Saturday, August 28th, 2010—Bar 230

Day 230—Friday, August 27th, 2010
Flannery's Bar
Before we start the crawl tonight, I was summoned over to Mark Burger Bar on St. Mark's Place. Their slider eating competition has gotten up to 20 sliders and I told Chef Eric to call me if there's a competitor coming over to try and break the standing number. Well, he said tonight someone was coming at 8pm, so I decided to take my dinner break and check it out. So it's off to Mark we go.

Here we are back at Mark Burger Bar.

Trevor tried to beat the record a few hours earlier, but only made it to 11 sliders. A noble try though. Trevor has a website devoted to food and you can check it out here: Burgasm.

Here's Chef Eric and Angie in the background. It's 8pm and the challenger is supposed to be here. Hopefully he'll show up soon, as I'm on my dinner hour.

The son of a bitch never showed up! So 20 is still the number to beat. If you think you can do it, let me know and I'll show up and document it.

So now it's on with the crawl. Okay, I’m in my typical burned-out Friday mood. I’m not in much of a bar-crawling mood, so I’m going to go to a classic Irish bar called Flannery's that’s just three blocks from where I live. Hopefully it won’t be packed to the gills, but if it is, it is. It’s about a fifteen minute walk from where I work, so set your stopwatches and time me. And awaaaay we go.

All we do is walk down Seventh Avenue...

And within fifteen minutes, here we are.

And look at this, a prime seat right at the front of the long dark wooden bar.

And Mike the bartender is quick on the draw with an ice-cold beer. Mike's one of the friendliest bartenders I've met on the bar crawl, a great guy!

He even invited me to join him behind the bar for a photo.

Jake and Grimm were enjoying drinks at the end of the bar. Cheers, guys!

Here's Alexis, Grimm and Lauren. They were in the bar celebrating Lauren's birthday. Happy birthday, Lauren!

As you can see, the bar is hopping tonight.

Obligatory barroom mirror shot.

A longshot of the top of the bar.

A wooden railing and stools run along the perimeter of the opposite side of the bar.

The middle room of he bar is devoted to one thing...

Darts! There's five dart boards in here and they are in constant use.

I had to use the flash in the back room, because it's so dark back here. Wooden booths line the walls and there's tables back here as well.

This is where Steve the DJ programs and pumps out the tunes for the evening.

Meanwhile, back at the bar...

Mike approaches me and asks if I'd like to try a Guinness.

I happily accept the offer and he pours...

And serves a perfectly poured pint of Guinness. This can only lead to one thing...

The traditional wearin' of the Guinness. Sláinte!

Bartender John was working the other end of the bar, here he is with Mike.

Cheese it, it's the cops! Goodnight, everybody!

Review
There’s hundreds of cookie-cutter, pre-fabricated “Irish bars” in New York City, but Flannery’s is the real thing. It’s been a fixture on 14th Street for over twenty years now. The front of the bar is decked out with large French windows, that when opened in the warmer months give the front of the  bar a bit of a beer garden feel. The bar itself is long and wooden and there’s wooden tables and chairs to the side and in the back to lounge at. The bartenders are super-friendly Irishmen who know how to pour a slow Guinness pint. The patrons range from working class stiffs to suits unwinding after a tough day at the office to people drinking their unemployment checks away. Throw in a tourist or two and it’s a lively crowd. Their motto is, "Come as a stranger, leave as a friend,” and they stay true to that.

There’s a full bar with a good selection of draft and bottled beers, and of course there’s Guinness on tap. Happy hour runs from Monday to Friday with drink specials on beer and cocktails.

There’s DJ’s on the weekends and about once a month Flannery’s has live music. It’s also a bar that’s big on darts, there’s five dart boards and Wednesday is the “Luck of the Draw” dart tournament night. Drink specials and cash prizes go out to the winners. Patrons can also participate in tournaments with teams from other bars. Stop in and find out how. But have a Guinness or three first.

Flannery's Bar
205 W. 14th St. (Near Seventh Ave.)
212-229-2122

Friday, August 27th, 2010—Bar 229

Day 229—Thursday, August 26th, 2010
Holland Cocktail Lounge
Okay, last night sucked ass, so hopefully tonight will be better. I don’t want to have two loser nights in a row, so tonight I’m picking a ringer. Commentator Al Rizo has never steered me wrong on quality, dark, New York, old school bars. Last week he suggested Milano’s which was a winner I went to the other night and he also recommended The Holland Cocktail Lounge. I walked by this bar the other night and it looked perfect. It’s small, dark and has been on the block forever, so let’s prepare to rebound from last night’s disaster.

The signs make it clear: You're at a bar when you enter the Holland Cocktail Lounge.

Okay, now this feels like home! Another great suggestion from Al.

Bartender Steve is a friendly and hospitable host, but he's got a bat, so I behaved myself in this joint.

John was enjoying a drink at the bar and didn't know how to spell "culottes." I happily spelled it out for him and he was somewhat frightened of my obsession on the subject, as he rightfully should have been.

After the spelling lesson, Steve took this photo of me with the wonderful Holland sign blazing in the background.

And speaking of the sign, here it is in all its glory. It's the original sign from when the Holland bar was located in the Holland Welfare Hotel on 42nd Street. The bar was originally opened in 1927.

Another shot of the glorious sign with Steve underneath. Steve has been a bartender in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood for over 22 years.

Interesting picutres, art and newspaper clippings decorate the walls within the Holland Cocktail Lounge.

Here's some of the news clippings.

Any place that has a picture of Eddie Munster on the wall is A-OK in my book.

The ashes of former bartender and regular Charlie O'Connor are in this urn that rests in the Holland signage.

Here's Steve with a Daily News article about Charlie's ashes in the bar. Cheers to Charlie!

Here's regulars Don and Bill at the bar with John.

Don had a list of notable bars to visit he had copied from a book. I've been to most of them, but will check out the one's I've missed in the future.

A shot of Marilyn Monroe hangs next to the bathroom.

A shot of the bar from the far end of the back of the place.

The cash register is a vintage beauty.

The table up in the front is a great spot to have a drink or five and enjoy the people watching on Ninth Avenue.

And a final glance out the window and I'm on my way home. Goodnight, everybody!

Review
The wonderfully tacky orange banners that hang over the building say it all in beautiful bold capital letters: BAR. That’s what the Holiday Cocktail Lounge is, a bar. Nothing more and certainly nothing less. The bar was originally housed in the Holland Welfare Hotel on 42nd Street and moved to this location in 1988. Jazz musician Dexter Gordon lived in the Holland Hotel and was known to amble into the bar in his pajamas and drink his breakfast. These days the older regulars shuffle in at 8am and watch movies on the TV while sipping their am drinks. The original Holiday neon sign hangs gloriously over the small, shotgun spaced bar and select news clippings and artwork decorate the walls. There’s friendly bartenders and groups of regulars change with every passing hour.

The Holland Cocktail Loune has a full bar the drinking is cheap here. It’s a beer and a shot place so don’t expect any fancy cocktail offerings. There’s no food, but there is a 2 Brothers pizza joint on the corner and you’re welcome to bring in a dollar slice to sop up some of the suds. It’s the perfect bar food for this historical Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood joint. Cheers!

Holland Cocktail Lounge
532 Ninth Ave. (Near 39th St.)
212-502-4609

Thursday, August 26th, 2010—Bar 228

Day 228—Wednesday, August 25th, 2010
The Frying Pan
First off, Happy birthday to 365 commentator and occasional guest star, Jason Hwang! Have a great birthday, Jason, even though you have to work overtime on your special day. Cheers!

One of the places I’ve been meaning to go to this summer is a bar on a boat called The Frying Pan. And no I’m not going to make the obvious “dive bar” joke here that’s used in every review...oh shit, I just did. Anyway, this lightship which is docked at the Chelsea Piers was built in 1929 and from what I’ve read it sunk to the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay, then got salvaged and now it sits at Pier 66. A floating bar, perfect for a three hour tour. Let’s go before the weather starts getting rough.

Here we are at Chelsea Piers, I think I see it off to the right.

Let's walk the plank to the bar on the boat!

And there's the boat itself. This is going to be great!

Wait a second...what does that sign say? "Bar below?" The bar's not on the boat? Motherfucker, what a gyp. Gilligan!

The bar's on the pier and I was thinking it would be a tiki bar or something, but it's this. Kind of a plain Jane bar. And when I asked the bartender if I could take a picture of him serving me a beer, he just grunted and said, "have her do it," while pointing at another female bartender who didn't look too thrilled to be there. I decided to pass.

Most of the patrons here tend to stand and sit in big groups behind the bar.

They stand in rings like this and from what I could overhear talk about their jobs and occasionally text other like-minded people while talking about their jobs.

What's crazy is that there's tons of tables and space off to the side and in the front, but everybody crams into one space at the back like they've been sheep-herded there.

There's all these tables open and space up front...

But everyone chooses to stand in a crowd in the back talking about bullshit. For some reason this bugged the shit out of me. I didn't see one person enter this place alone. People arrive in packs and talk loudly about their bullshit jobs. Attention everyone: Unless you work in a brewery or a pharmaceutical company that can send me a steady supply of Percodan, you're working a fucknuts job like I do and no one cares to hear about it. Break away from the pack and sit at a fucking table in the front and spread things out a little bit. Sheesh!

Portrait of a frustrated and disappointed bar-crawler. I decided to take a few shots of the Manhattan skyline and call it a night.

The view is spectacular from here, but no one at the bar seems to notice or care, they'd rather stand in a circle, talk loudly, text and perform a social circle jerk of sorts.

Another shot as I sit at my table far from the pack.

And one final shot as I drink my third and final beer and get the fuck out of this place. Birthday boy Jason Hwang told me the vibes were weird in here and I decided to come anyway. Okay Jason, you told me so, I'll listen next time! Happy birthday!

And so what I hoped would be an epic end of summer night, turned out to be an epic fail. Oh well, you can't win them all, hopefully I'll have better luck tonight.

Review
Okay, so the bar’s not in the actual ship, it’s on the pier and it’s kind of nondescript. There’s an abundance of tables and the view from many of them is fantastic on a clear night. Unfortunately most of the people that come here prefer to assemble in the back behind the bar in big groups and talk about work and text people on their texting thing-a-be-bobs. It’s a little sad and quite unnerving. The cliental is mainly young, upwardly mobile people who gather like sheep behind the bar, talking loudly about their jobs and texting on their texting thing-a-be-bobs. The bartenders are busy and not too friendly, but having to serve this crowd, I don’t blame them.

There’s a full bar here with about a half dozen bottled beers and a few drafts. There’s also food to be had including: a Grilled 8 Oz. Sirloin Burger, Sliced Skirt Steak, Jamaican Jerk Rubbed Half Chicken, and a "Clam Bake" On The Hudsonwhich offers littleneck clams, jumbo shrimp, mussels, corn on the cob and steamed red potatoes.

If you like to text while drinking in a group of 20 people herded in the back of a bar while wearing Gap clothing, this is the place for you. Enjoy!

The Frying Pan
Pier 66 (@26th St. and the West Side Highway)
212-362-4453

Update: Continuing on the Ginger/Mary Ann theme, Jaws just sent in this fantasy graphic he worked up today. Nice shirt, Jaws!