Saturday, January 30, 2010—Bar 20

Day 20—Friday, January 29th—Doghouse Saloon

(Venue is now closed)

Okay, I was searching the internet for bars in New York and I stumbled upon a page for the Doghouse Saloon in the Lower East Side. Three words on the homepage caught my eye:

“Free Hot Dogs.” Free hot dogs? I’m there and  we’re there, let’s go!

Here we are on a freezing cold night, the Doghouse Saloon.

Live DJ tonight, I so much prefer them to dead ones. And look...FREE hot dogs! Woo hoo!

Outside the bar was Allen and Kebba, the head of Security. Allen said he came to the bar to get in out of the cold. Here's a hint Allen, to get out of the cold try going inside, it's much warmer there.

Here's the lovely and nice coat check woman, Annie.

Wow, it's a full house. It is Friday after all, let the boozing begin!

I squeeze my way into the bar and order a beer from the friendly and lovely bartender Annelise.

The well-stocked bar at Doghouse  Saloon.

My patented double-fisting drinking photo.

And the poeple continue to pour in.

I thought I'd go upstairs where it's a little less crowded to take some photos.

Here's Bea, Justin and Emily flashing the Lower East Side hand sign. Emily's a photographer, check out her blog here: Emily Burke Photography.

Here's the view from above.

Here's Meghan who comes here for the Skee-Ball action.

She shoots...

And she scores! Woo hoo!

It's dueling photography with Emma who was playing Skee-Ball with Meghan.

Peanuts!

Harry the hot dog man serves me up a dog with mustard. And they're free. And delicious!

The bathroom was packed and I wasn't about to take out a camera in there, so here's my obligatory mirror shot in the bar's official mirror.

And who's outside when I go to leave, Allen! This guy's never going to get warm this way. He's freezing here with his friend's Analisa and Evan. Evan forgot his coat, but I'm jealous of his hat and he's the East Coast Contributer to the Nice Kicks website. Check it out here: Nice Kicks.

Jennifer and Melissa are the bartenders downstairs in the sister bar called, Cloak Land. They invited me to join them next Friday so I think I will. Wouldn't you? Okay, I gotta go, I need to go get a cloak for next Friday. Goodnight everybody!

Review

If you like your bar with a lot of Animal House attitude, you’ll love the Doghouse Saloon. It’s two floors of non-stop toga party and you don’t need a toga to attend. There’s daily drink specials and games including Margarita Monday’s, a shot wheel of fortune and bikini Sundays (why did I go on a Friday...Stupid!) And there’s unlimited FREE hot dogs!

There’s also 9 TV’s with every sports game available and drink specials to go along with the games. The upstairs is a game room featuring a pool table and Skee-Ball. Live DJ’s crank up house tunes occasionally and the drinks are cheap and plentiful. Pails of peanuts line the bar and did I mention the hot dogs? They’re free and delicious! My advice to you upon entering: Drink heavily!

Doghouse Saloon
152 Orchard St. (@ Rivington St.)
646.429.8780

Friday, January 29, 2010 Bar—19

Day 19—Thursday, January 28th—The Ginger Man

Years ago I wrote an article for Time Out New York magazine called “16 Beers in 16 Bars in 16 hours.” Basically the title tells whole tale, I went to 16 bars and drank a beer every hour. The deal is that you can drink one beer and hour and never get drunk because your body processes the alcohol. It was a fun story and I was looking at the clipping today and realized the one of the bars I reviewed is close by where I work and is a little different than your ordinary cookie cutter bar.

The bar is called The Ginger Man named after the novel by J.P. Donleavy. The bar is huge and has tons of imported bottled and draft beers. It’s a real beer afficionado bar. While I’m not a beer afficionado by any means (if you’ve noticed the number of Budweisers I’ve drank so far), but it’s fun to type the word afficionado. See: afficionado, afficionado,afficionado. I wonder if J.P. Donleavy started this way? Probably not. Let’s go drink!

Here we are, the Ginger Man bar. I'm a poet and yes I know it.

Wow, it's packed in here! Lots of boozers out on a late Thursday night.

Luckily I got a seat at the bar and this lovely bartender (I forgot to write her name down!) poured me the first beer of the evening.

It was a Belgium beer called, 't Gaverhopke Singing Blonde.

It's true, blondes have more fun!

It's crowded and noisy in here, so I won't be approaching many people for a photo.

Although I did have a nice chat with my neighbors at the bar, Tiffany and Griffin. Look for Tiffany's reviews on Yelp and Griffin is a bartender at O'Lunney's Bar in Times Square. I'll have to stop in there on the 365 crawl.

Some of the many beers on tap at the Ginger Man.

And more beers on tap!

Drink local!

It's 12:30 at night and the people keep coming. This is a popular late night drinking place!

There's a bar in the back that's a little less crowded.

And now it's time for the second beer of the evening. This is a huge motherfucker of a beer! It's from Japan and it's called Jubilation Ale. It's got a lot more punch than American beer and you are jubilant when you finish it! At least I was!

Massive wooden booths line the wall opposite the bar.

And the final beer is poured!

It's a French beer in honor of commentator Zioum Zioum The Chainsaw and Grompf who sent in photos of the AB Bar (Note: Feel free to send in your bar shots!) It's called Jenlain Blonde and it's delicious!

They even have beer to go here at The Ginger Man.

I'm bored with the toilet shots, they're all the same, but I will continue the oblgatory bathroom mirror shot. And here it is!

Hey...how'd that get there?

Uh, oh. I'm starting to see pink elephants. I gotta go. Goodnight everybody!

Review

Newsday calls this a beer lovers paradise and they didn’t lie. There’s 70 different kinds of draft beers on tap and 160 bottles of beer to be had at The Ginger Man. And if that doesn’t make your liver quiver there’s also a large selection of Whiskey, Bourbon and a dozen aged varieties of Single Malt Scotch.

In addition to a huge inventory of booze, the bar itself is mammoth. The front room is big with a long bar and oversize dark wooden booths line the side walls. There’s another bar in the back and a lounge area to the side of that with comfortable chairs and waitresses will bring you drinks as you lounge in comfort. The dark wood theme and the wrought iron chandeliers give it a real old school New York feel.

And there’s food to soak up some of the imported suds you just swilled. The menu ranges from buffalo shrimp to specialty hot dogs and there’s Beer Platters featuring Smoked Salmon, Artisanal Cheeses and Schaller & Weber German Sausages. For me the most interesting item on the menu is the Guinness Stew. I’ve got to stop back and try it...next year when this is over!

The Ginger Man
11 East 36th St.
212-532-3740

Thursday, January 28, 2010—Bar 18

Day 18—Wednesday, January 27th—Belmont Lounge

Okay, I’ve shaken off the bad mood from last night. But I still can’t believe how I was shunned and ignored at that fucking Maru shithole. Okay, I’ve let it go. Those fucking donkey asscrack kissing pricks. Alright, alright, I have to leave it alone. FUCK MARU BAR! Whew, okay, it’s all out of my system. I promise.

I went over to the Murph Guide website and checked out some of the specials going on. This caught my eye:

So I checked out the website and it looks like a cool place. But we all know from last night that websites can be deceiving, so let’s go check out the Belmont Lounge and see if what they say is what they are.

Here we are, The Belmont Lounge.
It's not too crowded, but the bar looks nice.

And unlike last night the service is quick and friendly. The lovely Greta serves up an ice cold Budweiser and the evening has begun.

Me and the Budweiser.

The well-stocked bar at the Belmont Lounge.

The front room has vingage sofas and velvet ropes.

Here's Rommel and Nicole. They were having drinks to fortify themselves for a trip back to Long Island. Note the 365 cards they carry!

Some of the many bottled beers to be had at Belmont lounge.

There's tables and a wrap-around sofa in the middle of the bar.

Waitress Jenna and busser Silberia use the tables for a well deseerved break.

Hangers or an early art display of antique abortion tools? You make the call!

The back of the bar is a lounge with comfortable velvet couches and chairs.

the last beer of the night can only mean one thing...

Bathroom break! The string of clean toilets continue. Whatever happened to grungy bathrooms at bars?

Obligatory barthroom shot! Goodnight everybody!

Review

The Belmont Lounge is located within spitting distance from Irving Hall (and also my apartment, how have I not noticed this place?), so if you’re going to a concert or an event there this is the perect spot to have a few drinks and dinner before the show. It’s also a cool place to come back to after the show, because sometimes some of the band’s that play there, show up here after the concert. Gwen Stefani and No Doubt did and so did this diverse musical crew.

There’s a nice bar in the front where you can hang with the local after work crowd and friendly bartenders or you might want to check out the lounge area where it heats up in the late evening, early morning with velvet couches, prompt and pretty waitresses and a DJ spinning tunes.

There’s a large selection of bottled beer and a full bar. Belmont lounge has standard pub grub including pizza, grilled cheese and chicken wings and there’s also fancier fare to be had such as Chicken Satay, Crispy Calamari and a Mediterranean Plate. Oh, and FUCK Maru bar! Okay, I’m done.

Belmont Lounge
117 E. 15th St. (between Park Avenue and Irving Place)
(212) 533-0009