That’s what we are considering as we enter the last weekend of the last single-digit month on the calendar. Several new spots have opened up around Manhattan and Brooklyn in the past few weeks that we have NOT had a chance to visit yet. In Manhattan, The Ainsworth has opened up a new location just off of Union Square. There’s also the interesting-sounding Cocktail Bodega on the Lower East Side. Perhaps a new beer bar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn? The Well and The Graham both sound appealing. What are some new spots that you would recommend in the five boroughs?
Monthly Archives: September 2012
Bar crawling in Chicago
Pub Crawl NYC recently visited Chicago. Here are some of the bar hopping highlights from our trip to the Windy City.
Berghoff – German restaurant with a large bar area. A mix of house brews and some imports. Solid spot with good food, but since it’s located in The Loop, it closes at 9pm most nights
Elephant & Castle – the chain English-style pub. Even though it’s a chain, we like this place because it does not have a location in NYC, and therefore don’t get to it too often. Tap beers are a mix of standard imports and macro brews, but there area a few local beers featured as well.
Poag Mahone’s – Irish Pub that offers nearly two dozen tap beers. This place offers a better mix of local and regional craft beers than Elephant & Castle. Unfortunately, due to its location in The Loop, Poag’s also closes rather early.
O’Neil’s on Wells – Dive-y sports bar that also offers pizza-by-the-slice.
Update on Brooklyn's Greenwood Park kids-at-the-bar issue
According to Gothamist, the owners of Greenwood Park bar in Brooklyn’s Park Slope have made a decision on the issue of parents bringing their young children to the bar. We wrote on this issue several weeks ago. The decision essentially became a compromise such that after 4pm, kids would not be allowed. As one parent was quoted as saying in the recent Gothamist article, 4pm is too early. Pub Crawl NYC thinks daytime hours are okay for the kids to be at the bar, provided they are properly supervised. Given the variation of sunset times during the warm weather months (approx. 6:45pm until 8:30pm), 6 or 7pm would be a more appropriate cut-off time for the presence of children. What are your thoughts on this, when is the appropriate time after which children should not be allowed at this establishment?
Here's an upcoming Pub Crawl in NYC
The Greenwich Village Fall Bar Tour, sponsored by Lindy Promotions, on Saturday, Sept. 22 starting at 1pm. More details here: http://lindypromo.com/fliers/120922_village.jpg
We’ve been on this crawl before and like it.
A visit to The Malt House in Manhattan's Greenwich Village
A new addition to the Greenwich Village beer NYC bar crawl has just opened at 206 Thompson Street (just north of Bleecker Street). Replacing an Italian restaurant at this address, The Malt House comes to you from two bar owners who used to be part of the ownership group of nearby Amity Hall and The Half Pint (translation: The Malt House will be a great beer bar for years to come!). 24 tap beers available, mostly focusing on American craft beer. Dozens of other bottled/canned craftbeers available. The food menu was not complete yet, so we’ll have to return at a later date for that. The space is divided into two, the main bar area and a seating area (see photos below). The Malt House has the potential to become our favorite place to include on a pub crawl in that particular area of Greenwich Village!
What are your thoughts on Malt House? We want to hear from you!
Pub Crawl NYC visits Manhattan Proper in Tribeca
Located at 6 Murray Street in Manhattan, Manhattan Proper takes over from many previous occupants of this address (including Nathan Hale’s, KD Connelly’s and Copper Barrel over the last decade). The theme at this address continues evolving (from dive bar to semi-dive/beer bar to purported gastropub/sports bar, a la the Ainsworth/121 Fulton). We visited too early to taste the food menu (kitchen was not yet open), so we’ll need to return for that. Since the previous incarnation (Copper Barrel), the layout is similar, but the look/feel is fairly different. Gone is the large beer selection (still eight beers on tap, but the bottled beer selection leaves something to be desired), still spacious seating in the back half of the space. The half-dozen large, flatscreen TVs remain, so this is still a good spot to watch the game. Pub Crawl NYC hopes that Manhattan Proper can distinguish itself from its previous incarnations, but the location (at the nexus of Tribeca, Civic Center and the Financial District) will present a challenge.
What are your thoughts on Manhattan Proper?
A visit to Pod 39 Hotel Rooftop Bar in Manhattan's Murray Hill
Located at 145 East 39th Street (just east of Lexington Avenue), the Pod 39 Hotel recently opened a rooftop bar. 17 stories above east 39th street, this rooftop spot offers good views east, south and west (alas, most of the Chrysler building just to the north, except for the spire, is blocked). The bar offers specialty cocktails, along with five tap beers and six bottled/canned beers. The physical bar is located in the center of the space, with small tables along the establishment’s perimeter. During our visit, the bartenders seemed extremely overwhelmed as numerous patrons waited several minutes at the bar for their drinks. Perhaps the bar was understaffed, but the place was not supercrowded either. If this waiting time for drinks is not a usual occurrence, then we recommend Pod 39 as a place to stop by for a drink; perhaps even as an addition to the Midtown East rooftop bar crawl.
Pub Crawl NYC visits the New Belgium brewery in Fort Collins, CO
At Pub Crawl NYC, we love visiting breweries. Really, what more fun is there to learn about the brewing process, the history of a brewery and the best part, of course, is the beer sampling! After visiting Sam Adams and Mayflower earlier this summer, we went west to Colorado and visited New Belgium, makers of Fat Tire and other delicious brews. The tour at New Belgium lasts for 90 minutes (definitely the longest brewery tour we’ve experienced) and we got to see many aspects of the operation. Even though New Belgium is the third largest craft-brewery in the United States (behind Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada), New Belgium does all of its brewing in Fort Collins (New Belgium is now constructing a new brewing facility in Asheville, NC, which will serve the East Coast primarily, but it may not be completely up and running until 2015).
What stood out at New Belgium (aside from the quality beer samples!) was the focus that the brewery had on its employee working environment and its environmentally-friendly power usage. On the first point, New Belgium is consistently ranked as a top place to work in the U.S. New Belgium is a privately-owned company (specifically, an ESOP – Employee Stock owned plan) and has a unique Brewing Purpose Statement. Concerning its environmental policy, New Belgium uses renewable energy and recycles water, among other environmental successes.
Below are some pictures from our visit.
A visit to the Arthur Avenue section of the Bronx
After a solid Italian meal at Zero Otto Nove, Pub Crawl NYC visited two drinking establishments nearby.
Mugz’s (pronounced Mugzees), located at 2476 Arthur Avenue, is a college dive bar for nearby Fordham University students. For those well past their college days, if you want to feel old, you can go here. Seriously, aside from us and the bartender, there was no patron here over the age of 22.
How at the Moon Bar & grill had a slight Carribbean theme going on. A neighborhood/sports bar. Still attracted the college crowd, but the clientele here is more diverse in age than at Mugz’s.
What are your thoughts on these two places? We want to hear from you!
Back in NYC!
After being out of town for most of the last 10 days, Pub Crawl NYC has returned! We are very much looking forward to resuming bar hopping activities around the five boroughs!