Sunday, November 7th, 2010—Bar 301

Day 301—Saturday, November 6th, 2010
Choptank
Live, from New York, it’s Cheeseburger Saturday Night! With special guests Clacky and Shannon from Newcastle, Australia. Featuring the ready for prime beef player, Marty Wombacher. And now, tonight’s guest host in Greenwich Village...Choptank!

It's Shannon's birthday, so we had a pre-dinner party at my place. In addition to being a great chef, Clacky is an ace photographer and set up his camera on a tripod to take a shot of the three of us.

And we had to get a shot of us giving you the one-finger salute.

After a few beers and some popcorn we made our way to Bleecker Street and found ourselves in front of Choptank, tonight's destination. However, like an idiot, I forgot to take a photo of the place. Luckily I found this one on the internet, but there was no photo credit. So thank you to whoever took it!

There's more than one bar in here. Here's the front bar.

And there's a marble-topped wooden bar in the back.

The motto here is "Be Nice or Leave," so we decided to settle in here.

Here's Clacky and Shannon relaxing at the bar.

Joe the bartender serves up three cans of Genesee Cream Ale.

Cheers!

Banquettes and tables line the walls opposite the bars.

Fire!

Stephen and Linda were seated next to us at the bar. They're a friendly and very cool couple and they have one of the most unique marriages ever. He lives in Boulder, Colorado and she lives on the Upper East Side here in Manhattan. They only spend the weekends together! It sounds like a genius idea to me!

We had a nice conversation with them and Tim and Shannon posed with them before they left.

The bar has a good selection of craft beer and Clacky chose one called, "Purple Haze" to go along with his purple, "Down Under" shirt that he bought at the 365 Bar Store. "Boris" maintains the store and designed the logo and all of the shirts. Check it out, you don't need to be Australian to buy one!

Fresh potato chips are placed in front of us and we're reminded we came here not only to drink, but to eat as well.

We  check out the menus and place our order.

Clacky gets his camera ready to snap some shots of the food. His photos are vastly superior to mine, so some of them will be interspersed with mine.

Shannon ordered the cheeseburger. Clacky took the shot, but didn't quite get the cheeseburger in it. I think that Purple Haze he's drinking has kicked in. (Photo by Tim Clack.)

So I stepped in and snapped a shot of it. Looks pretty fucking amazing, huh?

Tim got a rock shrimp taco, the food here is great! (Photo by Tim Clack.)

Since Shannon got a cheeseburger, I decided to go with the Choptank Dog. It's an all beef frank topped with crab dip, cheese, old bay chips and scallions. And it costs just five bucks! (Photo by Tim Clack.)

I devoured it in about one bite. (Photo by Tim Clack.)

Here's Clacky and Shannon tucking into their dinners.

Clacky samples Shannon's cheeseburger as the woman at the end of the bar appears to be suffering from a sudden migraine headache attack.

Clacky took the last shot of the evening and sent in this photo caption: "Some homeless dude giving me the one fingered salute....wait a minute...it's Marty saying...Goodnight everybody!" (Photo by Tim Clack.)

Review
Okay, I slept in and now I’m running late and have a lot of stuff to do before my Sunday dinner, so I don’t have time to write a review. Here’s one from New York magazine.

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New England has largely dominated the flavor of New York’s burgeoning fish-shack category, but regional diversity comes with the opening of Choptank in the former Bar Q space. Named for a river in Maryland where the owners and the culinary consultant, Kevin Patricio, grew up, the joint references the Chesapeake Bay region with crab chowder, Old Bay seasoning, and Baltimore’s Ostrowski’s Polish Sausage, served with soft pretzels and mustard. Although chef Matthew Schaefer’s menu focuses on seafood, there are meatier, southern-inflected options, like a Virginia-ham plate and fried chicken. — Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld

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Thanks to Clacky and Shannon for a fun night on the crawl. Happy birthday to Shannon, and thanks for the great photos, Clacky!

Choptank
310 Bleecker St. (Near Grove St.)
212-675-2009

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Bonus Photo From Tim Clack In New York City!
After dinner I went home to catch up on some much needed sleep and Tim and Shannon went to climb the Empire State Building. Here’s a beautiful shot of New York and a caption from the top of the Empire by Clacky.

Kong's final resting place (by night). Kinda looks like Port Macquarie, hey Fitzy?!

Sunday, October 31st, 2010—Bar 294

Day 294—Saturday, October 30th, 2010
Kettle of Fish
Okay, this is going to be a big day/night. Daily commentator Biff is coming in to town with some friends and once in a while commentator Aaron who is the drummer in the wonderful band, The Joans is coming in to join the party from Chicago. The last time the three of us were together was in Chicago.

But first, I thought I’d do the bar crawl stop before I meet everyone. Actually, I am meeting someone on the crawl. I’m meeting yet another Australian who’s a silent reader (meaning he doesn’t comment) and is in town for a few days. His name’s Colin Young and I wanted to show him a real authentic, old-school New York bar and before I could start looking for one I got an email from the 365 co-pilot, Al Rizo. Al sent me an email with a suggestion of going to a bar in the West Village called Kettle of Fish. Bob Dylan used to hang out here, so if it’s good enough for Bob and suggested by Al, it good enough for me. I think I smell some beer foam blowing in the wind!

Here we are, 59 Christopher Street and the Kettle of Fish bar.

Wow, it's crowded here for an early Saturday afternoon, but there's a seat here at the end of the bar.

And no sooner do I sit down than Terry the friendly bartender magically appears bearing a gift in the offering of a bottle of Budweiser.

The back of the bar is loaded with booze, knick-knacks and books.

And of course this title is sitting pretty back there.

The ceiling is adorned with lights and a lone Green Bay Packer helmet. The Kettle of Fish is Manhattan's premier Packer bar. On game day, brats are cooked and cheese and cracker trays are put out. And the bar gets packed. No pun intended. Okay, maybe it was.

And speaking of Green Bay Packers,  these four fans were in town from Minneapolis (do you know them Jaws?) to see the Packers, Jets game today. From left: John, Patty, Bart (and yes, he's named after legendary Packer quarterback, Bart Starr) adn Jenelle.

Terry heard us talking about Bart Starr and showed us this Packer helmet which was sitting on a shelf behind the bar.

It's signed by Bart Starr and was recently acquired by the owner Patrick at an auction.

And speaking of the owner Patrick, here he is along with yours fooly. Cheers!

A wooden railing opposite the bar is decorated with some Halloween pumpkins and skeletons.

In the '50's and '60's the original Kettle of Fish was a hangout for the beat poets and folk singers. Bob Dylan, Dave Von Ronk and others called it the office. Here's a photo of beat poet Gregory Corso in the original Kettle of Fish hanging on a wall in the back. The photo was taken by Allen Ginsberg and has an inscription and is signed by Ginsberg.

There's a large back room with tables and chairs and...

Two state of the art dart boards.

Obligatory bar room mirror shot!

Here's the original bar sign from the MacDougal Street location.

Here's a photo of writer Jack Kerouac with the sign behind him.

Another shot of the bar, which is still hopping.

And more Packer fans arrive! From left: Amy, Brian, Donnie and Jen. I think they were in town from Denver but by now I've had a few beers, so my journalistic skills are fading.

And here's Donnie with his two brothers, Tom and Jamie. Peeking in behind them is Isabella.

And here's Colin, who's a 365 reader all the way in from Sydney, Australia. We toasted beers and then I found out that Colin had never had a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich.

So we had another beer, a glance out the window and went out in pursuit of a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich.

And luckily, just blocks away is Wogies, a bar/restaurant that specializes in them.

See what I mean?

And here's Colin happily breaking his Philly Cheesesteak cherry!

Okay, as I mentioned, Biff, Aaron, Paul and assorted others are in town for a few days. We decided to meet at Old Town Bar which was bar 151 on the 365 bar crawl.

The front of the bar was used in the opening of the original David Letterman show on NBC.

And the gang's all here! Clockwise from left: Chrissy, Colin, Janie, Bifferoonie, Paul, Aaron and myself. Many beers were had, hotdogs were served and they'll be more adventures with this crew tonight. Stay tuned. Goodnight, everybody!

Review
Okay, since I have a ton of shit to do and then meet up with the Biff entourage later, rather than write a review of Kettle of Fish, here’s a video made by the owners which gives you the rich history of the bar which has been a staple in Greenwich Village for over 60 years in various locations.



Thanks to Al for a wonderful selection. Okay, I’ve got to go and get my Halloween costume ready for tonight. Boo!

Kettle of Fish
59 Christopher St. (Near Seventh Ave. South)
212-414-2278

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Thanks to my co-pilot Al for another wonderful suggestion! Al art by "Boris."

Jaws sent in this piece of Halloween art for today, thanks, Jaws! Happy Halloween, everybody!

Saturday, October 22nd, 2010—Bar 286

Day 286—Friday, October 22nd, 2010
Do Hwa (Originally headed for Sweet Revenge)
Okay, everybody in New York is all worked up over tonight’s Yankee playoff game against Texas. If they lose they’re out and if they win, the final game is tomorrow. I don’t want a repeat of last Friday night, so I need to find a bar that won’t be packed with people watching the game. I think maybe I found the place. While Googling around I found a place called Sweet Revenge that’s a bakery and sandwich shop and it’s also got a liquor license. I didn’t know if they had an actual bar in there and I just called and they do. I’m guessing it won’t be packed with Yankee fans. I mean, when’s the last time you saw people eating cupcakes at a Yankees game?

Here we are at Sweet Revenge. Shit, it looks kind of crowded in there.

The bar is jammed and there's no seats. Goddamn, time to improvise once again.

But this time there's no lonely walk, for right down the block is this place, Do Hwa. I bet there's a bar in here.

And baboom, here it is with a couple of choice seats front and center. We've arrived at bar number 286!

And Caroline the cute and super-friendly bartender serves up a pepper agave margarita.

Wow, it's really spicy, hence the goofy look on my face. Okay, the face is always goofy, but the drink is delicious!

The back of the lit up bar in magenta hues.

Some of the draft beers available at the bar.

There's a long wooden, candle-lit railing opposite the bar to enjoy food and drinks at.

Silent movies play continuously on the wall at the front end of the bar.

Here's the large dining area.

Back at the bar, Caroline pours me a German beer that's served in special ceramic mug.

The lovely duo of Betty and Tina were chilling out at the end of the bar.

Someone at the bar drew this picture earlier in the evening with the prophetic words: "The river around hell is made of fruity martinis."

Here's a long shot of the bar.

Here's Daniel, Trina and John who are regulars at the restaurant and bar. Trina suggested I check out a bar called Fred's on the Upper West Side, so that's a future stop for sure.

And a new tradition begins on the bar crawl. Caroline happily gives us a double fingered salute! Goodnight, everybody!

Review

Okay, today is my first day off in two weeks and I slept in really late. I have a bunch of stuff to do, so once again, I’m going to laze out on writing a review and use one from New York magazine. I do highly recommend this place though, really friendly bartenders and staff and the patrons are locals from the neighborhood and nice people. Okay, here’s what New York magazine has to say, and it’s one of their critics picks by the way.

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Jenny Kwak and her mother Myung Ja try to familiarize diners with their home-style Korean cooking with family-style dinners for four, as well as various combinations of dumplings, spicy pancakes, stews, sautés, and the barbecue dishes that provide all the drama. If you’re a do-it-yourself type, request a table with a built-in grill. — Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld

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Do Hwa
55 Carmine St. (Near Bedford St.)
212-414-1224

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Bonus Photo!

Al Rizo whom I've dubbed my co-pilot on the adventure due to the number of fine bar recommendations he's suggested sent in a picture of his bar in his home in Miami. I have to try to get there and have a drink or ten before this whole thing is over. I think a winter weekend in Miami sounds nice, stay tuned and thanks for the picture Al. Your bar looks like a dark slice of paradise! Cheers!