Sunday, June 27th, 2010—Bar 168
Day 168—Saturday, June 26th, 2010
Corner Bistro
Okay, it’s Cheeseburger Saturday Night, wherein I go to a bar and sample their cheeseburger. Tonight I chose the Corner Bistro. This is a legendary bar in Greenwich Village that gets really packed, so I’m going early. It’s 5:45pm and I’m hoping there won’t be a big crowd yet. But there’s only one way to find out and that’s to start crawling.
Okay, here we go down 16th Street on a beautiful New York City evening.
Okay, these boots aren't made for walking. I've been standing here staring at them for fifteen minutes and now I'm wondering why I'm standing here waiting for abandoned boots to move. I think my brain is melting.
Aww, the Day O restaurant is shuttered. Please don't put a T.G.I.Fridays in here, Riese Corporation. You've destroyed enough of Manhattan including my neighborhood.
And here we are, The Corner Bistro.
Wow, it's only 5:45pm and it's already crowded in here. But there's one seat at the bar and I'm going to snag it!
The friendly bartender, Harold serves up an Amstel Light.
The full bar at Corner Bistro.
When just two pages of selections on the jukebox include, Bob Dylan, Stan Getz and Edgar Winter's White Trash, you know it's a great jukebox.
Wow, it's just a little after six and it's already filling up in here!
Here's the menu, but I already know what I want, it's Cheeseburger Saturday Night after all!
The bottled beers available at Corner Bistro.
Here’s Mark Bitterman who was enjoying the legendary Corner Bistro cheeseburger. Mark was born here in New York City and his parents met right here in the bar! It’s hearing cool stories like this that make this bar crawl so fun. Mark lives in Portland, Oregon now and has a store called The Meadow that sells Artisan Salts, Wine, Chocolate and Flowers. Does that sound like a cool place or what? Check it out here, you can buy products online: The Meadow. And Mark has multiple blogs, which you can peruse right here: Salt News, Chocolate News and In The Cupboard. Mark also has a book coming out in October called: Salted: A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral, with Recipes. You can pre-order it from Amazon here: Salted: A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral, with Recipes.
And here it is, the star of the evening, the Corner Bistro Bacon Cheeseburger!
Goddamn, Sam, it looks delicious!
And it is! Love the Cheeseburger Saturday Night!
Here's Anthony and Rachel and at the last second, Caitlin jumped into the picture.
It turns out it was Caitlin's birthday, so I took a shot of her in her shades with Anthony and Rachel. Happy Birthday, Caitlin! Hope you're not too hungover today!
Wow, it's just a little after seven at night and the place is jammed. It took me five minutes of maneurving just to get this shot. I'm claustrophobic and I have to get out of here now.
In the front room on my way out I saw the loneliest ketchup bottle in the world, befriended only by a stack of paper napkins. Sob! Goodnight, everybody!
Review
If you come here on a weekend night and want a table or even a place at the bar, be prepared to wait. It get’s packed in here and for a good reason. It’s a classic New York City bar with a sparse but excellent menu, seasoned New York bartenders, a great jukebox and it’s the total opposite of a T.G.I.Fridays that you shouldn’t spend any money at, especially the fucking one they opened up in my neighborhood. This place is a reminder to spend your money at the great original locally owned joints in town. The bar is pure mahogany, carved and well worn and there’s tables off to the side and in the back room.
It’s a full bar and if you’re low on dough, you’re in luck, there’s five choices of drafts available for just $2.50 including McSorley’s Dark and Light Ale, Budweiser, Coors Light and Rolling Rock. The menu is spartan, but really there’s only one item that needs mentioning, the bacon cheeseburger. It’s a meal unto itself and in a cheeseburger rivalry town, it makes all the top ten lists. And for a good reason, it’s delicious and just $6.75 for eight ounces of beef, melted cheese, a pile of bacon and an onion on a bakery fresh toasted roll. Moooo!
Corner Bistro
331 W. 4th St. (@Jane St.)
212-242-9502
18 Comments
Reader Comments (18)
TO : Moooooo
Oh my hell that cheeseburger looks good! Mmmm...bacon... And a great price too. Would spend twice that at that other place you shouldn't go to. I wish I lived in a cool town :)
Mmmmoooore bacon on that cheeseburger, please! Bet that cheeseburger tasted as great as it looks...another endangered species of a bar that undoubtedly is a neighborhood treasure.
TO : Moooooo!
A great looking joint and cheeseburger!
Mooove it on over!
Thanks for pointing out Harry Belafonte's Restaurant and Gerry Fleck's cowboy boots!
Gerry Fleck: I can't dance, I can't dance, I've got two left feet!
Cookie Fleck: I thought he was kidding.
Gerry Fleck: But I wasn't. I was born with two left feet.
@"Boris": Gerry and Connie Fleck...ha ha ha! great reference!
Made me go make a cheeseburger.
I have all this ground beef i gotta cook anyway..
man the corner bistro fills up fast...that 'burger looked very tasty...boots but no socks...white socks, black socks, grey socks, wool socks, cotton socks, thick socks, thin socks, plaid socks, crew socks...did i mention boots but no socks...KOC
rr
I thought Joe Buck (jon Voight) threw them boots out in a garbage can down here in Florida. They walked back up. The owner of those boots should know that NYC, well,,,aint like it was back in 1969. Just ask Ratso Rizzo. The Corner Bistro is just about the most perfect bar (minus the crowds) you have covered on this trek. Stan Getz was the man,,,great post, Marty.
I can't believe how packed that place was! It looks like fun though. Is it one of the only bars in the area or has it just reached "institution" status to the point where it's like that every day of the week?
@TheChief: It's reached the "institution" status in New York. Every publication out here does an annual best of cheeseburger thing once a year and Corner Bistro makes the list everytime. the only time's it's not packed is on weekday afternoons and maybe Monday nights.
I came back just to look at that Burger !!
@Jason : You eat that burger while making Moooo with your mouth, game or not?
Great fucking burger on this crawl! Good work. I say, MOO not BOO!
i love your cheeseburger saturdays!
I need to start wearing a bib for cheeseburger Saturdays.
Bacon Cheeseburgers make me weak in the knees. {love them} I cant believe how PACKED that place was by 7pm. WOW!
What a wonderful bistro, no wonder it was so crwded. Looks like a great place with friendly people and great food.
You know I could not help but notice that Harold looks a lot like that infamous Newt Gingrich. Hmmmm maybe it's his doppelganger only Newt's the bad one and Harold the nice one.