Saturday, July 10th, 2010—Bar 181
Day 181—Friday, July 9th, 2010
Puck Fair
Okay, a couple months ago I was met on the bar crawl by Mike and Kathy Bono and we had a great time at the Peculiar Pub. Mike and Kathy own a bar in Philadelphia, so it was cool to hang out with a couple who’s really in the business of bars. Their bar is called, Chap’s Taproom & Sports Grill and here’s a picture of it:
It turns out that Kathy’s birthday is this weekend and they’re in town to celebrate it. They wanted to join me on the crawl tonight, but their time is tight. They’re going to a party at The Bowery Hotel, so I decided to go to Puck Fair, a bar I’ve been meaning to stop in at and it’s handily located near the Bowery. Will Mike and Kathy show up? Fuck if I know, we’ve got to forge on and see.
Here we are, Puck Fair, I can hear the noise inside already, I hate Friday nights!
Wow, it's packed and a DJ is blaring music. But it does look like a cool bar, so instead of any meet and greet photos, I'll just take you on a photographic tour of the bar tonight.
Well, since the bartender is so cute and friendly, I'll make an exception on the meet and greet photos for her. Meet Rebecca, everybody!
And now for a beer or three before we begin the tour. Cheers!
The bar is huge in here, this is just one third of it.
Some of the beers on tap, note the fancy tap presentation.
Some of the beer and food specials for the evening.
This photographic mural stretches out along the entire back wall of the bar.
Lots of bottled beers to choose from at Puck Fair.
The large wooden booths and brick walls add to the Irish feel of the place.
And there's an upstairs area as well. Let's check it out.
There's candle-lit tables and stools and it's not as hectic up here.
Here's a bird's-eye view of the Friday evening at Puck Fair.
And here's the DJ, sequestered off in a lonely upstairs corner. Poor little lonely DJ!
And now the obligatory bathroom mirror shot. Goodnight everybody!
Review
Puck Fair lives up to its name. It’s an Irish carnival of a bar, with three levels of festivities, food and drink. The ground level has a long bar with cubicles built in the middle for private parties at the bar. There’s large wooden booths along the side walls and a high wooden beamed ceiling with skylights adds a nice ambience to the Irish flavored bar. The walls are brick and there’s tables upstairs and a DJ on weekends. In the basement you’ll find more tables and a smaller, yet full bar.
The bar has an impressive beer selection with 50 bottled beers and 20 rotating draft beers and ciders to choose from. The draft beers are kept at perfect serving temperatures via their state-of-the-art tap system. In addition to the generous beer selection, there’s a large menu of Irish influenced food to sample. Some of the lighter fare includes: chicken, shrimp and beef skewers, Irish smoked salmon, rustic pate and brie plate and sausage rolls. The heartier fare offered up includes: Irish bangers and mash, Guinness battered fish and chips, steak and fries and a full Irish breakfast.
Mike and Kathy never did show up, but I knew their schedule was tight and I appreciate them checking in with me. I'm sure our paths will cross again on the old crawl, in the meantime, Happy Birthday, Kathy!
Puck Fair
298 Lafayette St. (near Houston St.)
212-431-1200
1 Reference
Reader Comments (23)
Hi Rebecca, with the Red Stripe. Marty, Puck Fair looks huge with that high ceiling. It was nice of you to post Kathy's bar even though she and Mike didn't show up. That show's what a nice guy you are,,,,,Crawl on, brother.
'Puck' rang a bell with me, so I checked it on the Internet, and my first impression turned out to be right, Puck was a mischievous wood nymph that led people astray in the woods, clabbered milk and generally messed with people's heads back in days of old when knights were bold and yadayadayada. A direct ancestor of what we would today call the little pink oompa loompa that mysteriously appears after the consumption of 4-5 specialty martinis and starts running it's little numbers down on your head...WAAAAAUUUUUGG! THERE'S ONE OF THEM NOW!!!! KEEP IT AWAAAAYYYY!!!
I think I'd be scared in there..I look at bars that big and wonder how I worke din a nightclub for all those years.. and the prices on beer suck.
But since I try to find something nice in all of them the bartender is hot:)
and the wall mural would fuck with me after a few beers and make me cry.
oh but the dj has the best spot in the house HA!
Yes the DJ has the Best spot in the house , & that place is to big to me too Gidget .
I got weird out looking at the murals & I didn't have a Drink .
TO : Marty for stick to his Guns & doing The Crawl in this place , since I am sure he wanted to leave & find another Bar !!!! I would of !!!
I like the brick and the wood in this joint. And of course, Rebecca! Happy birthday to Kathy, I remember the Peculiar Pub post and their bar looks great!
ooh i forgot Happy Birthday Kathy!
@ Jaws, Funny you know about the Puck. It come from the old Scandinavia mythology, in old Norse language we call him the puki and he's the spirit of water represented by the letter number 21 " Laguz" of the futhark alphabet. With the time passing by, we discribe him like an "Evil creature" because of the influences of the religious power which "killed" the paganism. Religions need the "Evil" to justified the "Good" but originally the Puki is as mischevious as nice, like the water which can be as dangerous as peacefull. Somewhere he's also the representation of the fate = "you get what you give". Also I just noticed that the english word "Spooky" probably come from the Puck, same roots, the pook, the puki...
Anyway I stop there or I could speak hours about that subject!!!!!!! That's a cool Bar, but maybe too noisy for me :D
CHEERS TO THE PUKIMAN !!!!
@ Zioum Zioum; I think I heard once that one of pucks tricks was to steal babies and replace them with changelings...oh yeah, I just remembered... it was in a Steven King novel...Cristine!
Marty we must have just missed you at the Puck Fair
We got there about 1 and the place was packed
I had a Palm and Kathy had a Stella and then we continued our crawl to see our favorite bartender at the Bowery Hotel Bar
We will surely meet up soon on the Crawl
Mike & Kathy
I third the DJ has the best spot. I'd go hang out up there and watch him do his thing. Maybe with Gidget since I had the pleasure of listening to her do her DJ thing yesterday. Hi Gidget! And yeah the mural needs the lesson of less is more. Gotta love the old wooden rafters though.
Kari seams to be obsessed with wood... no wonder she likes my radio station as it's called Woody...
Fuck pears!
@Biff: That went over my head for about five minutes...ha ha ha! You still gots it Bifferoonie!
@Everyone: Kari listened to Gidget and so should you, she's the best and coolest DJ in da world! Check her (and DJ Loki) out here:
http://www.woodyradio.com/
(Copy and paste it, I don't know how to put up a clickable link in comments, yes, I'm a retard!
@biff yeah i saw it that way too.. fuck dyslexia...
@marty.. aww ty...smoochies:)
and fuck clickable links.. i'm a blonde i'm not even gonna bother to learn cause i can get people to do it for me...
wow...a lot can be said about this 365 post...even more 'bout the comments...don't wanna bore y'all...maybe later...KOC
rr
'cept... happy anniversary of your birth kathy...hope it was one to remember...'cause you only have one birth day...yea yea yea lest you be born again...rather not go there...KOC
rr
We were just checking to see if you are still crawling. We like the photos. Best wishes to your liver.
Terry, Phil, and Greg
@Gidget you do make me laugh.....just for the record, i had to get my 9yr 'ol niece to clear my msg bank on my phone not long ago......
Biff, I saw it as "Fuck Pair".
It reminded me of some promiscuous twins I once knew.
Great stop Daddio.
Sorry to chime in so late.
Back to some store work here tonight.
Gearing up for the next releases.
"Boris"
@Terry, Phil and Greg: Good to hear from you and so far the liver hasn't started to quiver. It's the Seitz in me, I think!
Hope you had a great birthday Kathy!!!
Wow, wow, wow! What a great looking bar that is Marty. I love the friendly folks and nice bartenders. The decor looks so interesting and the selection of beers inspiring!
Marty, please save a Red Stripe for me!
Happy Birthday Kathy!