April, 2nd 2010—Bar 82

Day 82—Thursday, April 1st
Galway Hooker

Last night I met Peter Maloney at the Pine Tree Lodge. Peter was sitting next to me with his friend Kevin at the bar and they were fine bar neighbors to tip a few back with.

Kevin and Peter from the Pine Tree Lodge.

They were both encouraging and supportive of the 365 day bar crawl and today Peter has donated twenty bucks with this stated purpose: “Good luck on your journey Marty and come back to The Lodge anytime!!” Thanks a lot, Peter, that’s very generous of you and when we meet next I’ll buy you one back. Cheers, my friend!

Mike “Sully” Sullivan was a legendary barowner in my hometown of Peoria. I found out that he died a couple days ago after a battle with cancer. Writer Phil Luciano wrote a great tribute to him in the Peoria Journal Star and you can read it here: Raise Your Glass To Sully’s Spirited Life.

Mike "Sully" Sullivan

Sully was a great guy who loved to talk, drink and smoke and he was a great barkeeper. Back in my reckless youth when I was living in an Animal House type of pad with my friends Moon and Chris, we used to go to Sully’s river-front bar. Now back in those days we were...um...how can I put this in a subtle way...uhh...we were out of our fucking gourds on booze and other things I won’t mention because Moon and Chris have respectable jobs these days. Someday I’ve got to try and find one of those. Anyway, one thing we drank a lot of back in those crazy-ass days was straight gin. We would get wild-eyed nuts on gin (and the aforementioned, “other things”) and then cause all kinds of trouble. One time Chris and I turned everything in our shambles of a house upside down and were seriously considering hanging meat from the ceiling. I don’t know why, it was just one of those nights. We didn’t have a lot of money for bars back then, but when we did, 9 times out of 10 we would get thrown out for doing something crazy. There was a bar called The Gazebo which banned me for life. Apparently they didn’t like the way I trashed their DJ booth.

Anyway, this is all leading up to Sully and his river-front bar. This was a popular place and there was always a lot of people in there. For some reason whenever we would buy a shot of gin, we’d throw the empty shot glass at a wall and try to break it. Naturally this didn’t please bar owner Sully and you’d assume he would’ve thrown us out like every other tavern in Peoria had done. But Sully was a great bar man and figured out a solution: Plastic shot glasses. That’s right, he instructed his bartenders that we were to be served our shots in plastic shot glasses he had gotten, rather than throw us out of his tavern. We thought this was so funny we stopped causing trouble in there out of respect for Sully. The one barkeep that refused to throw us out!

So tonight I pay tribute to Sully by heading out to an Irish bar and having a Guinness or six in his honor. To Sully!

The Galway Hooker, Sully would've liked this Irish joint.

Gary and Zack were watching the door. I knew I had to behave in here or these two would toss me out on my ear!

It's really nice in here, but the music is playing loud. I'll just take photos, no way to do a meet and greet tonight, which is somewhat fitting, seeing as it's a tribute to Sully.

Natathaniel serves up the first Guinness of the evening.

To Sully. The one tavern owner who never tossed me out.

It's a crowded night at the Galway Hooker.

Comfortable banquettes and sailing pictures line the walls opposite the bar.

The front of the bar is decked out like a ship of booze.

The bar goes on for quite a stretch, making for ample seating for all those who enter the Galway Hooker.

Gavin is the other bartender on duty. Cheers to Gavin!

The back room has tables, chairs and more sailing portraits.

Just a few of the many drafts to be had at the Galway Hooker.

I almost forgot there's a second floor here too.

And it's just as packed up here as well.

Here's a bird's eye view of the first floor bar. Sully would've loved the joint!

To Sully! (Normally I would never ask for anyone to leave a comment here. I appreciate those that do, but I also appreciate those that want to be a silent reader and don't feel like leaving a comment. But today, in honor of Sully, if you could just leave a simple comment saying, "To Sully," below in the comments section, it would be greatly appreciated as a tribute to the man who never tossed me out of his tavern. Thanks.)

Review

To the uneducated, (like me) the name sounds like an Irish prostiture, but in actuality a Galway Hooker is an Irish sailing boat used in Galway Bay off the coast of Ireland. Size definitely matters to this Hooker, because the bar is huge. It’s two floors and has over 10,000 square feet in it to knock back a perfectly pouted pint of Guinness. The walls are dark and covered in sailing photos and maps of Ireland, the bar is huge and the patrons and bartenders are friendly. There’s plenty of room to have a seat at the bar as it stretches the entire length of the large quarters on the first floor. And if that’s not enough there’s another full bar on the second floor.

There’s a vast selection of beers to be had here, 30 brands of bottled beer and 30 drafts are available to conquer the thirstiest of thirsts. The Happy Hour runs from 3 to 7 pm Monday through Friday with five buck beers, house liquor and wine. Some of the house cocktails include The Galway Buzz, a Lychee Martini and The Irish Hooker. Check the events page on their website for a live music schedule. They have a full menu with lunch, weekend brunch and entrees including: Irish Beef Stew, Bangers and Mash, Shepherds Pie and an All Day Irish Breakfast. And there’s 14 plasma TV’s for your sports viewing pleasure.

Galway Hooker
7 E. 36th St. (Between Fifth & Madison Ave.)
212-725-2353