All posts by deronc

A visit to The Vault at Pfaff's

Located one level underground at 643 Broadway (at Bleecker), The Vault at Pfaff’s is a hidden gem of a bar/lounge.  Over the past decade, this location has played host to several types of nightlife establishments (a lounge and a nightclub, among others).  I hope that The Vault at Pfaff’s sticks around for a while.  The layout consists of a main bar area along with a few smaller, more intimate rooms attached to the bar area (see photos below).  The hours of operation are 6pm – midnight, Monday – Thursday and 6pm – 2am, Friday and Saturday.  From 6 – 9pm, a happy hour offers reduced prices on certain bar appetizers, beer/wine and cocktails.  The friendly staff makes this place a must visit.

The main bar area also offers tables for parties of two or four
One of the intimate, smaller rooms off from the main bar area

Have you visited The Vault at Pfaff’s yet?  Share your thoughts on this spot here.

This weekend's St. Patrick's Day pub crawls in NYC

Check out these upcoming crawls:

March 16, 17 and 18 in Manhattan, organized by pubcrawls.com: http://pubcrawls.com/saint-pattys-pub-crawl-nyc.php

Saturday, March 17 in Manhattan, organized by barcrawls.com: http://barcrawls.com/newyork#/shamrock-shuffle-nyc

Saturday, March 17 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, organized by Murphguide.com: http://tickets.murphguide.com/Events/ShowEvent.aspx?eventId=15478

Did I omit a crawl?  If so, send me a comment here and I will gladly add the crawl to this list.

Pictures from a recent Astoria NYC bar crawl, part 4

After Sweet Afton, we moved east along 30th Avenue until we hit the bar Canz at 40-11 30th Avenue, just east of Steinway Street (there’s another location of Canz on Third Avenue in Manhattan).  The draw here is part sports bar and part due to the quantity of beers available.  Over three dozen on draft and many more canned beers (as the name of the bar would imply).  As one of the crawl participants remarked to me, Canz felt like being at Hooters.

Long bar on leftside, with multiple rooms for seating in the back
Large tap beer selection, but I didn't see anything too hard-to-find.

That was the last stop on the Astoria NYC bar crawl.  It was a fun time and I look forward to my next Astoria visit.

Upcoming 2012 St. Patrick’s Day pub crawls in NYC

For those looking for Saint Patrick’s Day NYC bar crawls this weekend and next weekend, check out some of these upcoming events:

Saturday, March 10 at the South Street Seaport in Manhattan, organized by Lindy Promotions: http://www.lindypromo.com/fliers/120310_SouthSt12.jpg

March 16, 17 and 18 in Manhattan, organized by pubcrawls.com: http://pubcrawls.com/saint-pattys-pub-crawl-nyc.php

Saturday, March 17 in Manhattan, organized by barcrawls.com: http://barcrawls.com/newyork#/shamrock-shuffle-nyc

Saturday, March 17 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, organized by Murphguide.com: http://tickets.murphguide.com/Events/ShowEvent.aspx?eventId=15478

Did I omit a crawl?  If so, send me a comment here and I will gladly add the crawl to this list.

Pictures from a recent Astoria NYC bar crawl, part 3

After visiting Gleason’s and Tippin Inn, we walked north a couple of blocks until we arrived at Sweet Afton, located at 30-09 34th Street in Astoria.  Sweet Afton has two sister locations in Manhattan, Bua and Wilfie & Nell’s.

Sweet Afton is sizeable, yet cozy. The locally-sourced food leans toward gastropub fare. The beer selection consists of two dozen, evenly split between tap and bottle.

Sweet Afton is a must-include on the Astoria craft-beer focused NYC pub crawl.  We can’t wait for our next visit!  From Sweet Afton, we headed east along 30th Avenue.  More photos in the coming days.

What are your thoughts on Sweet Afton?  We want to hear from you!

Pictures from a recent Astoria NYC bar crawl, part 2

After Gleason’s, we moved east to Tippin Inn, located at 34-13 Broadway.

If the place looks familiar in the photo above, it’s because Tippin Inn used to be named Rendezvous.  The name change occurred a little over a year ago, but the layout of the place is roughly the same.  The bar is still attached to the Italian restaurant, Bartolino’s, next door.  For a beer geek, unfortunately, Tippin Inn does not offer a lot of variety.  After Tippin Inn, we headed north a few blocks to our next destination.  More photos from this crawl to follow in the coming days.

Pictures from a recent Astoria NYC bar crawl, part 1

For the annual First Saturday of March celebration, it was time for a visit to Astoria.  Here are two pics from that fun day:

Located on Broadway between 33rd St and 34th Street, Gleason's is spacious, offers solid bar eats and a decent beer selection. The sliders might be the best in the five boroughs!
And on the wall opposite the bar, there is a picture of the man, Jackie Gleason.

We continued east along Broadway to the next location and then north to a few spots along 30th Avenue.  More photos from this crawl to follow in the coming days.

 

Happy St. Patrick's Month!

Now that we have entered St. Patrick’s Month, I thought I’d start getting in the mood for a St. Patrick’s NYC pub crawl and wanted to share this clip I came across recently on youtube:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmqkwRt-dGA

Of the bars featured on this short clip, my favorite is Pete’s Tavern (whether it’s a true Irish Pub is up for debate, however).   What is your favorite one from this clip?  Share your thoughts here.

NYC Bars I'm looking forward to visiting

Some new spots that have recently opened: Amelie, a wine bar in the Village; Vucciria, a wine bar/restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen (in the old Film Center Cafe space) and New York Beer Company, a beer bar in Hell’s Kitchen (around the corner from Vucciria).  Interestingly, the Beer Authority, another beer bar a few blocks south of New York Beer Company has been slated to open for a while.  A visit to its website indicates that the spot is “opening soon”, but no date has been given.  A telephone call does not provide any additional information.  Do you know the status of Beer Authority?  If so, please share!  Both New York Beer Company and Beer Authority will be welcomed additions to the Hell’s Kitchen NYC beer bar crawl.