Friday, August 20th, 2010—Bar 222

Day 222—Thursday, August 19th, 2010
Walter’s Bar
The PayPal donation bell has rung and it was run by Dianne Swift. Dianne recently gave birth to a baby boy named, Emerson. I gave her some baby gas drops for a baby present and she in-turn sent in a generous donation of ten dollars with a message stating: “Your gas drops saved my night last night. Have one on my sanity.” You should check out Dianne’s website here: Hell Bound Heretic. Thanks Dianne!

Tonight I thought I’d stay in the neighborhood where I work. I’m a little tired from last night and I’ve saved a bar that’s only a couple blocks from where I work for a night where I was kind of beat and tonight’s the night. Walter’s Bar is one of the few bars in this area (I work near Madison Square Garden/Penn Station) that’s not a cookie cutter bar filled with refugees from the latest Madison Square Garden event and/or people having a drink before they get on their commuter train. back to the suburbs Walter’s is a real working class, neighborhood bar and a great place to throw back a beer or seven. And it’s a stone’s throw from where I work. You’ll see.

See, we're here already. Let's go in.

Wow, big crowd in here tonight.

But I managed to find a seat at the bar and Francis not only served me up a can of Pabst...

He threw in a shot on the house. I told you this was a friendly place!

The bottles are lit up at the bar. I always like that.

This is a rule I can live with.

There's a wooden bank and chairs opposite the bar that runs the perimeter of the brick walls.

There's a pool table in the back and the bar hosts local teams.

Joe was enjoying a beer at the bar. Cheers, Joe!

Walter's lamps hang overhead.

Owner Tony Ferber bought shots for both of us. He's a great host and knows all the customers in the place. His father Walter opened the place up 22 years ago. He owned another bar and threw Frank Sinatra and his bodyguard  out when Frank demanded he empty the place so he could drink in peace. The next day Frank came back and told the bartender he liked Walter's style and he wanted to buy him a drink. It was Walter's day off and the bartender called him at home and told him Frank Sinatra wanted to buy him a drink. Tony told me his dad didn't miss a beat and said, "You tell him to come back and buy me a drink when I'm working, this is my day off!" Ha ha ha! Great story, Walter sounds like a legendary, old-school New York barkeep.

Tony was a Marine for four years and proudly hangs this tribute to the Corps.

A Walter's cap.

Drink specials hang on the wall.

Custom-made neon hangs over the bar.

A vintage cash register is illuminated by the lit bottles at the bar.

Walter's logo was designed by Tony's sister-in-law. They keep it all in the family here.

There's a world-class dart board in the back and just like pool, they host local teams during the week.

There's a pizza oven at the end of the bar. Anyone hungry?

Joe is!

Here's regular Al, who holds up the paper and my card for proof that I was here on this night. Thanks for the verification, Al!

And here's Francis with the lovely Allison at the end of the bar.

And a glance out the window on my way out. Goodnight, everybody!

Review
Walter’s Bar is a friendly neighborhood joint in an area of town that is sorely short on joints like this. It’s a family owned business that was originally run by Walter Ferber. These days it’s owned and operated by his sons Tony and Michael. Most nights you can find Tony in the bar and he’s a friendly host and bartender. The bar is low-lit with rock and roll tunes playing at a conversational level. There’s a pool table in the back and a world-class dart board. The bar hosts both pool and dart teams on different nights of the week.

Walter’s has a full bar and during baseball season cans of Pabst go for two for five bucks every day of the week from opening to closing time (which is 4am, every night.) As you can tell from the aforementioned Pabst special Walter’s is a baseball bar and if a Met or Yankee player hits a triple, everyone in the bar gets two dollar shots that inning, which turns everyone into an avid baseball fan in the bar. And if a Met or Yankee hits a home run, everybody gets three buck shots. Play ball!

If you’re hungry, Walter’s has a pizza oven and has been on the block for 22 years. Stop in and have a drink at this family-owned local joint that’s a true local.

Walter’s Bar
389 Eighth Ave. (Near 29th St.)
212-502-4023

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