Saturday, July 17th, 2010—Bar 188

Day 188—Friday, July 16th, 2010
The Oak Bar
First off the PayPal donation bell is ringing! Gidget, the coolest DJ in the world made a comment the other day that she was going to make her kids send in their ice cream money for the bar crawl and I thought she was kidding. But today I got a very generous PayPal donation of fifteen dollars  from Gidget’s three kids, Jack, Dyl, and Maia! Thank you so much kids and if it truly is your ice cream money I’m going to feel very guilty as I drink it! And thanks to Gidget for being so supportive of the site, she set up the facebook fan page and gives the site lots of free plugs on her ultra-cool show on Woody Radio. You really need to check it out here: Woody Radio. Gidget’s also got a great blog that she writes and you should check it out here: Gidgetbates's crap she spews. Okay, thanks again Jack, Dyl and Maia, now you kids have to stop reading this post because a lot of words you shouldn’t be reading are coming up.
Okay, unless you’ve been under a rock, you’ve heard/been bombarded by the press about the Mel Gibson rant tapes that were released. Just in case you haven’t heard them you can listen to the worst one here  Newspapers, magazines, blogs and comedians have been having a field day with Mel and the crazy-ass rants he let loose at the gold-digging woman he left his wife for. So what does this have to do with me crawling to 365 bars? Well, The Oak Bar in the legendary Oak Room at the Plaza Hotel announced this week that they were now serving a drink called the Mel Gibson. The drink is made up of Van Gogh Vodka (Van Gogh was bipolar), gin, vermouth, club soda, and onion juice. Anyway, it’s kind of a cheap ploy to get press and it worked. It got written up all over the place. So since Fridays are usually rough because of the crowds, I thought this might be a good place to go. With the high prices in this place mixed with our current economic situation, I doubt it’s going to be packed. So come on, Sugar Tits, let’s hit the fucking road.

Unbelievably I looked in the window at the Oak Bar and it was packed. Not everyone is feeling the economic crunch I guess. So I decided to come here and have a couple beers and let the crowd at the Oak Bar die down a little.

And here's beer number one.

And beer number two, okay, let's go see if it's a little less crowded at the Oak Bar.

Here it is, The Plaza Hotel in all its over-priced glory.

And here's the Oak Room. The Oak Bar is set off to the side of this place.

The wall outside of the bar features photos of famous people at the Plaza. Here's the Beatles in the lobby with someone I don't know the name of.

Here's Frank Sinatra and Mia Farrow. This picture was an early inspiration for Lady Gaga.

Okay, it's after midnight and the bar has settled down somewhat, there's even a seat which I will take.

I ordered the Mel Gibson and here is the bartender mixing it up.

And the Mel Gibson is served.

And the drink is awful and brings out the inner Mel in me. I deserve to be blown godammit!

Here's a close up of the drink. It really tastes like shit and costs over twenty bucks.

There's a painting behind the bar painted by artist, Everett Shinn.

And here's another on a side wall.

Bar snacks!

This bartender has the electric eyes going on. Scary stuff, kids! Owooo!

There's lots of table outside of the bar to drink overpriced drinks at.

And couches are placed along the sidewalls as people throw money to the wind on 20 dollar cocktails.

This jazz trio was playing in the back of the room.

She was singing, "Bye Bye Blackbird," and I took it as a queue to hit the road, no more 20 dollar Mel Gibson's for me. Goodnight everybody!

Review
The Oak Bar is adjacent to the legendary Oak Room in the Plaza Hotel overlooking Central Park. The original Oak Bar was restored last fall and the bar features artist’s Everett Shinn’s original murals of winter happenings in Central Park. The bartenders are old school and friendly and the crowd is a mix of businessmen doing deals and tourists gawking about. Nobody seems to mind the fact that cocktails range in the 20 dollar area. Except for me.

The cocktails here are all classic style drinks, martini’s, sidecars and now a Mel Gibson and they cost plenty. The view is great here, but you can go to the deli around the block, get a beer to go and see the same thing while standing on the sidewalk and drinking a 16 ounce can of Budweiser for a buck fifty. I recommend that, who wants to pay 20 bucks for a drink? Give me the Mars Bar any day of the week.

The Oak Bar
768 5th Ave. (between 58th St & 59th St)
212-758-7777

Friday, July 16th, 2010—Bar 187

Day 187—Thursday, July 15th, 2010
Fitzgerald’s Pub
First off, The Chief, a guy who runs  a Peoria bar website wants to know why Terry of the BBC is a Cubs fan. So Terry, if you’re reading this, please chime in and let the Chief in on your secret. And check out the Chief’s website, it’s a nice look at bars in Peoria, I’m sure I’ll have a drink or three with this guy when I go back to Peoria at Christmas time, in the meantime, check out the Peoria Bar Review.

Well, it’s that time of the week where it starts getting dicey about which bar to pick. Thursday’s and Friday’s can be tough because bars get so packed on these nights. I don’t want to go to boring bars, but I need to find a place that’s not so jam-packed with people boozed out of their skulls. I think I found the perfect place tonight. It’s a bar called Bar 29 (yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I should’ve gone there on the 29th night) and it’s on the corner of 2th and Third. This area is notorious for bars where people go to get shitfaced drunk, but I read that this place stands out because it’s a more relaxed vibe. Which sounds perfect for tonight and it’s close enough to walk to, so we’ll take in some NYC sights along the way.

Okay, 29th and 6th, just a few blocks over and we're there.

And here we are, Bar 29, let's check it out.

Motherfucker, it 's packed and appears to be filled with a doofus type of crowd. I think it's time for...

Another lonely walk in search of another unplanned bar.

Yeah, I'm sick of this fucking video too, but what are you going to do?

Been there, done that.

Okay, I realize that I've been to one Irish bar this week, but it's getting late and this place looks good, so let's go.

The Talking Heads are playing and it's not too crowded, this is the spot for the night.

And I'm served up an ice cold beer right off the bat. Like an idiot I forgot to write the bartender's name down, so if you're reading this bartender man, please let us know. He was a nice guy and an excellent barkeep by the by. **Update: His name is Owen, thanks to Amanda for reminding me!

Paul and Patrick were enjoying pints at the bar and were very enthusiastic about the 365 Bar Crawl idea and blog. Cheers, guys.

The big windows up front create a nice cool breeze in the bar and make for good atmosphere.

Okay, here's a first on the bar crawl: a roving bachelor party. These people had been to eight other bars and were the last four standing out of 12. From left: Rich, A.J. (the guy getting married), Sharmila and Mike.

Just like Jeffery Dahmer, John Wayne is "The Quiet Man."

Glasses!

Justin and Raphael were enjoying a game of darts in the back of the bar.

Raphael laughs as Justin calls him an asshole for getting a good score.

A long shot of the bar.

There's tables off to the side to lounge around in.

Which is exactly what this group was doing. From left: Madeline, Anna, Eric and Michelle.

Moments later, Esty (far right) showed up, so I took another photo to include her. It's four fabulous babes and Eric, I gotta ask this guy to accompany me on this bar crawl and find out his secret.

Conor, on the right was the other bartender on duty. Thanks for a great night guys!

Goodnight everybody!

Review
Fitzgerald’s Pub is a  nice respite from the gaggle of zoo bars in this section of Murray Hill taverns. The bartenders are friendly, Irish and talkative and the patrons are mainly neighborhood locals that are welcoming to newbies at the bar. The internet jukebox is well-stocked with classic rock and roll tunes and there’s a dart board that draws many dart=throwing enthusiasts to the saloon. There’s images of John Wayne’s “The Quiet Man” etched in glass behind the bar and a framed poster of the film hangs in the bar. I have no idea why, but I like the fact that they’re there.

There’s a full bar here with a decent selection of bottled and draft beers. There’s nightly drink specials and happy hour runs from noon to 7pm every day. Fitzgerald’s is known as a dart bar and has a state of the art dart board and hosts leagues on Monday and Tuesday nights. The kitchen is open till 9pm and offers up three styles of Fitzburgers, pasta, beef stew, bangers and mash and chicken pot pie.

Fitzgerald’s is a nice neighborhood joint with locals and bartenders that are friendly to first-timers, so feel free to pop in and enjoy a pint or three.

Fitzgerald’s Pub
336 Third Ave. (@ 25th St. )
212-679-6931

Thursday, July 15th, 2010—Bar 186

Day 186—Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
Coppersmith's (Originally headed for J. Macs.)
Alright, tonight’s bar is another one that I owe a hat tip to Fat Al over at the fine blog, The Half Empty Glass. On Monday he wrote a nice post about my visit to Fedora’s bar last Sunday. In his post he wrote about a bar in Hell’s Kitchen called J.Mac's that has the last cigarette machine in town. Okay, that’s a must-stop for this 365 crawl, smoke 'em if you got ‘em and if you don’t got ‘em you can get ‘em soon.

Okay, sometimes things get weird on the old bar crawl and tonight is one of them. I walked into J. Mac’s and it was a little crazy in there. There were only about five people in there, but they were all screaming and making lots of noise and appeared to be pretty fucked up. I approached the bar and the bartender looked a little weary as I started to tell her about my website. She looked at my camera, threw her hands up in the air and said, “No, you can’t do this in here tonight and that’s all I’m going to say. Don’t ask me anything else.” I told her I understood and  jokingly said that I didn’t want to get my legs broken to which she replied, “That’s good.” And there was no humor in her voice. People, as a seasoned bar crawler you learn when someone tells you it’s a smart move not to want to get your legs broken and there’s no humor attached to it, you thank the person and move on. She did tell me I could try again on another night and I’m just senseless enough to try, so stay tuned. Now it’s off to another bar while I can still walk.

And so a another lonely walk begins on the crawl.

Motherfucker, it's really no-man's land out here and I'm hotter than shit.

Help me Jesus! I haven't been that bad...okay, I have, but for fuck's sake, cut me a break here, I'm sweating my ass off.

This is the best you got, Jesus? Fuck this, I'm not drinking in a Holiday Inn!

Self-portrait of a sweaty and angry bar crawler.

Okay, we're at 54th and 9th, I've passed some bars but they've all been too crowded and noisy to do my bar crawl thing in.

And a block later I find this oasis in Hell's Kitchen.

The air is cool inside and the bar is long with lots of seats, welcome to tonight's bar everyone!

And it's a fun joint with friendly patrons and pretty bartenders. From left: Maire, Heather, the 365 goofball and Paula.

A longshot of the bar, upfront are large open French doors which really give the place a nice open feeling.

2 fer Tuesday specials.

The lovely Paula serves up another Corona with a fresh lime.

There's a large selection of drafts available here.

The bare bulbs hanging from the tin ceiling are a nice touch and add to the friendly mood of the bar.

Adrian, Tara and Halley were having fun at the end of the bar.

Paula hard at work...

And hard at partying with Heather at the other end of the bar. Cheers, ladies!

Maire and Louise were enjoying wine from the extensive wine list at Coppersmiths.

Seated next to me were, Paris, Joseph and Julie.

And a little ATM action for Joey D. downstairs next to the bathroom. This can only mean one thing...

Obligatory bathroom shot! Goodnight, everybody!

Review
Coppersmiths is a nice neighborhood hangout. Upfront, French doors open up and give the front area a nice porch feeling with an excellent view of Ninth Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen in all its glory. There’s tall mahogany tables up front leading to the long polished bar in the middle. The bar has eleven TV’s with sports on them, jerseys and sports memorabilia hang on the exposed brick walls. Bare light bulbs dangle from the tin ceilings and the bartenders are friendly, fun and pretty.

The bar has a large draft and bottled beer selection including, Hoegaarden, Sierra Nevada, Brooklyn Lager and Labatts Blue on tap. Bottled beers include: Amstel Light, Heineken, Corona, Sam Adams Light and Magners. They have a large menu including varied appetizers, five syles of burgers, pasta and such entrees as: Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf, Rosemary Chicken, Grilled Pork Chops and Chicken Pot Pie. There’s nightly drink specials and on Sunday for 25 bucks it’s all you can drink (Budweiser, Bud Light or Coors drafts) with an order of wings thrown in for good measure.

Copersmith’s is a bar that is friendly and fun, but doesn’t merge into crazyville. It’s a good hang.

Coppersmith's
793 Ninth Ave. (Near 53rd St.)
212-957-2994