Sunday, August 22nd—Bar 224

Day 214—Saturday, August 21st, 2010

The Spotted Pig

It’s Saturday and we all know what that means: Cheeseburger Saturday Night! One place I’ve been meaning to go and try the cheeseburger is The Spotted Pig in Greenwich Village. It’s a popular place and known for its cheeseburger, so I thought I’d go early and see if I can snag a seat at the bar. So, it’s off we go.

Here we are, there's no official sign, you have to look for the dangling pig overhead.

Let's go in and see what's happening.

It's already crowded in here, but I see a seat at the bar.

Kristen was the friendly bartender and she was quick with a smile and a beer.

A brick archway leads to tables and chairs in the back.

Here's the view from my perch at the bar.

This lovely trio of ladies were seated next to me at the bar. From left: Abbey, Jeanine and Tracy. They came in from Hoboken and Jeanine had read about the 365 Bars website online. They told me about a bar in Hoboken that has great cheeseburgers, so that may be next week's stop.

And here I am with my neighbors at the bar.

Their food arrives and reminds me that I need to look at the menu.

Here's the draft and cask beers available at the bar.

And the proof of a great pub, a tin ceiling overhead.

Their signature ale, the Spotted Pig Bitter.

There's ceramic pigs in the front window.

And there's also pigs to the left...

And a quartet to the right.

These three hooligans were seated to the right of me.

From left: Buster, Andrew and John. They're studying at a culinary school in the neighborhood and stopped by to do some homework by sampling the cuisine.

And speaking of food, mine's starting to arrive. I started out with the deviled eggs. They had a hint of chili oil to them and were a little spicy and a lot delicious.

And here's the main course, the Roquefort Cheeseburger and shoestring fries. It looks great!

And tastes even better!

Now that's a tasty burger!

My neighbors at the bar were getting ready to head back to Hoboken, so Jeanine and I took a parting picture. Goodnight, everybody!

Review

The Spotted Pig is a cozy, two-level gastro-pub. The walls are brick and there are pig ornaments on the bar, wall and hung upside down from the ceiling. The bartenders and staff are friendly and the crowd is a mix of neighborhood locals and tourists who have read about the pub from guidebooks that all give this place a high review.

The owners bill the place as a gastro-pub and as such features two cask beers, Spotted Pig Bitter and Six Points Bengali Tiger IPA. Kelso Pilsner, Harpoon UFO White, Speckled Hen Pub Ale and Guinness Stout are available as draft beers. There’s a good bottled beer selection as well including: Samuel Smith's Organic Lager, Saison Dupont Farm House Ale, Pacifico Clara and Pork Slap Pale Ale. They also have a decent selection of wines and a full liquor bar.

There’s wonderful bar snacks available and some of the offerings are: Deviled Eggs, Marinated Olives, Chicken Liver Toast and Roasted Almonds. Some of the entrees include: Grilled Skirt Steak with Roman Zucchini, Milk Braised Pork with Roasted Trevise and Chard, Pan Roasted Striped Bass with Tomatoes and Saffron and Chargrilled Burger with Roquefort Cheese & Shoestrings.

Stop by and Dig the Pig (and yes, I stole that from Tim Carey.)

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The Spotted Pig

314 W. 11th St. (@Greenwich St.)

212-620-0393

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!

36 West

389 Eighth Ave. (Near Eighth Ave.)

212-695-3710

And now, for Clacky! Atomic Dog!

Late Post Alert

For some fucking reason my hosting site doesn't work with my version of Firefox and I can't load the latest version because I don't have OS 10.5. I HATE computers sometimes. Anyway, I found a version of Safari that works, but now I have to put the whole fucking thing together, so it'll probably be up around 4pm. In the meantime here's one of my favorite Joan Jett songs to enjoy.