Located at 315 West 39^th Street, Tir Na Nog is a bigger, though younger, sibling of the location on Eighth Avenue near Madison Square Garden.  Tir Na Nog 39^th Street has to be one of the biggest bars (size-wise) in Hell’s Kitchen.  The place has two spacious bars and numerous seating/dining areas.  We couldn’t count all the TVs in the place.  Tir Na Nog 39^th Street definitely represents the amelioration of the immediate vicinity of the area south of the Port Authority along 8^th Avenue.  The bar is worth a visit if you’re nearby.

Located at 245 E. 55^th Street in Midtown East (or is it Sutton Place?), Draught 55 picks up in the location formerly known at Blackstone’s (and, before that, Jimmy Walker’s).  Layout is practically identical to its previous incarnations: spacious bar area on the right side of the spot, a slightly elevated dining area takes up the rest of the place (this was where the pool tables were for Jimmy Walker’s).  A separate bar area in the very back of the space, beyond the bathrooms and kitchen.  The draught beer offerings number around two dozen, nearly all quality craft-beer. The bottled beer selection is solid too.  The food is somewhat standard bar/pub fare.  Midtown East/ Sutton Place needs more craft-beer focused spot like this and maybe one day, the nabe will have its very own craft-beer focused NYC bar crawl.

Located at 128 West Houston Street (in the old XR Bar space), Rogue & Canon is a new gastropub for the West Houston Street corridor that serves as the border between Greenwich Village and Soho.  Sometimes when we go NYC bar crawling, we attempt to decide whether or not the visited spot “counts” as a bar (it’s an age old debate that will rage, seemingly, forever).  Well, we’re gonna count Rogue & Canon as a bar (and not a restaurant), but it’s just about as borderline as ever.  About half the space is taken up by tables with place settings (which makes the place lean toward “restaurant” distinction).  But, during our visit, we noticed that even the patrons seated at those tables were mostly drinking and not eating.  So, that’s what tipped this spot toward being a bar.  Overall, pleasant staff, eight quality tap beers.  Creative cocktails with fascinating names (‘Russian Firing Squad’ and ‘Midnight Train to Georgia’).  The food was definitely in that gastropub-like classification (we had the fish and chips).  Rogue & Canon is worth a visit next time you’re hanging out in Greenwich Village or Soho.

Located at 54 West 39^th Street, EVR is a Midtown clubby/lounge-y type spot.  Past the long bar area, there’s an elevated DJ booth and a lounge area with low-lying seating, along with a small lounge area on the second floor.  During our weeknight visit, the crowd appeared mostly as the after-work type; we could feel the scene changes significantly late nights and weekends.  Overall, it’s an okay spot for after-work, but if Irish pubs are a dime-a-dozen in this part of Manhattan, then these upscale clubby/lounge-y type spots are becoming a quarter-a-dozen.

Located on the second floor of 58 East 34^th Street, The Cash Bar is another speakeasy/cocktail type place.  Fairly small and intimate, The Cash Bar feels like a good date place.  As the name implies, the space has a ubiquitous cash theme, from the wall paper to the little pile of fake $100 bills in the middle of the room.  It’s something a little different for the immediate surrounding neighborhood.  Worth a visit next time you are nearby.