Saturday, May 15th, 2010—Bar 125

Day 125—Friday, May 14th, 2010
Ilili
Okay, there are some nights I’m really looking forward to leaving work and hitting the old bar crawl and meeting people and having a few drinks. There are other nights where I’m a little tired and it feels like a bit of a chore, but usually when I get to the bar that feeling goes away and I have a good time. Then there are the few nights I really don’t feel like doing this at all. Tonight is one of those rare nights. It was a crazy night at work, I have a headache and I have to work Saturday and Sunday and I didn’t even have time to take a dinner break or plan a bar to go to tonight. And yes, I know, I haven’t even entered a bar yet and already I’m filled with whine. Wah, wah, waaaah! And so I’m going to take the walk down Fifth Avenue towards home and stop at the first bar I see. Time to crawl.

Okay, here we are, the corner of 5th and 29th, time to find a bar and get this over with.

Been there, done that.

Ilili restaurant, maybe there's a bar in here, let's check it out.

Leah the lovely hostess assures me that there is and waves me in. (Little known fact that isn't obvious from the photo, Leah is over seven feet tall!)

Whoops, looks like I've wandered into the restaurant area. Looks nice, but I'm walking into bars, not dining areas.

Okay, here we go, this bar looks great. Low-lit and low-key, perfect after a crazy work day like I had.

And bartender Adam has the key to making the crawl something I'm grateful for...

A bottle of Brooklyn Brown. I'm feeling better already and I'm back into bar crawl mode!

There's a lounge area adjacent to the bar. Let's see who these people are.

It's Julie, C.B., Paige and Fred who were relaxing with drinks and enjoying some appetizers on this Friday evening.

Back at the bar a couple has arrived, time to meet them.

It's Katy and Brian. Both are we designers. Katy works for the NY Daily News, which gave the 365 bar crawl decent publicity a bit ago, thanks again to Simone Weichselbaum for writing that feature. Brian works for Huge Ink, check them out here: Huge Ink.

Some of the top shelf liquors at Ilili bar.

Fire! (It never gets old for me!)

I asked Adam what the most popular drink in the bar was and he told me it was the Phoenician Lemonade, which he expertly mixes here.

And it's delicious! I had a good time on the crawl after all! Thanks to Adam and everyone at Ilili for turning my mood around. Okay, I gotta work tomorrow, so time to drink up and go home. Goodnight everybody!

Review
Ilili is an upscale Lebanese restaurant with a Mediterranean menu that is eclectic and sounds like a treat to the taste buds. The restaurant is spacious and modern, but I’m walking into bars, not restaurants, so I spent my time in the bar area, where the full menu is available. the bar is sleek and modern with low lighting creating a romantic and casual mood. The bartenders are friendly and the crowd moves from business people stopping in for happy hour specials to locals enjoying the specialty cocktails and imported beers.

There are seven bottled beers available at the bar imported from Spain, Lebanon and Holland among other continents. If you want to drink local you can sip on a Brooklyn Brown. Some of the specialty cocktails include The Lebanese American made with Massaya Arak, Bourbon, Ginger and Fresh Mint, Sharab Al Toot, a mixture made with Inocente Tequila, Mulberry Syrup and Lime Juice and the delicious Phoenican Lemonade which consists of Citrus Vodka, Orange Liqueur, Mint, Lemon and Orange Blossom Water. Happy Hour runs from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm Monday through Friday with five dollar beers and seven buck cocktails and a small bite menu featuring Hommus, Kabis, Marinated Sardines and Lamb Ribs. The extensive Mediterranean menu features hot, cold and sharing items including: Baba Ghannouj, Falafel, Beef Fried Kibbeh, Veal Sweetbreads and a Lebanese Burger.

In addition to the restaurant and bar, there’s a lounge area and a DJ spins tunes on weekends. A unique bar and dining experience in the Murray Hill area. It turned my bad mood good, so check it out!

Ilili
236 Fifth Ave. (Near 27th St.)
212-683-2929

Friday, May 14th, 2010—Bar 124

Day 124—Thursday, May 13th, 2010
Stout NYC
Okay, last night at The Globe I met a guy named Raul, who was a nice guy, but didn’t want his picture taken, which is cool, some people decline every place I go to. But he started suggesting bars and said I should definitely check out a place called Stout NYC, which just happens to be blocks from where I work. He said he’d be there and I could take his picture there. So I said fine, I’d meet him after work. Well tonight I went online and I found out the place is huge! New York magazine calls it, “the Superdome of taverns.” It’s three stories and according to the New York magazine review, it’s over 16,000 square feet. Holy shitballs, this doesn’t sound like a bar, it sounds like a mall for serious boozers! How in the hell will I find Raul in there? Well, we’ll just have to go to see if we can track him down. We’ll call this night of the crawl, “Looking for Raul.” Maybe someone will option it for a movie. Hello, Harvey Weinstein, are you reading this?

Okay, here's the place, Stout NYC. Somewhere in here is Raul and I must find him. It's my bar crawl duty.

Holy shitballs, this place is huge and it's packed!

Wow, the bar is huge, but it's still three people deep to get a drink.

Okay, I'm abandoning all hopes of finding Raul and heading downstairs where I'm hoping it's a little less crowded and I can get a drink or three.

Okay, this is more my style, it's a little less crowded down here and there's a seat at the bar.

And within moments I'm receiving a beer from the friendly bartender, Joe.

As I drink it I wonder where Raul is, he's probably lost in the crowd upstairs.

Here's Rocky who stopped by the bar and was very supportive of the 365 Bar Crawl idea. He's a filmmaker and can be reached at rocky.kabir@gmail.com. Harvey Weinstein are you reading this?

Here I am with Vlad and Happy, they had just come from the Ricky Gervais show at Madison Square Garden and said he was hilarious. And yes, those are their real names. Vlad told me he wasn't an impaler and Happy confessed that her parents were hippies when they named her. I love the name Happy!

And after chatting with Joe the bartender and telling him I was looking for a guy named Raul, he laughed and told me Raul works the door there! I went upstairs and sure enough, the search was over. Here's Raul with Shinobu, who's the manager of Stout. Raul told me this website should use a quote from his friend Ito from 115th and 1st in Spanish Harlem. Ito once said to Raul, "Every day is Friday." And that's true here. The downside is that every morning is Monday, but we won't think about that now.

Okay the upstairs bar is less crowded now, so I decide to belly up to the bar there.

And Tara, the lovely bartender brings me the last beer of the evening.

There's a river of booze in this joint.

And a multitude of revolving drafts on tap.

Here's a bird's-eye-view of Stout from the third floor.

And I saved the best for last, Carly and Joana, two of New York's cutest and friendliest waitresses.

It's been a while since I've had a goodnight cabbie video, so here you go. Goodnight, everybody!

Review
Stout NYC is a large, three story, indoor playground of all things tavern-related. There’s a 60 foot bar on the main level, tables and leather banquettes, darts and billiards, over 30 large screen TV’s showing different sporting events, DJ’s on the weekends and karaoke on a weekly basis. There’s also occasional live music and it’s a big draw for those going to or just leaving an event at Madison Square Garden.

There’s a full bar here and the bottled and draft beer selection are as large as the bar itself. There’s over 200 beers to choose from and the draft beers are on a rotating variety, so there’s always something different to sample when you return.There’s also an eclectic menu with food ranging from your usual bar items like, burgers, wings and pizza to entrees such as: Steak & Mushroom Pie, Bangers & Mash, Fish & Chips and Stouts Famous Ribs. They also have a raw bar with east and west coast oysters.

Stop by and say to Raul. He’ll be there at the door to greet you, tell him 365 bars says, “hi!”

Stout NYC
133 W. 33rd St. (Near Seventh Ave.)
212-629-6191

Thursday, May 13th, 2010—Bar 123

Day 123—Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
The Globe
Ding, ding, ding, the PayPal donation buzzer has sounded again and my nearly empty pockets are glad! Ray Rogers from Bridgeport, CT sent in a generous donation of 15 dollars with this stated purpose: “Here’s a couple bucks for the crawl. Keep on crawlin.' “ Thanks Ray, and a crawling I will go!

Two nights in a row in a cab to the East Village, a dark bar and its sign caught my eye on 23rd St. It looks like a little joint and the red neon sign says, “The Globe.” For some reason it intrigues me and that is the reason that tonight we head to The Globe. To the Batmobile...oh, fuck, I just remembered I haven’t had a drivers license for 17 years now. To the cab!

Here we are at The Globe, I love the red neon sign outside, let's see what it's like inside.

Wow, it's a lot bigger inside than I thought and there's a spot at the bar with my name on it.

Bryant the friendly bartender serves up a perfectly poured pint of Guinness which can only lead to...

...The traditional wearin' of the Guinness on the head. Woo hoo!

In addition to the Guinness, here's some of the other beers on tap at The Globe.

The bar is a lot bigger than I thought it would be. Here's some booths that lead to the back room.

In the back there's two additional bars. Here's one...

And here's the other. Lots of places to sit in The Globe.

Back up at the front bar I met Eric. Sometimes you meet people, take their photo and move on, and sometimes you have a great conversation with them. With Eric I had a great conversation and we swapped stories. I've got some epic stories from my past and so does Eric. I won't go into detail but some of the subjects touched on in the story-telling were,getting arrested, police, movies, illegal immigrants, the Boone County Jail, drinking, airports, getting your foot run over by a taxi, traveling etiquette and strangling a cab driver. I won't say who's topics belong to who, but it was a great conversation. Great chatting with you, Eric!

Michelle and Maria were enjoying drinks and the Wednesday night at The Globe.

Jim and Janine were at a table in the back and wished me luck with the 365 bar crawl.

Mark and Ally were getting cozy on the leather couch in the back near the fireplace.

Here's another angle of the front bar...hey, who's this guy muscling into the photo?

It turns out it's Earl, who's there with his parents, Leonard and Dolores. Bartender Bryant joined in on the photo and on the far right is the group's friend, Maurice.

After the photo, they bought me a bottle of Budweiser and I offered to buy a shot to any of them that were interested. Maurice and Bryant took me up on the offer and away we go. Cheers and goodnight everybody!

Review
From the outside The Globe bar looks like a small dark bar with it’s red neon sign lighting the doorway. Upon entrance though, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find a decent bar and tables in the front and then a lounge area in the back complete with couches, tables, a fireplace and not one, but two bars in the back. The front bar is where the action is, the regulars hang out here and the bartenders are friendly and are not averse to downing a shot with you. The back of the bar is more lounge-like and there’s a black leather couch in front of a faux fireplace for a more intimate chat or a display of public affection.

There’s a full bar here with a good selection of bottled and draft beers including a perfectly poured pint of Guinness. Two plasma TV’s hang over the bar and the kitchen serves up your standard pub grub featuring burgers, wings and chili. Happy hour is daily from 4pm to 7pm with one buck off drinks.

This Irish-themed bar used to be a working brothel back in the 1800’s, so it’s a genuine chunk of New York City history. So stop by and have a drink to the working girls of the past and The Globe’s friendly hospitality of the present.

The Globe
158 E. 23rd St. (Near Third Ave.)
212-477-6161