Monthly Archives: April 2012

RIP, Lakeside Lounge; you will be missed

Lakeside Lounge, located on Avenue B in Alphabet City, is closing for business on April 30.  Here is a recent New York Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/23/nyregion/gritty-musical-mainstay-will-close-in-the-east-village.html

A great spot, Lakeside Lounge’s closure is just another example of the impact of the demographic changes happening in the East Village/Alphabet City and a good chunk of Manhattan as a whole.  If you can, try and visit Lakeside Lounge one last time.

Little Town NYC Restaurant Row located at 341 West 46th Street in Hell's Kitchen

At the western edge of one of Midtown Manhattan’s many beaten paths, Little Town NYC is a spacious version of their original location in Union Square.  If you like their New York State theme, then you must visit the new location on Restaurant Row.  Located in the former Village Pourhouse spot (and before that it was a Joshua Tree, I sure hope this Little Town West location makes it at this address), the layout is similar to its previous incarnations (large bar area on the left with some high top tables opposite the bar, some additional seating in the back as well as an upstairs level).  The food aims to be locally sourced (great oysters, I’m told) and the beer selection is simply magnificent.  Beers available from Jamestown on the western edge of the state all the way to Greenport at the eastern end of Long Island, and just about everything in between.  Over 20 beers available on tap as well as many more bottled beers.  This place is great for those with a lot of New York State pride.

The Oyster Platter
The tap beer selection, great for any NYC craft-beer focused pub crawl!
The main bar area

A visit to New York Beer Company, located at 321 W. 44th Street in Hell's Kitchen

A new stop along the Hell’s Kitchen craft-beer focused NYC pub crawl, New York Beer Company is a must visit.  Very spacious, New York Beer Company offers a large bar area as well as two sections for seating.  The beer taps number around 30 and experience frequent rotation.  The offerings consist of a mix of New York regional craft brews and a few from other parts of the U.S.  Another 30 or so beers available by the bottle.  Pub Crawl NYC did not get to try to the food while there, but the menu looked promising.  The gimmick at this place is that select tap beer prices move up or down during the day based on supply/demand.  For instance, if 10 Sam Adams Boston Lagers were ordered within a certain period of time, the price of Sam Adams would rise $0.25.  The prices fluctuate at three-minute time intervals and television monitors allow you to see intra-day price movements.  New York Beer Company is another recently-opened spot that is definitely worth a visit (or three!).

The back half of the sprawling bar area
The TV screen showing intra-day beer price fluctuations

A visit to O'Donoghue's at 156 West 44th Street in Midtown

Just east of Times Square on West 44th Street sits the Irish Pub, O’Donoghue’s.  This relative newcomer is a step up from the run-of-the-mill Midtown Irish pub.  The food menu offered a mix of upscale bar/bistro fare.  The beer selection was also slightly better than the usual offerings in similar establishments in this part of town.  Though not quite good enough to be included in the Midtown NYC craft-beer bar crawl.  Staff was friendly.  It’s worth a visit the next time your in the area.

A visit to Randolph Beer, located at 343 Broome Street in Soho/Nolita

The ever expanding Randolph empire opens up another location three doors east of the original spot on a rather quiet block of Broome Street.  About the same size as The Randolph, Randolph Beer offers 36 tap beers and good food.  On the second night of operation, the Randolph Beer was packed, so the early reviews appear promising for this spot.  Pub Crawl NYC is very happy that this section of Soho/Nolita has a quality craft-beer focused bar.  Outside of One Mile House one block north and east on Delancey (and now that Stanton Public has morphed into something else), Randolph Beer stands alone in this section of town.  We’ll need a few more bars like Randolph Beer before we have a bonified Soho craft-beer focused NYC bar crawl.

Some of the three dozen taps