Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010—Bar 205

Day 205—Monday, August 2nd, 2010
Smith's Bar
Okay, first things first. The Chief who comments here and runs the fine Peoria Bar Review blog has a friend who’s playing a show in Brooklyn tonight. The guy’s name is Derrick Hart and check out one of his video’s here. And this is his website: Wrecking Ball Wreckords. He’s playing a show at Coco 66 and if you live in Brooklyn or want to see some good live music, check it out, it’s only five bucks at the door. I’d go, but I have to work. My fucking job always gets in the way, but I need the dough for the bar crawl.

And speaking of dough for the crawl, I got not one, not two, but three generous donations tonight. The first one is a generous 20 dollar donation from James Schiano, who was the friendly and hospitable bartender at Saturday’s venue, Jamie-Lynn’s Kitchen in Brooklyn. The message on James’s reciept said, “Get drunk on me.” Alright James, don’t mind if I do! Mucho thanks, James for your hospitality the other night and for this donation!

The number two donation was a generous donation of ten dollars from Matt Mullen who resides in San Rafael, California. The message from Matt was: “Hey, 365 bars guy, I enjoy reading your blog. If you can, buy a beer from California .” I’ll do my best, Matt, I’ll see what the bar has in stock. Thanks a lot for your donation!

And last but not least, Ryan Borho generously sent in a twenty dollar donation with the message saying: “Marty, Great website. Let me know next time you're on the UWS. From, Ryan Borho (son of Dane, nephew of Jim.)” Holy shitballs! A Borho lives in New York and no one told me? Thanks so much Ryan we’ll hang out soon! Say hi to your dad and uncle for me!

I wasn’t going to visit Smith’s Bar because I didn’t think they’d let me do the bar crawl thing in there. Years ago I got thrown out of the bar when they found out I was writing a review of the place for Time Out New York. This place was a real New York dive bar and the only thing older and grumpier than the grizzled bartenders were the sizzled and sozzled geriatric alcoholics that frequented this dump. Well someone told me they renovated it last year and that the bartenders are friendly now and the vibe of the bar is totally different. That got me curious, so let’s go check it out.

You gotta love the half-lit neon sign.

It's Monday, so there's plenty of seats at the bar.

And friendly bartender, Troy serves up an ice-cold Corona. A friendly bartender in Smith's? A big difference since the last time I was in here over a decade ago.

And Matt, this isn't a California beer, but it's from Mexico which is close, cheers to you, James and Ryan for donating to the 365 cause!

Lee was seated next to me at the bar. He was in town from Leicester, England and is part of a comedy duo called Naylor and Gant. Here's a clip of one of their performances: Naylor and Gant.

Opposite the bar are large, German beer hall style wooden tables and stools.

Here's Jayna, the cute waitress on duty this evening.

More tables in the back with big windows providing a nice view of 44th street.

Tom and Kevin were enjoying drinks at the front of the bar in a window seat.

They asked me to join them in a picture and Lee grabbed the camera and got the shot.

You can gaze at a pay phone outside the front window that overlooks 8th Avenue.

As you can see, there's a huge beer selection available.

Jarrod, Cassie and Ashlee were in town from the land down under. That's right, more friendly Australians meet me on the bar crawl. You gotta love it!

They've cleaned the joint up, but the bar remains the same.

It turns out that the other bartender on duty was from England, so I had to get a shot of Lee and Peter together. Two English gentlemen in New York City.

And a parting shot as I make my way out the door. Goodnight, everybody!

Review
Smith’s used to be a real dicey, Hell’s Kitchen dive bar. It’s been renovated and like much of the neighborhood, it’s cleaned up its act and the bartenders are now friendly and the cliental no longer consist of skid row alcoholics. It’s spacious inside with a long wooden bar and German beer hall tables to the side of it. There’s live music Wednesday through Saturday in an adjoining room which has its own bar. Every Tuesday is karaoke night at Smith’s.

You can quench your thirst here pretty much any time of the day, the bars hours run from 7am to 4am. There’s a full bar here with over a dozen beers on tap and a large selection of bottled beers including: Amstel Light, Corona, Beck's and Miller Lite (hello, Biff!) Smith’s has a large menu with breakfast, lunch and dinner items available. There’s nine varieties of burgers available, chicken wings, nachos, mac and cheese and hot plates including: Chicken-Fried Steak, Grilled Chicken Platter, Chicken Pot Pie and Fish and Chips.

The “new” Smith’s is a friendly joint where tourists and locals easily mix for a nice drink, free live music and karaoke on Tuesdays. But I have to be honest, a part of me misses the old Smith’s where I would’ve been thrown out on my ass for bringing my bar crawl in there.

Smith's Bar
701 8th Ave. (@44th St.)
212-246-3268

Monday, August 2nd, 2010—Bar 204

Day 204—Sunday, August 1st, 2010
The Bourgeois Pig (Originally headed for La Palapa Cocina Mexicana)
I awoke today with the PayPal donation bell ringing. It turned out to be a generous donation of ten dollars from Ruben Sleurink who has donated in the past. Ruben lives in Holland and here’s his stated purpose on the PayPal reciept: “For my only, but best friend in NYC! One day we'll meet each other haha! Keep up the good crawling!” How cool! well Ruben, you are my only and best friend in Holland and one day we will indeed meet and I’ll buy the first round! Thank you so much! Ruben is part of a breakfast delivery service in the Netherlands, check out their website here: Desayuno.nl.

Okay, I found a cool Mexican place the other week before the Goodfellas screening. I was early for the movie, so I went across the street and had a Michelada (hello, Tiki Bar Susie!) at a Mexican restaurant across the street called, La Palapa Cocina Mexicana. It’s convienently located next to the Holiday Cocktail Lounge where I need to finish taking pictures, so I figure I’ll get all this done today. And so, it’s off we go to the East Village. And this time my camera is charged up and ready to go.

Okay, the first stop is a return visit to the Holiday Cocktail Lounge where I finished taking the pictures in there. Check out the update here: Holiday Cocktail Lounge Update. (Scroll down for the update.)

And here we are at La Palapa Concina Mexicana. I can taste the Michelada already!

Apparently a lot of other people had the same taste in mind, the place is packed. Time to move on, we'll try this place again later in the crawl.

I walked around for a block or two and stumbled upon the Burgeois Pig. I've been meaning to check this place out and now is as good of a time as any.

A dark and decadent place with a marble bar, looks like we found tonight's destination.

And the beautiful bartender, Andrea serves up a watermelon Sangria.

It hits the spot on a warm summer evening.

Matt was the waiter on duty and a friendly and nice guy.

As I'm feeling comfortable I look up and there it is, the mark of excellence: A tin ceiling!

An elegant chandelier hangs in the middle of the room.

Karen and Suzanne were enjoying a glass of wine at the bar.

There's comfortable padded throne chairs to lounge and enjoy your drink and food here.

There's marble tables and more chairs in the front of the bar and open window seating.

Kasey and Bill were enjoying food and wine and the scenery from the open window dining area.

More tables are located on a step-up portion of the bar.

George, En and Maria were having drinks at the other window booth facing the street.

Okay, back to the bar because my Sunday dinner should be arriving at any minute.

And here it is! I got the lobster bisque fondue which is served with bread points, roasted potatoes and vegetables.

I hadn't had fondue since the '70's and it was delicious. The cheesy fondue had lumps of shrimp, lobster and crab in it.

Andrea shut off my flash to get these red-light shots of me enjoying the fondue.

They turned out really cool, great job, Andrea!

Okay, the fondue's gone, which means I am too. Goodnight, everybody!

Review
As you step into the Bourgeois Pig you’ll feel as if you’re being transported into a dark and, decadent French bordello. There’s throne chairs, a marble bar, tables, velveteen banquettes and couches to relax on. The entire bar is swathed in magenta hues giving it a definite red-llight district feel. The place has a speakeasy like feel to it, but you don’t need a password to get in and the staff is friendly and unpretentious.

The bar doesn’t have a full liquor license, it’s just wine and beer here, but they make the most of it. They have three selections of Sangria, a large wine list and wine cocktails including: the Paradis which is a mixture of lustau dry amontillado, elderflower, black cherry grenadine, the Mois De Brume which is chilled lillet, brumaire pacherenc, apricot, orgeat almond, lemon, and a dash of orange bitters and the Le Marin Port Flip which mixes tawny port, espresso, demerara sugar, dark chocolate, cream and egg yolk. There’s eleven wine cocktails total and they all go for 12 bucks apiece. The beer selection is all Belgian Ales and it includes: Dekoninck Ale, Delirium Tremens, Paulwel Kwak and St. Bernardus.

The menu is French with the emphasis on cheese and fondue specialties. They include five types of bruschetta, four selections of tartines and five cheese plates to choose from. The fondue selections include: French Onion Fondue, Mozzarella, Provolone, Parmesan And Romano, Rarebit Fondue and Lobster Bisque Fondue which is shrimp, crab, cheddar in a rich lobster broth with toast points, braised vegetables and herbed potatoes.

There’s long happy hours here. On Monday and Tuesday there’s half-priced bottles of wine from 5pm to 2am. On Wednesday you get half priced mussels from 5pm to 2am. And on Saturday and Sunday from 5pm to 7pm they offer half priced bottles of wine. Stop by and dig the pig. (I stole that line from Tim Carey by the way.)

The Bourgeois Pig
111 E. 7th St. (Near 1st Ave.)
212-475-2246

Sunday, August 1st, 2010—Bar 203

Day 203—Saturday, July 31st, 2010
Jamie-Lynn’s Kitchen
I don’t get to Brooklyn area bars much due to the fact that I live and work in Manhattan. But James Mollo, a friend of mine has just moved back to New York from California and wanted to meet at one of his favorite Brooklyn dining spots, Jamie-Lynn’s Kitchen, so I agreed to make the trip. Are you ready? No sleep till Brooklyn!

We'll be taking the D train to Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.

The track is thataway.

The waiting is the hardest part.

Here it comes!

The D train in all its glory.

And the car's air conditioning is working. Okay, I've got about a 45 minute trip.

But lucky you make the trip in seconds. Here we are at the 18th Avenue stop in Brooklyn.

Out the exit and...

Hello Brooklyn!

Here's Jamie-Lynn's Kitchen.

And there's the Mollo man enjoying a beer at the bar inside.

James the friendly bartender quickly brings me an ice-cold Budweiser so I can catch up.

Attention Katy Borden: Here's the beers you bought with your generous donation a while back! Cheers and thank you from James and I!

Tables line the wall opposite the bar.

Some of the drink and food specials of the day on the wall.

Here's Anthony a neighborhood regular who was enjoying an afternoon drink at the bar.

Proof that James picked a winner: a tin ceiling!

Alex brought out chicken salad crostini and told us they were on the house. And they were delicious. This place rules!

And here's the spacious back dining area.

The outside beer garden/patio is really nice and relaxing. Let's see who these three people are.

It's Alex, Tricia and Joe enjoying the wonderful day outside at the beer garden. Note the words above Alex: "Laugh and Love," wonderful sentiments!

Okay, time to get back to the bar.

The top of the bar has hundreds of coins encased on top of it. A first on the bar crawl!

It's Saturday and that can only mean one thing: Cheeseburger!

I got the Blue Cheese Burger which comes with blue cheese, carmelized onions and a pile of bacon.

It's one delicious burger!

Check it out, the bun is bakery fresh and the burger is one of the best I've had.

After the burger and a few more beers, James offered up 30 bucks as a donation for the Bar Crawl. James has made several generous donations in the past and I appreciate it. Thanks, James, you're a true pal!

The bathroom here was an unexpected treat, there's albums glued all over the walls.

And this can only lead to...

The obligatory bathroom mirror shot. Goodnight, everybody!

Review
Jamie-Lynn’s Kitchen is an open, airy, casual and friendly place to wine and dine. The coin-encrusted bar is located at the front of the restaurant and you can enjoy drinks and dinner there. There’s also comfortable seating at tables opposite the bar and in the back dining room area. The backyard features one of Brooklyn’s best beer gardens and they show movies back there every Thursday. The atmosphere is friendly and there’s a large variety of home-cooked comfort styled food and drink on the menu.

The bar is a full bar with a good selection of bottled and draft beer. Sangria is a specialty here and on Tuesdays you can enjoy a half-priced bottle of wine with your dinner. The menu is unique and has a large Tapas selection including: Chicken & Black Bean Wontons, Fried Calamari, Chicken Salad Crostini and a Chorizo Platter which includes chorizo, blue cheese & onion marmalade. They have a good selection of salads, burgers and paninis and some of the entrees offered on the menu are: Homemade Chicken Pot Pie, Chicken Gyro Platter, Rustic Hanger Steak and a Mexican Duo which is two enchiladas (chicken and shrimp,) served with brown rice, black beans and pico de gallo topped with red sauce and sour cream.

The drinks are plentiful, the food’s delicious and the atmosphere is warm and friendly. Jamie-Lynn’s Kitchen has been in operation for three years now and looks to become a welcome Brooklyn neighborhood tradition.

Jamie-Lynn’s Kitchen
1504 86th St. (Between 15th Ave & Bay 10th St)
Bensonhurst/Bath Beach, Brooklyn
718-232-3327