Hallo Berlin (Originally headed for 123 Burger Shot Beer)
Okay, I had to work tonight, but I’m feeling much better than I did last night. I apologize for the somewhat dull post yesterday, but hey, you can’t win them all on the crawl and tonight’s a new night. As I explained last week (when I had to work last Saturday), I usually go out early on Saturday and get a cheeseburger and avoid the madness of Saturday night. Last week I ended up in a quiet little restaurant bar and met some really cool people. If you missed it, you can just click here: Last Saturday night.
Well, since I went to a quiet bar last night, tonight I’m flying right into the eye of the storm for what I hope will be a more lively post. I found a place in Hell’s Kitchen called 123 Burger Shot Beer and it’s a place I can still do my cheeseburger thing since they serve them all night long.
What the deal is that here you can get the cheeseburger for a buck, a shot for two dollars and a beer for three bucks. Those are my kind of prices and the place is huge, so maybe the crowd won’t be overwhelming. The only way to find out is to get crawling!
P.S. My good pal and 365 commentator, Biff said there’s no way it’s going to happen there. I spoke with her on the phone tonight and told her of my plans and that the place looked to be a little on the fratyboyish side of things and she said that by the time I got there it would be peak hours and it’d be too crowded to do my bar crawl thing in there. If you’re right, Bifferoonie, you can leave me a big, “I TOLD YOU SO!” in the comments section below.
Okay, here we are at 123 Burger Shot Beer. It sounds loud in there.
Holy shitballs and it's packed as well. I'll never doubt you again, Bifferoonie! Maybe i'll try this place tomorrow for my Sunday dinner.
Time to start my lonely walk down 10th Street.
Hey Joey D., here's a deli you need to visit.
ATM is available here, you should stop in before the cops find out about this!
This building smells of pea soup and I swear I can hear the words, "Your mother sucks cocks in hell," coming out of the building.
Hello Berlin, this place looks like a different kind of bar, let's check it out.
It's Saturday night and I don't see anyone in here, sure beats a crowded bar, let's go inside.
Nice bar and it's empty on a Saturday night, let's take a seat and let the crawl begin!
Bartender Chris serves up a giant-sized bottle of Reisdorf Kolsch.
It's delicious, cheers!
A painting with the name of the German bar on it adorns the wall.
The front of the room is decked out with wooden benches in true German beer hall style.
Tables line the walls for dining and drinking.
A list of German shots to be had here and if that price list is correct, they're the cheapest shots in town!
The reason no one's at the bar is that it's a nice night out and everyone is outside in the German beer garden.
And yes, these are ashtrays. If you smoke, you can light up and be left alone out here. Take that Mayor Bloomberg.
Here's Christian and John. John confessed he's half German, so he's a natural for the place.
Ben, Michael and Rufus were celebrating Michael's 44th birthday. Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Michael!
Okay, there's no cheeseburgers to be had here, so I ordered a fresh warm German pretzel.
And it was delicious! Gute Nacht jeder!
Review
Hallo Berlin proudly hails itself as “New York’s Wurst Restaurant.” And this play on words refers to the vast selection of wurst sausage selections to be had at this slice of Berlin located in the heart of Hell’s Kitchen. The bar in the restaurant is medium sized with a large collection of German beer steins adorning the top shelf of the bar. There’s German hall wooden benches and tables in the front and back of the bar for seating, but the big draw here is the outside beer garden which feels like it’s an Oktoberfest even when it’s just the middle of May. German music is piped in, giant steins of imported beer are served and drank and you can even smoke in the garden of Berlin. Life is good back here.
The beer here is exclusively imported featuring such German brews as: Spaten, Koelsch Lager, Bitburger Pils and Hofbraeuhaus Lager Beer. They also have a full bar featuring German shots and a wine list. You can’t bill yourself as the “Wurst Restaurant in New York,” without having an extensive list of the German sausages and the menu includes these wurst treats: Applewurst, Knockwurst, Wienerwurst, Bavarian Wurst and Berliner Currwurst. Some of the German dinner platters include: Berliner Beef Goulash, Sauerbraten With Spaetzle, Hoyerswerdaer Schnitzel and Kasseler Ribs.
Auf Wiedersehen and beifall!
Hallo Berlin
626 Tenth Ave. (Near 44th St.)
212-977-1944