Sunday, Sept. 19th, 2010—Bar 252
Day 252—Saturday, September 18th, 2010
Sardi's
Okay, first off the PayPal donation bell has not only rung, its banged me right on the noggin.’ Glenn Staack who lives here in New York sent in a more than generous donation of 250 dollars! That’s right, 250 bucks! His message on the PayPal document simply read, “Buy the man a few beers...” Well, Glenn, that’ll take care of the week! Thank you so much and somewhere down the road I hope to meet Glenn and buy him a round or three from this generous donation.
Last week I stumbled upon a cool new website. It’s called Grade “A” Fancy and it’s a magazine styled web page. Check it out here: Grade “A” Fancy. The second post on the website is about the theater district in Manhattan and while I’ve been to a few of the places within the article, I realized I’ve yet to stop at the legendary Sardi’s bar and grill. And so that is today’s stop, to Sardi’s we go.
And baboom! Here we are at the legendary Sardi's.
There's full dining rooms on both floors of the restaurants, but I'm going to bars and luckily there's one of them on both floors as well. Here's the ground floor bar, so this will be the first stop.
And José serves up the first Budweiser at the bar. José has tended bar here for over 20 years and is well-known at Sardi's and in the neighborhood.
There's an impressive snack selection at the bar, featuring pretzels, peanuts...
And delicious cheese and crackers.
I usually have a cheeseburger on Saturday's, but today it's going to be cheese and crackers.
Seated next to me is author Carliss Pond. Her latest book, "Taste of Broadway" is a collection of recipes from bars and restaurants in the neighborhood. It's also filled with great photos of the neighborhood and quotes from chefs, actors, producers and workers from the theater district. Check out the book here: "Taste of Broadway."
Bob was seated next to me at the bar and was going to see West Side Story later on.
And here's the three of us at the bar, I'm holding my copy of "Taste of Broadway" which I purchased from Carliss at the bar. Carliss also has a book featuring recipes and photos from Hell's Kitchen. You can check that out here: "Sizzle in Hell's Kitchen."
Page 12 from Carliss' book contains a quote from José, and he signed the page for me.
Sardi's is known for the caricatures lining the walls of actors that have appeared on Broadway and beyond.
Caricatures of the cast of "The Honeymooner's" hang over the bar downstairs.
Napkins!
José in action at the bar.
By now Carliss and Bob have both left and there's a new crew at the bar.
Including the lovely duo of Indira and Iran.
Seated behind me at a table was this friendly group. From left: Jeremy, Jennifer, "Sloppy" Sal and Cheryl. And now for a crazy coincidence. Jeremy and Cheryl are the owners of Jeremy's Ale House that I visited on July 22nd. If you scoll down the post, you'll see a picture of another Jeremy who bartends the upstairs bar at Sardi's. I said in that caption that you'd be seeing him soon, so let's go upstairs and see if we can find him.
Here's the main dining room at Sardi's.
And it's upstairs we go.
Here's the bar, but where's Jeremy?
I think this gentleman's name was Brian, but I forgot to write it in my notes. If you're reading this Brian and I'm wrong, feel free to correct me in the comments section.
John and Jennifer were seated next to me. John owns several bars all over the country and one here in New York. Check out the New York bar here: Mad River Bar and Grille. I'll be stopping in there soon.
More caricatures line the walls up here.
And there he his, Jeremy behind the bar!
Here he is in all his glory!
Reunited and it feels so good! Thanks to everyone at Sardi's for a great night. Goodnight, Everybody!
Review
I’m not about to review a legendary joint like this, I couldn't do it justice. Here’s a link to the Wikipedia entry and you can read all about the history of Sardi’s. Sardi’s on Wikipedia.
And here’s a list of every caricature in the restaurant: List of caricatures at Sardi's restaurant.
Sardi's
234 W. 44th St. (Near Broadway)
212-221-8440
-------------------
Bonus Photos
Okay, here’s part two of Jason and Zioum Zioum’s excellent adventure in Paris with captions by Zioum Zioum the Chainsaw.
Drinking Champagne while waiting to see tits, ass and pussy!! Wow wow!!!!
Then after the show I had to change my clothes and heels shoes since we had to go back to my cousin's place by train, right in the Paris ghetto!! So we went to a bar and I changed my clothes in the (dirty) toilets. But big surprise it was a crazy funny bar!
Jason got a shower with the draft beer (end of the barrel!) So the Bartender offered dry sausage and chips!
Then things turned crazy in here, it was the birthday of a regular and has he's muslim, the 2 bartenders put a candle on a piece of bacon and brought the "birthday cake" to him while all people in a bar were singing Happy birthday !! Cynical humor still the best! Then they played Trance music and everybody danced like crazy motherfuckers! Here, the bartender is dancing with a bottle of wine!
Lately, to visit France can only lead you to cross those revolutionnary posters in streets walls!!! There are glue everywhere in any city of France! We can read : "GET OUT! because they're not worthy" I wonder if someone in that world like that bum! Cheers Everybody!!!!
And last but not least, a black and white shot of the Eiffel Tower by Jason. À la votre !
6 References
Reader Comments (16)
Sheesh! Marty, the blog is getting Klassy with a capital "K"! The Waldorf yesterday and Sardi's today? I'm loving it, but shoot us the sleaze again real soon so we know it's still you. Seriously, great post today about one of the all-time great and under appreciated NYC institutions. And that goes for José, too!
Thanks Ned! And don't worry, I'll be diving in to a classic dive bar tonight, stay tuned!
I agree with Ned Sparks, classic stop! A real slice of New York history and the Jeremy coincidence is the cherry on the spiked Shirley Temple! I'm going to check out the Broadway cookbook and great shots of Paris with Jason and Zioum!
Another stop worthy of the history channel Marty! If you don't watch it, you're gonna wind up with your own T.V. show on PBS! @ Zioum Zioum & Jason...it's a good thing that Muslim birthday boy wasn't wearing a vest full of C-4 when they served him that bacon with the candle on it! "ALLA AKBAR MOTHERFUCKERS!!!" Kerblooey!!!
Wow two days of class in a row. Looks very friendly and not up-tight class though. Yummy snacks. Gorgeous b&w photo Jason! And way to go Glenn on the donation!
Funny what Jaws said,,,,and I agree with Ned. Klassy places the last couple of days. The book about Hell's Kitchen recipes is a must for me. As much as I loved going to Sardi's, I know I really don't fit in that scene. Mama Leone's was another place that had that upscale feel to it. Im glad you went to Sardi's to give everyone a view of this crawl from high end to low. A full spectrum of bars and all classes of people. I will see you at that dark dive bar where you can buy three beers for the price of one here,,,,oh, and Jason,,,you are a sharp dressed guy,,, I like that thin black tie. Hope Zioum Zioum's clothes didn't touch the floor while she changed in the stall. Ok, Marty,,,back to Dive Bars now.
@Al: I'm diving in to one tonight!
@Al: P.S. You'll love Carliss' Hell's Kitchen book. Rudy's is featured in it! I just bought a copy myself.
To Glenn Staack!!
the crawl has no choice but to continue...
@365: Where's the cheeseburger?
This Jets v Patriots game is awesome in the new stadium.
That's fun to go to Klassy place sometimes! I like caricatures and that's one of the only thing that I can't draw, so difficult to do.
@ Jaws, LOL!! Thanks allah, muslisms are not kamikazes and get a good cynical humor!!
@ Al, Thanks jesus hole, my clothes didn't touch the floor!!!
To Glenn Stack!
@Tim Clack: I filled up on the cheese and crackers! The cheeseburger will return next week.
TO : Marty !!
Thanks to all , & to bad I am back in USA(ss) .
@JHwang: Welcome back, Kotter! Sneeze you at work tomorrow!
What a great post, Marty! I've always wanted to go to Sardi's to check out the caricatures. Now that I know what a friendly place it is, I REALLY want to go! So cool that you ran into the owners of Jeremy's Ale House (small world, eh?) and I'm looking forward to checking out Carliss' books. Thanks for taking us along to this legendary joint! And the Paris pics were great too. I've gotta learn how to work a camera.
TO GLENN STAACK!
I would be too nervous to enter such a place as Sardi's!!
Sardi's looks like such an amazing place. Definitely somewhere I would love to visit some day.
Great choice Marty and super nice.