Monday, May 24th, 2010—Bar 134

Day 134—Sunday, May 23rd, 2010
Crema
First off, I’d like to announce that tomorrow is the grand opening of the 365 Bar Store! A lot of people have been asking for t-shirts and they’re just about ready for sale. All of them have the 365 bottlecap logo that was created and designed by the 365 Bars resident artist and commentator, “Boris.”

“Boris” also set the online store up and is the working proprietor of the joint. Wait’ll you see what he’s come up with, not only cool t-shirts, but jerseys, sweatshirts, beer coasters, beer steins and a whole lot more. You did a fantastic job, “Boris!” Stay tuned for the grand opening tomorrow!

Alright, now on with the crawl. At first I was going to go back to last night’s destination, the 123 Burger Shot Bar. The doorman said it wasn’t nuts on Sunday’s and I’m hungry for a cheeseburger and their mini-sliders look great. But then I checked out their website and found out tonight is a special screening of the last episode of “Lost.” It’s going to last from 7pm to 10pm and I don’t think that would be a good environment to do the crawl in. So “m just going to wander and do a random bar as we find one. We’ve wandered down 5th, 6th and 7th avenues, so tonight we’ll wander down 8th avenue and see what we find. Let the crawling begin!

Okay, we'll walk down 30th towards 8th avenue.

And we're only one block down on 8th and there's a bar across the street! Let's go check it out.

Looks like a good bar, but there's no kitchen and Sunday's are all about the Sunday dinner. Shit, time to keep crawling.

Now I see why we haven't wandered down 8th avenue, not a bar in sight!

Shit, there's nothing on 8th, I'm crossing over to 9th, I'm starvin' like Marvin over here!

Okay, I found a nice looking bar with this friendly couple and biggest Marmaduke type dog I've ever seen. They told me her name is Duchess and she's a great dog. Sadly when I went in to the bar and asked if I could take the bartender's picture I was rather angrily told that I could not. I took a picture of the bar, but if you want to get testy with me, I'm not going to post it. So, it's onwards we go. No publicity for you!

I'm going to head back towards 7th Avenue and see what's around there, I can't take this much longer!

Hello! What do we have here? The Grey Dog, sounds like tonight's stop!

Except there's no bar in the joint! Motherfucker, I can't catch a break tonight!

Okay, this place has been in my neighborhood for a few years now and I've always wanted to try it.

And it looks like there's a bar inside, hot damn!

Wow, it's nice in here, hopefully I can take pictures and have a nice Sunday dinner.

And Gennaro, the friendly General Manager not only tells me I can take pictures, but poses for one himself.

The bartender is friendly as well, but a little shy so I took a hand shot of him serving me this Mexican beer cocktail.

Cheers, the drink is called a Michelada and it's a mixture of beer, spices and lime juice. It was spicy and hit the spot.

There's a cozy room for dining up front.

The art on the walls is by celebrated artist, del Bosque, who is the mother of the head chef, Julieta Ballesteros.

The dining room is in the back of the narrow but long space.

And speaking of dining, it looks like dinner is about to be served!

For an appetizer I had the Taquitos de Chilorio, which are slow-cooked mini tacos with chile ancho, jalapeno vinegar, chipotle cilantro drizzle and crema. They were delicious and the sauces and crema were the ultimate toppings for it.

In between the appetizer and main course, I met the head chef, Julieta Ballesteros. As you can see, she's as pretty as she is talented. The menu she's designed here is one of the most unique ones you'll find in the city.

And now, the main course, the Ribeye con Chilaquiles. It looks fantastic and tasted even better!

Here I am getting ready to attack the plate!

And now it's just a wonderful memory! Thanks to Julieta, Gennaro and everybody at Crema! A wonderful Sunday dinner. Goodnight everybody!

Review
Crema has been operating in the Union Square area of Manhattan since 2006 and has become a neighborhood favorite and bill themselves as a higher concept of Mexican cuisine. Head chef Julieta Ballesteros hails from Monterey, Mexico and was trained at the esteemed French Culinary Institute. She fuses both influences in the restaurant to offer Mexican dishes with flourishes of French presentation.The restaurant is long, narrow, cozy and comfortable. There’s a dining nook up front, with a street-side view, the spacious bar is the center attraction with the dining area and kitchen in the back of the restaurant. The interior design is Mexican flavored with original paintings on the walls by del Bosque, a wonderful artist and the mother of head chef Julieta.

The menu is unique and includes such treats as: Tostada de Avestruz which is seared filet of ostrich tostadas with black beans, goat cheese and a guava-chile glaze; Magret de Pato en Mole is an inventive dish of glazed Peking duck breast served over mole poblamo with roasted plantains, pomegranate honey, creme and potato cheese enchilada; and I can personally recommend the Ribeye con Chilaquiles which is a grilled prime ribeye served with a potato, huitlacoche and chorizo chilaquiles with fresh cilantro. The full menu is available at the bar along with a large selection of tequila, wine, bottled beer and specialty drinks like the Michelada which is a Mexican beer cocktail with fresh lime juice, spices and a salted rim, served over ice, several styles of margaritas and the Puma Rosado which is raspberry vodka mixed with cranberry and lime juices, served in a champagne glass topped with a flaming sugar coated lemon slice.

Happy hour happens every day at the bar from 5pm to 7pm with 2 for 1 drink specials. Salud!

Crema
111 West 17th Street (Between 6th & 7th Ave.)
212-691-4477

Sunday, May 23rd, 2010—Bar 133

Day 133—Saturday, May 22nd, 2010
Hallo Berlin (Originally headed for 123 Burger Shot Beer)

Okay, I had to work tonight, but I’m feeling much better than I did last night. I apologize for the somewhat dull post yesterday, but hey, you can’t win them all on the crawl and tonight’s a new night. As I explained last week (when I had to work last Saturday), I usually go out early on Saturday and get a cheeseburger and avoid the madness of Saturday night. Last week I ended up in a quiet little restaurant bar and met some really cool people. If you missed it, you can just click here: Last Saturday night.

Well, since I went to a quiet bar last night, tonight I’m flying right into the eye of the storm for what I hope will be a more lively post. I found a place in Hell’s Kitchen called 123 Burger Shot Beer and it’s a place I can still do my cheeseburger thing since they serve them all night long.

What the deal is that here you can get the cheeseburger for a buck, a shot for two dollars and a beer for three bucks. Those are my kind of prices and the place is huge, so maybe the crowd won’t be overwhelming. The only way to find out is to get crawling!

P.S. My good pal and 365 commentator, Biff said there’s no way it’s going to happen there. I spoke with her on the phone tonight and told her of my plans and that the place looked to be a little on the fratyboyish side of things and she said that by the time I got there it would be peak hours and it’d be too crowded to do my bar crawl thing in there. If you’re right, Bifferoonie, you can leave me a big, “I TOLD YOU SO!” in the comments section below.

Okay, here we are at 123 Burger Shot Beer. It sounds loud in there.

Holy shitballs and it's packed as well. I'll never doubt you again, Bifferoonie! Maybe i'll try this place tomorrow for my Sunday dinner.

Time to start my lonely walk down 10th Street.

Hey Joey D., here's a deli you need to visit.

ATM is available here, you should stop in before the cops find out about this!

This building smells of pea soup and I swear I can hear the words, "Your mother sucks cocks in hell," coming out of the building.

Hello Berlin, this place looks like a different kind of bar, let's check it out.

It's Saturday night and I don't see anyone in here, sure beats a crowded bar, let's go inside.

Nice bar and it's empty on a Saturday night, let's take a seat and let the crawl begin!

Bartender Chris serves up a giant-sized bottle of Reisdorf Kolsch.

It's delicious, cheers!

A painting with the name of the German bar on it adorns the wall.

The front of the room is decked out with wooden benches in true German beer hall style.

Tables line the walls for dining and drinking.

A list of German shots to be had here and if that price list is correct, they're the cheapest shots in town!

The reason no one's at the bar is that it's a nice night out and everyone is outside in the German beer garden.

And yes, these are ashtrays. If you smoke, you can light up and be left alone out here. Take that Mayor Bloomberg.

Here's Christian and John. John confessed he's half German, so he's a natural for the place.

Ben, Michael and Rufus were celebrating Michael's 44th birthday. Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Michael!

Okay, there's no cheeseburgers to be had here, so I ordered a fresh warm German pretzel.

And it was delicious! Gute Nacht jeder!

Review
Hallo Berlin proudly hails itself as “New York’s Wurst Restaurant.” And this play on words refers to the vast selection of wurst sausage selections to be had at this slice of Berlin located in the heart of Hell’s Kitchen. The bar in the restaurant is medium sized with a large collection of German beer steins adorning the top shelf of the bar. There’s German hall wooden benches and tables in the front and back of the bar for seating, but the big draw here is the outside beer garden which feels like it’s an Oktoberfest even when it’s just the middle of May. German music is piped in, giant steins of imported beer are served and drank and you can even smoke in the garden of Berlin. Life is good back here.

The beer here is exclusively imported featuring such German brews as: Spaten, Koelsch Lager, Bitburger Pils and Hofbraeuhaus Lager Beer. They also have a full bar featuring German shots and a wine list. You can’t bill yourself as the “Wurst Restaurant in New York,” without having an extensive list of the German sausages and the menu includes these wurst treats: Applewurst,  Knockwurst, Wienerwurst, Bavarian Wurst and Berliner Currwurst. Some of the German dinner platters include: Berliner Beef Goulash, Sauerbraten With Spaetzle, Hoyerswerdaer Schnitzel and Kasseler Ribs.

Auf Wiedersehen and beifall!

Hallo Berlin
626 Tenth Ave. (Near 44th St.)
212-977-1944

Saturday, May 22nd, 2010—Bar 132

Day 132—Friday, May 21st, 2010
The Merlin Room (in the Vincci Avalon Hotel)
Okay, every once in a while I hit a wall on this bar crawl and tonight I’ve hit it hard. I’ve had a busy week at work, I hung out with the Baltimore Bar Crawlers at the beginning of the week, hit a rooftop bar and then stayed later than I usually would last night at the Mug Lounge. And I just found out I have to work this weekend. If you recall from my whining in last Friday’s post I worked last weekend as well. That means coming up this Friday I will have worked 19 days in a row without a day off. And at night I do my bar crawl thing and tonight I am burned right the fuck out. So, I need to find some quiet little place, have my required three beers and stay my allotted hour and get the fuck out and go home and get to sleep. I am beat. I searched the internet and found a place just a few blocks from work called the Merlin Room in the Vincci Avalon Hotel. There’s only one review I found and this is it: Merlin Room Review on New York On Tap.  It says there’s not much to recommend about this place unless you’re looking for a discreet rendezvous. Well, that sounds like a nice little quiet place, so let’s go rendezvous and then I’m going to get some sleep.

Here we are, the Vincci Avalon Hotel, let's go find the Merlin Room, have three beers and go home.

This looks like the place!

It looks perfect for this burned out bar-crawler. Small, intimate and just one person at the bar on a Friday night.

Bartender Sergio pours me the first beer in this laid back joint.

Ravi was the only other person in the bar and he was a friendly fellow.

We clink our glasses and toast each other in this quiet bar. Cheers!

It's small in here, but as you can see they have a full bar with lots of booze.

There's cocktail tables opposite the bar.

The windows have a nice view of 32nd Street in all its glory.

I always say this sign should have one next to it saying: "Warning: Drinking Alcoholic Beverages Can Lead To Acts That Will Cause Pregnancy."

Off to the side is a nice little lounge area.

And a glass of matches can only lead to one thing...

...Fire! (I never get sick of doing this!)

I told you I was burned out. Goodnight everybody!

Review
The Merlin Room is a quiet little cozy bar adjacent to the restaurant in the Vincci Avalon Hotel. The bar is small and can seat about a half a dozen and there’s cocktail tables opposite with windows giving you a view of 32nd Street in Korea Town. The patrons are mainly tourists having a quick drink before retiring to their rooms or heading on to other destinations.

There’s a full bar available and on Friday Happy Hour lasts all day and night with three dollar bottled beers. While New York is a city that never sleeps, this place does and it closes at the early hour of 11:00 pm.

I got there at ten and just made my one hour and three beer allotment. Now it’s time to recharge for a more exciting crawl tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Merlin Room (in the Vincci Avalon Hotel)
16 E. 32nd St. (Between Madison & 5th Ave)
(212) 299-7000