Friday, December 3rd, 2010—Bar 327

Day 327—Thursday, December 2nd, 2010
Revival
Okay, I’ve had to work late and I found a bar called Revival while Googling around that’s not far from where I live. Normally I would just walk there, but since it’s late, I want to make sure I get there while it’s still open and don’t have to search around for another bar at this hour of the night, so I’m going to run outside and yell...

TAXI!

And baboom, here we are!

You're welcome! Thank you. Wait, strike that and reverse it.

It looks nice in here. A nice underground, candle-lit oasis.

Bartender Nicholas was quick with a Red Stripe and a flip of the bird.

John (left) is the owner of this fine establishment and here he is with Pedro who told me his favorite Woody Allen movie is, "Take The Money and Run." One of my favorites as well.

The bar from my point of view.

Here's the drafts available on tap.

Happy hour!

A long shot of the candle lit wooden bar.

Here's the back room of the bar.

These two were chilling out back here with beers and I found out that both of their name's are Adam. So I present, Adam Squared.

There's a lounge upstairs, let's go check it out.

Up the stairs...

Very nice!

Comfortable couches and chairs up here, but since it's late it's deserted. Let's go back downstairs.

Nicholas is busy behind the bar.

Here's John with Sarah and Peter.

The fellow on the left chose to hide behind my business card as he's a wanted man. On the left is Alex who manages the bar Antartica. He invited me to stop by there and then we had a laugh when I told him I already did last July. Once again proving it's a small world on this bar crawl.

And a parting shot of owner John and I. Cheers and goodnight, everybody!

Review
Revival is an underground bar with an upstairs lounge and an outside terrace. The bar downstairs is dark an d candle-lit with a mural on the facing wall and a small back room with tables and chairs. There’s an upstairs lounge with make-out ready couches, chairs and windows overlooking 15th Street. The mood of the bar is chill with a handpicked soundtrack going on that runs the gamut from 60’s pop to punk to electronica. John the owner told me he takes pride in the music in the bar and says it’s anything you can imagine except for the stuff that’s on commercial radio.

There’s a full bar available with a decent selection of bottled and draft beers. Happy hour runs from 4pm to 8pm, Monday through Friday with five buck drafts, three dollar Bud and Bud lights, four buck well drinks and five dollar wine and cider.

Revival
129 E. 15th St. (Near Irving Pl.)
212-253-8061

Tuesday, October 19th, 2010—Bar 282

Day 282—Monday, October 18th, 2010
Cibar
Tonight’s bar is all about the following three things: Location, location, location. I have to come in to work extra early tomorrow, so I have to get up even earlier to post this before I go to work, so I need to go to a bar near by where I live, do my 365 thing and then try and get some sleep. I found a place called Cibar nearby where I live. It’s a martini bar and it appears to be a little fancy-schmancy, so hopefully they’ll get into the spirit (and spirits) of the bar crawl. We’ll see soon. It’s on my way home, so we’ll hoof it over there, feets don’t fail me now.

Here we are, there's no sign outside but...

The menu outside gives them away. Let's go inside.

Nice and dark inside, let's grab a seat.

I got a seat and James the friendly bartender quickly shakes up a chocolate martini for me. (That's right, Jaws, it's an Oompa Loompa night.)

James pours...

And I drink. It was delicious. James is a master martini maker. And he's also a DJ and goes by the name, Agent Trevor, check out his site here: Agent Trevor.

Bill and Nina were seated next to me and enjoying martinis. Cheers!

A shot from one end of the bar...

And a shot from the other end.

Jon and Debbi were seated on the other side of me. They were on their third date and I told them a couple of my dating horror stories from the past.

There's two fireplaces in the lounge area. Here's the one in the back...

And here's the one in the front.

Back at the bar James mixes me up a Rosemary Pear Margarita Martini.

It was so delicious I had two of them.

There's tables up in the front of the lounge area to relax and drink at.

And here's one of the manager's of the bar, the lovely Jennifer with Ahmed.

Lookin' good, Elvis. "Thank ya, thank ya very much!"

There's an outside patio where you can drink and if you smoke, you can light up out here.

Uh, oh, looks like someone had one too many martinis. I need to stick to beer! Here come the Oompa Loompa men! Goodnight, everybody!

Review
Okay, it’s fucking early in the morning and I feel like shit scraped off a shingle. I’m running late for work, so once again I’m cutting and pasting a review of Cibar from New York magazine. I do have to say that this place is a great martini bar. A lot of martini bars are snooty and this place was really friendly. It's a martini bar with a dive bar attitude and you gotta love that. Okay, I'm off to work.

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Located in the basement of the exclusive, twelve-room Inn at Irving Place, Cibar is the Miss America of bars: beautiful in a polished yet thoroughly generic way. Amber lights and a working fireplace shed a warm glow on the elegantly curved bar, Victorian banquettes and marble tables. In warm weather, a bamboo-adorned backyard opens up, a good place for intimate tete-a-tetes. The drink list features more than 20 martinis and glasses of Scotch. The clientele (which is rarely a crowd) consists mostly of wealthy business people schmoozing after work and couples smiling awkwardly over appetizers. — Shana Liebman
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Happy Tuesday, everyone, cheers! The weekend is just four days away!

Cibar
56 Irving Pl. (Near 17th St.)
212-460-5656

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And speaking of feets, here’s my favorite Little Feet song: Willin.’

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010—Bar 198

Day 198—Monday, July 26th, 2010
119 Bar
Okay, it’s Monday night and I’m going out a little earlier because I have to go to work earlier tomorrow, which means I have to get up really early to get this thing posted. And no, I don’t want any ice with my whine, thank you very much. I’m going to stick close to home and go to the 119 Bar which is located about five minutes from where I live, so I can walk there from work and then be home in minutes flat after my drinking picture taking are done. And yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I should’ve done this on the 119th night, but better late than never. Or early in this case...aw, fuck it, let’s just go.
Here we are, I love the neon in the window.

And the first thing I see when I walk in is a tin ceiling. I've learned in my travels that a tin ceiling always equates to a great bar and this certainly rings true as my evening plays out in here.

And since it's Monday night, there's plenty of seats at the bar. And this picture is misleading due to my flash. This is one of the darkest  rooms I've been in on the bar crawl so far. Commentator Al would be in heaven in this joint.

Bobby's a friendly bartender and picked the tunes for the evening which were blaring out of the speakers in the bar. The music and attitude are 100 percent rock and roll in here.

The front room houses the pool table lit up with the green lights overhead.

A poster for Elvis Costello and the Rude 5 is one of the few wall decorations hanging up.

The couches and chairs in this room are comfortable and well-worn.

This couch could use a fresh coat of duct tape to help keep it together.

Bobby works the bar in the middle room as more people start showing up.

You gottal love the vintage Frank mug shot on the wall.

The booths in the back of the middle room are large and comfortable.

And Ella and William were making good use of one of them.

Here's one of the partners in the bar Tommy Hill with the bouncer/door man Harold. Tommy told me that there was a little sadness in the air in the bar this week as one of the other partners Dennis had died of cancer a few days earlier. Cheers to Dennis, R.I.P.

Here's Tommy with some of his friends, from left: Tommy, Chris, Patrick and Jimmy who's also a partner in the bar. Cheers, guys!

Here's a sunken pleasure pit in the third room.

One more for the road and then...

It's home, sweet home. Told you I lived close by. Goodnight, everybody!

Review
There are four things to do at 119 Bar: Drink, play pool, listen to the rock and roll blaring out of the speakers and drink some more. And these are four very good things to do. The 119 is a rock and roll bar and it’s very dark inside. The bar is split into three sections. When you walk in, you enter the front room, which has a well-used pool table, comfortable, yet falling apart couches that appear to have been bought at a 1973 thrift store, chairs and tables and paneled walls. A lone Elvis Costello poster hangs on the wall and a vintage green chandelier lights the pool table. As you move to the left and enter the middle room you realize that you’re eyes are never going to adjust to the darkness in here and surrender to the darkness. The bar is in here along with comfortable wooden booths on the opposite side of the room. Rock and roll tunes blare in here and the artists are the choices of the bartender. The night I was there I heard the Clash, Iggy Pop, Talking Heads, Rolling Stones and Modern English. The third room in the bar has a sunken area with couches, chairs and a table and the graffiti-laced bathrooms are also in this room. The patrons are local and since it’s right below Irving Plaza, don’t be surprised if the band playing that night is down in the bar after the gig. The Strokes, Kings of Leon and most recently, Ratt have all stopped by for post-show drinks. And Drew Barrymore has visited many times to play pool.

There’s a full bar with a good selection of bottled beer and some of the draft selecctions include: Sam Adams, Blue Moon, Brooklyn Lager and Yuengling. There’s no happy hour, no food, just booze, pool, rock and roll and darkness. And I like it.

119 Bar
119 E. 15th St.  (@Irving Pl.)
212-777-6158