Crown Victoria (60 South 2^nd Street, between Wythe and Kent Streets)

The South Side has a new beer bar!  Past the sizeable outdoor area sporting 10 picnic tables, Crown Victoria’s welcoming vibe features a long, 15-person reverse L-shaped bar.  There are two high top tables in front and, along the wall opposite the bar, are eight four-person tables.  24 draught beers, nearly all a quality mix of regional craft and imports.  Terrific happy hour specials (I had a $2 Kelso Nut Brown during my visit).  I can’t wait to return.  This is a new stop on the craft-beer focused South Side Williamsburg NYC bar crawl.

Midway Bar (272 Grand Street, between Roebling and Havermeyer Streets)

A small bar area near the entrance greets patrons.  Opposite the bar are five video games.  A lounge-y area up a few steps behind the bar area takes up 2/3 of the entire space and includes one pool table and a Cruisin’ USA console.  $3 happy hour specials available on most of the quality eight tap beers.  Midway has that Williamsburg hipster feel to it.  Definitely one for the Williamsburg Grand Street NYC pub crawl.

High Horse Saloon (103 Havermeyer Street, between Hope and Grand Streets)

Located on a quiet block on Havermeyer, High Horse Saloon (next to the High Horse Salon, same owners) is fairly small and intimate.  Two small seating areas reside in front, while most of the space is taken up by the bar area.  There is also a small, semi-private area in beyond the bathroom entrance.  Six solid draught beers available.

What are your thoughts on these establishments?  Please share your views here.

Terroir Murray Hill (439 Third Ave, between 30th and 31st Sts)

This is the third location of the Terroir empire (the others are in the East Village and Tribeca).  A reverse-L shaped, 15 seat bar resides on the left side of the establishment, while eight six-person high top tables fill the right side of the space.  Dozens of wines available by the glass and bottle and there are six quality craft beers on tap.  The food is a mix of small plates, charcuterie and other types of wine-bar food.  There are not many wine bars in Murray Hill, so if you are in that nabe and are looking for a different scene from the typical Murray Hill night out of sports bars and Irish pubs, this is the place for you.  If a few more such spots open up, then we will have the makings for a Murray Hill wine-focused NYC bar crawl.

Winston’s Champagne Bar (Gansevoort Park Hotel, 420 Park Avenue South, entrance on 29th Street)

Located as part of the Gansevoort hotel, this just might be the most expensive, non-nightclub establishment in Manhattan.  Much has been made of the of the $18 artisanal cocktail bars that have sprouted around Manhattan recently.  Well, if Winston’s had an $18 drink on their menu, it would have been the least expensive one!  The focus, as the name suggests, is on champagne, available by the glass or bottle.  There is also red and white wine on the menu.  The least expensive offering was a glass of red wine for $20.  The bottles of champagne started just below $200 and went all the way up to $28,000 (no, that is not a typo).  The space is bi-level and has seating in front and a small bar area toward the back.  Up a spiral staircase (that is next to a yellow grand piano), there is some more seating on the second level.  Not my first choice to for a night out, but if you like champagne and wine and you’d like to spend some money, Winston’s is worth a visit.

Have you been to Terroir Murray Hill or Winston’s?  If so, I’d like to hear from you!  Please share your thoughts here.

Reading this article on dive bars got me thinking that Manhattan has very few old-school dive bars remaining.  When I say dive bars, I’m not referring to college or post-college dive bars or trendy dive bars.  I’m talking about borderline scary dive bars.  Ones that you don’t feel very comfortable entering.

One day, I will do the NYC Dive bar crawl and it will include the following:  Subway Inn, Blarney Cove, Blarney Stone (on 9th Avenue), Billymark’s West, Holland Bar and Rudy’s.  It’s interesting to note that four of those six are located on Manhattan’s west side along 9th Avenue (Chelsea or Hell’s Kitchen).  Some of them may have some timesharing aspects to them now, but I think those are the last of the remaining borderline scary dive bars in Manhattan.

Toward the end of an afternoon showing some out of town guests around Astoria, I (along with the guests) had the distinct pleasure of being the first patrons of the day at the century old Bohemian Hall.  I’ve been there numerous times, but never at the 3pm Friday opening.  It was quite a thrill to walk into the beergarden and be the only ones there (some pictures of the moment below)!

The Hall will be celebrating Octoberfest starting 10/1, running through 10/9.  Each day will mark beer tastings from American and Central European brewers.  More details here.

Over the past few years, there has been a proliferation of beergardens across the five boroughs.  Most of these new spots are just a pale version of the real thing — Bohemian Hall — the last of the original beergardens in New York City.

I found this clip on youtube recently:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrNwgAvbgFQ&feature=fvsr

My thoughts:

Four solid spots visited in this video.  I would add Sean Og’s, which is located at Woodside Avenue & 60^th Street, just west of Cuckoo’s Nest.  Sean Og’s has a small outdoor seating area in good weather.  Inside, the bar is spacious and the tap beer selection is solid.  In all, that section of Woodside, near the LIRR/7 train station, is a fantastic area for a NYC pub crawl.