Located at 383 Carroll Street in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, Lavender Lake is another off-the-beaten path spot that you must visit. The feeling of the spot is slightly more Williamsburg than Carroll Gardens. Lavender Lake is mostly bar, but there is a small dining section as well. Also, a sizeable outdoor backyard. Beer selection is small-but-solid, with 8 quality tap beers. We look forward to returning.
We’ve spent a good portion of this summer exploring spots in Brooklyn and Queens and it’s been a great time. So now, we figure we need to show Manhattan a little love. Manhattan bars currently on our radar include Financial District’s Clinton Hall, Flatiron’s Flatiron Hall and East Village’s Maiden Lane. We gather that the first two are beer halls. Flatiron Hall is from the same folks behind Houston Hall. Maiden Lane takes over the spot where Life Cafe, a great East Village brunch spot, used to be. We are looking forward to visiting all three.
Located at 10-09 50th Avenue in Long Island City, Queens, Open Door brings perhaps a first to NYC: a tapas/craft beer bar. Normally, tapas places are wine bars, if they are bars at all. Open Door offers nearly 20 tap beers and some offerings are from the newest that Queens has to offer, including Bridge and Tunnel, Rockaway and Singlecut. We were quite impressed at how many local offerings were available. The layout is bar in front half, dining area in back. Food offerings included a Naan pizza (think Italian-Indian fusion). This is definitely a spot we want to visit again.
We spent a few recent afternoons in Queens; specifically in Long Island City, Astoria and Forest Hills. Some bars we visited, among others, included Open Door LIC, Singlecut Beer Brewery in Astoria and The Flying Pig in Forest Hills. All are worth visits and we’d look forward to returning to them. Over in Brooklyn, we recently visited Lake Street in Greenpoint and Pine Box Rock Shop in Williamsburg. Reviews of some of these spots forthcoming.
A few photos from our recent visit to the Red Hook Winery, located at Pier 41 / 325A, 175-204 Van Dyke St. Tasting hours run from 11am-5pm daily.
It was 225 years ago on this date that New York State ratified the United States Constitution, becoming the 11th state to join the Union. It’s a great day to drink some New York State beer and eat some New York State food. A great beer bar today would be Little Town NYC in Union Square, which focuses on local beer and food. It’s also a great day for a NYC pub crawl!
Located at 221 East Broadway on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Eastwood is a small-ish spot just a few blocks north of Seward Park. The place has eight tap beers and a chill vibe to it. A small kitchen offers assorted bar snacks and Eastwood offers two-for-one happy hours on weeknights. It’s definitely worth a visit next time you’re going out in the LES.
We have been all over the five boroughs of NYC and have seen Long Island City’s Pepsi-Cola sign from afar. But not until a recent NYC pub crawl that brought us to LIC had we ever been next to the famous landmark.
Located at 247 Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, Pork Slope is a BBQ/craftbeer bar. It’s almost like a grown-up version of Brother Jimmy’s for Park Slope. The spot is long and narrow with a pool table in back, so it has that bar feel to it. Pork Slope offers 20 tap beers and 20 bottled/can beers, so it’s definitely a good addition to the Park Slope NYC beer bar crawl. The food offerings, which we did not sample, appear to be standard BBQ fare. Overall, it’s a spot that’s a bit different for Park Slope.
