Saturday
Aug212010
Saturday, August 21st, 2010—Bar 223
Day 223—Friday, August 20th, 2010
36 West
Okay, last week I cheated a little and didn’t do a real, “full service” bar crawl because I was burnt out beyond belief. And I’m sure it won’t be the last time I do that on a Friday night. But tonight I’m not feeling too bad for a Friday, so I’ll attempt a regular crawl tonight. On Fridays I try to find places that won’t be packed, but will still be a decent bar to drink at. I think I’ve found one tonight, and like Walter’s last night, it’s close by, so that’s even better. New York magazine had this to say about the place, “36 West makes a fine locale while waiting for a train, thanks to the cocktail list.” I’ve been by this place and it’s not that big, but being a cocktail bar, I don’t think it’ll attract a huge crowd on a Friday night. I was a little shocked to find out they’re open till four in the morning, because it seems like it’s more of an after work, happy hour kind of place. Well, we won’t know what kind of place it is till we get there, so it’s off we go.
Okay, here we are at 36th Street, just a couple blocks and we're there.
The only problem here is, if someone doesn't know english, how are they going to read this sign?
Here we are, 36 West.
It looks delightfully quiet for a Friday night. Perfect.
And the lovely Katerina serves up a margarita.
Cheers!
A shot of the marble-topped bar.
Here's the draft beers that are available at 36 West.
There's tables up front for dining.
A big screen TV hangs up high at the bar which is perfect. If you want to watch it, it's there, if not, it's not in your face.
My second drink was a caipirinha jalapeno martini, one of the signature drinks of the bar. Be forewarned though it is really spicy. Truly firewater.
Here's Gabe the owner seated at the end of the bar.
Here's the large selection of bottled beers available at 36 West.
A mirror shot of the bar.
Meanwhile, back at the bar...
I order my final drink of the night, a Corona to put out the fire from that caipirinha martini.
Obligatory bathroom mirror shot! Goodnight, everybody!Review
36 West is a no frills bar and restaurant. There’s not a lot of gimmicks, but there is friendly bartenders and cliental at the marble-topped bar. The music is played at a conversational level and it’s a nice place to enjoy a relaxing drink. Especially on a Friday night when most bars are madhouses. This place is a nice little, quiet oasis.
There’s a decent selection of bottled and draft beer, but this place specializes in is cocktails. They have five styles of caipirinha drinks, a half dozed kinds of favored martinis, five types of mojitos, four selections of margaritas, five varieties of flavored shots and the partridge in the pear tree is five kinds of exotic drinks including: Banana Split, Mint Chocolate, Macaroon and one titled, Agent Orange. Hmm, I don’t think too many Vietnam veterans will be ordering that last one. There’s a happy hour Monday through Friday from 4pm to 7pm with two for one beers, 6 buck margaritas and half price buffalo wings and zucchini sticks.
Like the bar itself, the menu is small, but nice. Some of the items offered include: jalapeño poppers, buffalo wings, a vegetable burger and a grilled chicken sandwich. One item that sounds extremely tasty is the Skewered Steaks which is marinated beef in citrus juice with mushrooms, onions and peppers and then grilled.
Mondays are Wii Mondays at the bar and Tuesday is karaoke night. You’ve been warned!
389 Eighth Ave. (Near Eighth Ave.)
212-695-3710
And now, for Clacky! Atomic Dog!
21 Comments
Reader Comments (21)
Ah, the lovely Katerina, fixing a margarita on the rocks, perfect. Then a caipirina which also looks great. You know something, I have never pushed the lime into the Corona bottles, I always take it off, and I dont know why.
Glad you finally got the post up. Good stop and that martini looks good, as does Katerina!
Gee Marty how many times must I ask you to give me a call if your in my neighborhood , I am 3 blocks away from this place & I pass it every day going to work , I could of been there is 3 min flat !!!!
Oh did you try the update of the laptop software ? Oh is it a laptop ?
@Jason: I'll call you next time, I didn't think of it. And it's not a laptop, it's an iMac, but thanks for the help!
The caipirinha looks mighty tasty and a little bit dangerous. Very quiet little establishment but still open till 4am. Thats a bit odd but thats New York and not Newcastle....
I know we shouldn't mix politics and booze but....
Shitty shitty shitty day yesterday...as Fitzy would agree. We had a federal election to vote in our new P.M.
What a load of Arse Wank. Didn't like either candidate and now we have a deadlock....hung parliament.
Who's running this dam country?!
@Fitzy: Next election we should run as the 365 Downunder party. Abolish taxes on Beer, compulsory 4 beers a day, Home brewing to be taught in schools and mandatory courtesy buses to any where in the state?
@ 365: Any chance you could post up some George Clinton or Parliament?
Learn english.com !!!!! I walked by that street allot of times and each times I looked at that sign and I wondered : Is my english enough good ? lol I'm always getting so much doubts!!!
But ok, right now I'm drunk, my childhood friend won 40 liters of wine for his birthday and came at home with 2 liters, and of course we drank all, that's hard to be french and to be obliged to never refuse some wine and to go to sleep with that strong desire for a cheese...
OH YEAH! a blue cheese with big melons! NOW WE'RE TALKING !!!!!! Mouhahaha!
ok, that bar is cool but makes me think about something strange: Why bars in NYC use a napkin and not a coaster???
CHEEEERS, going to bed before to puke the wine! (yep! very glamor french women! bravo)
Did I catch a CPR kit next to the tv? Nice to keep that handy. And I like the little things, like seeing the piece of paper you're writing their names on. I want to go on the crawl just to take behind the scenes pictures of you doing the crawl. Nice small bar.
@Zioum Zioum: They use both napkins and coasters, I'll be posting a picture of a coaster tomorrow.
@kari: That was a CPR kit, I thought it was funny too!
@Tim Clack: It's done!
Technology... the knack of so arranging the world that we don't have to experience it. ~Max Frisch
what's the word on the 365 calender?...Katerina should be in the running...that pose backed by all those beers...yea i know 365 has got to run it's course and all...but a thought that the 365 calender could run on the government's time table...you know start 1Jul2K11...by that time all the votes could in counted and with the help of technology together and on sale with days to spare...just a colt/jameson x3 or 4 thought...KOC
rr
@raginrr: Details of the calendar will be revealed soon! Stay tuned, same Bat time, same Bat channel.
@365: You are a legend.
@clacky, fuck the election!! i'm over it....i'd sooner watch Danoz Direct for 15 fucking hours.....(just for the record clacky, i voted for the Hemorrhoid Party, least they dont bullshit about being pains in the arse)
@ aussies: oh so you got an hemorroïd Party! sounds funny! Here we got the UMP Party : Union of Midget Pussy !! They are kind of funny, the show talk about a Midget guy who wants to be as big as tiger wood's dick, but he's as much hugly and stupid that he can't find a woman. so he go to see the richest old woman in France and fuck her in her ass and she gives him money to go to buy an italian model !! After he feels bigger and start to act like an hyperactif & authoritarian guy and insult people, then there's some rumor about he got pregnant an arabic french minister, he tries to hide the fact so the french minister told rumor about the italian model going to get sodomy somewhere else!
The UMP TV show is every wednesday at the parliament !!! And the actors are pretty good!! and you? do you get a TV show of your hemorrhoïd Party?? Ha Ha !!!
TO Abolish taxes on Beer, compulsory 4 beers a day !!!!!
You know there are 2 bars on 36st , & I am not sure which one has WII Mondays , which I tought was odd , & I pass these Bars ever day , but I am so broke I can't pay attention .
Hey, Marty! Caipirinha is a brazilian drink that has cachaça (sugar cane destilled), sugar and lime. Is sometimes made with vodka instead cachaça, but a prefer with cachaça. And I'm very curious for tasted this mix drink (caipirinha and martini). I would try do it in here.
@Luc Ramone: This was a very spicy version of the drink. I'll try to see if I can find the recipe online.
When did 7th become Fashion Avenue? And why does the word Avenue always remind me of Eddy Grant? I would like to ponder these and other questions over a margarita or two. No caipirinhas for me, though. Reminds me of those hot pepper beers that were all the rage in the '90s. If I want something hot with my sauce, I'm goin old school and ordering buffalo wings.
Hey I am the bartender that served you and just wanted to add that the martini was a jalapeno martini not a caipirinha.....although we do have those as well and they are delicious but not spicy. Thanks for the review and good luck with the rest of the crawl.
Hey Kat, sorry I screwed that up, but thanks for the correction! I just fixed it in the captions. And thanks for the nice evening and hospitality at West 36!
Katerina FTW!!!!!!!!!!!!!