Sunday, December 19th, 2010—Bar 343
Day 343—Saturday, December 18th, 2010
Amity Hall
Live from New York it’s Cheeseburger Saturday Night! Starring Amity Hall with a special appearance by one third of the Baltimore Bar Crawlers, Gene Rubbico and featuring the ready for prime beef player, Marty Wombacher. Tonight’s episode is brought to you by a generous donation of twenty dollars from Packer fan, Jamie Bettis, who we met at the Kettle of FIsh. Thanks, Jamie! And now, please welcome...Amity Hall!
Goddamn, Broadway is packed with people and all of them are motherfucking slow-walkers.
Fuck, I looked up and saw I was at Broome Street and realized I've walked way past 3rd street. Shit, now I have to backtrack through the slow walkers on Broadway.
I'm terrible with directions and after about an hour of missed streets and backtracking, here we are. Thank, god, I need a drink!
Wow, it looks great in here. Hey, there's a familiar face at the bar!
Bartender Nav pours up an ice cold bottle of Duvel. Nav's from Ireland and is a first-class bartender and all-around good guy.
365 commentator and pal, Biff sent me this stocking cap and three Metro cards for Christmas! Thanks Bifferoonie! And cheers from Gene and I!
They've got an impressive amount of beers on tap.
And an equally impressive selection of bottled beers below in the refrigerated beer coolers.
A candle-lit railing and stools lead up to the bar.
Sneezin's greetings!
Meanwhile back at the bar, Gene and Nav are shooting the shit.
Shannon is the other beautiful bartender on duty. She was taking a dinner break till I interrupted with the pesky 365 camera.
And suddenly this group has overtaken the end of the bar.
Luckily, they're a friendly group and we chatted about the bar crawl for a bit. From left: Melissa, Michelle, Davy, Abeed and Daniel. Daniel has a blog and you can check it out here: No Is The New Yes. I've only had a chance to quickly peruse it, but any blog that has Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash giving the finger looks to be first rate!
Here's Shannon, back to work.
And suddenly...cheeseburger! Where's the cheese though?
It's stuffed inside of the burger! And it's horseradish cheddar cheese and it's one of the best burgers I've ever had!
Here's Gene getting ready to devour his cheeseburger.
Gene truly cleaned his plate. Nav joked that they wouldn't have to put this one in the dishwasher.
We decided to stop in at the Stoned Crow for an after dinner nightcap.
And here's a familiar face, Josh the bartender. If you've been following this blog you may remember that he was the bartender on duty on our 84th night out, last April.
The bar is all lit up for the holidays.
I went back to the office to say hi to the wonderful and beautiful owner, Betty. I told her I was looking forward to the end of this bar crawl in January because I could go back to being a regular here. Betty looked sad and told me that that wasn't going to happen. I asked her what she was talking about and she told me the bar is closing due to steep rents from her greedy-ass landlord. Anybody see a recurring theme here? I felt like someone had slapped me in the face with a cold 37 pound piece of fish. Motherfucker, another classic New York bar closing. I'm so sorry for Betty. She built and maintained a great New York bar in Greenwich Village. The last night this place is opened is New Year's Eve. I think I know where I'll be that night. Quite a sad way to end a Saturday night. Goodnight, everybody.
Review
Okay, I’m running late and I have an appointment for a haircut, so I don’t have time to write a regular review, but I do have to say that this was one of my best bar and cheeseburger experiences on the bar crawl. The cheeseburger was fantastic and I always say that the bartenders at a bar are the captains of the ship and can make or break the place and Nav and Shannon were two of the most fun and hospitable bartenders I’ve had the pleasure to meet. Thanks to both of them for a great night. And now you can check out the bar via this video: Amity Hall.
Amity Hall
80 W. 3rd St. (Near Thompson St.)
212-677-2290
21 Comments
Reader Comments (21)
I've been to NYC a lot over the years ... I've been to hundreds of bars in the city ... and I don't know if I've ever had as good a bar experience as Amity Hall. A true winner ... awesome place ... and Nav and Shannon couldn't have been any more hospitable and cool. They are both wonderful people ... and I had a great great great time there! Thank you guys !!!!!!! I will be back ... and it will be a must stop on all future trips! I cannot say enough good things about this place !
Sorry that the Stoned Crow is closing. What a downer! Smoopy cannot play Buck Hunter here anymore :( Why oh why do the good places have to disappear like this? Sad :( Greed is not good ...
We were planning on having a few here ... but a giant crowd of douchebag bar crawlers showed up and clogged the place up like a bad toilet! We left after 1 drinkie ... fought our way out the door .... then went off into the night. I'm glad we went here and found out it was closing. Nobody knew? Marty will be able to go one more time now ... instead of showing up someday, only to find out they were gone :(
Goddamn, that looks like one tasty burger! Looks like you and GENE are having a great time. Sad news about the Stoned Crow. Fuck those greedy landlords!
First off hi Gene, glad you have been around the last couple days.. Good to see you buddy.
I hope you and Marty keep in touch when this is over..
I'll keep the FB page up after all this so that the regulars can post updates and sucha.
i hope you have a FB Gene..
Wow what a name for a hall. It's perfect.
I actually had tears in my eyes reading what Betty said.
wow. this crawl has seen too much of the greedy landlord story. and that bar was amazing and one of my faves.
but please Marty do return to Amity.
things happen for a reason.
You find one and you lose one.
not too mention Nav is really hot...
oh wait that inst important to you.. but it is IMPORTANT to ME.
HA!
The sadness is in Josh's face in that pic.. and even though he still is one of the cutest bartenders on the crawl it was very hard to look at it.
poor Betty
so I am happy for a great bar last night and sad for the stoned crow:(
what an emotional journey we are all on with you Marty.
@Gidget: I really felt like crying last night too. I feel so sorry for Betty, that bar was her baby and a greedy landlord is killing it. This journey has been a bit of an emotional roller coaster at times, but that's life, I guess.
Another world class cheeseburger...and another great bar falls victim to the mall-ification of N.Y.C., the Stoned Crow. This is like a creeping sickness, a fatal disease. Here's to the Stoned Crow, and all the other Great Fallen Bars of yore that were but are no more.
Oh, by the way...I'm glad that place is just the Amity bar and not the Amityville bar...didn't notice any green slime or doorways to hell anywhere's...did you?
@Gidget: I do have Facebook ... already like the 365 page ... and hope that it does live on!
I hope me and Marty know eachother for a long time ... and I hope to get together with him everytime I come to NYC ...
You would have liked Nav ... he's really cool ..... and Shannon is hot and equally friendly :)
@jaws I've been outside the real amityville house.. totally normal.. it was all bullshit i'm sure.
Gene i am off to find you now!
Another good night out on the Crawl.
Amity Hall looked like a great place to hang out. (without Woody Allen)
Sorry to hear about the Stoned Crow.
I know it is one of your favorite places.
I think you featured it back on "the Show" as well.
A trend indeed, a very sad one.
This past year you have witnessed many, especially at year end.
Another reason the 365 Crawl takes on a Special Place in the hearts and livers of many.
Here's to Betty and everyone at The Stoned Crow.
365 can be emotional. When I come to NYC, I don't do touristy stuff. I pub crawl - and do nothing else besides pub crawl. I like to hang with the "real" people. So ... seeing a favorite like the Stoned Crow go away sucks :( but ... Amity Hall is nearby ... Shannon is hotter than a firecracker ... so a new favourite has been born :)
Now that is a cheeseburger that you need more than a few napkins for! I think I've seen Gene make that same face when posing with some hot women. Maybe Gidget and I could try that out on Josh...
Wish Betty the best and sad to see another greedy landlord get the best of a place. Glad you were at least able to document it and others before they are gone.
@365: What the fuck is happening to New York!?? I'm a beer drinker and big fan of NY Dive Bars....if they all keep closing, what am I going to come back to? I don't want to see a city full of TGI's and Irish bars that all sell the same beers and the food sucks....
@Jaws: I got your email...You sick bastard! I love it.
@Clacky: It really bummed me out big time. Wait'll Biff sees this, she always hits this bar when she's in town. I'm starting to wonder if I should move back to Peoria...naaaah!
Amity is very cool with such a variety of brews and the bar itself looks so orderly,, very neat and tidy. Cheeseburger looked really awesome with the cheese inside the meat,,,how original. Echo the sentiments here about Stoned Crow very sorry we have landlords squeezing the good people out of business, it happens down here too, they rather let the place sit empty than negotiate a reasonable lease.
Marty move back to Peoria. its closer to me and small bars are the best.
new york is only alright if you like saxophones.
@365: I've got to apologise for not basing my comments on the actual bar. I got an email from Gene saying that it was the best burger he's ever had. It brings back memories of that insane macaroni cheese burger down at Burger Shoppe. You Americans have THE best burgers. Period.
Great amount of draught beers on tap. I learned quickly to not drink Bud Light on tap.
Great bar though. Is that a NY Giants beanie on your head? Sorry, mate.
@Biff: You could have given Marty an Eagles beanie ha ha ha!!
To Betty!
@Gene: Is it Gene Rubico or Gene Simmons? It's hard to tell with your tongue hangin' out.
Go Eagles!
@Clacky: that burger and Shannon ... made my tongue hang out ... :)
@Gidget: You should move out here, there's not enough bars in Peoria and most of them have thrown me out!
@Clacky: To quote Biff: GO BROWNS!
@Marty I think we have close to fifty bars here.. and only 20,000 people.
we need them here.
and sure i'll move in with your mom and dad..they seam cool:)
Glad to see you got the hat! Even though I can't see the word "Amity" without thinking of "Amityville Horror," this place looks nice. Love those beer coolers and that cheeseburger looks totally melty. I'll have to get me one of those sometime soon. As for the Stoned Crow, alls I can say is NOOOOOOOOOOO! Josh was my bartender last time I was in and he was great - as have been all of my bartenders at the Crow. Betty, you built a stellar bar there, and I'm truly sorry to see it go.
@Biff: Very sad to see the Stoned Crow go. Thanks again for the Christmas gifts!
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