January 21, 2010—Bar 11

Day Eleven—Wednesday, January 20th—Red Bar & Lounge

More great news on the donation front. That button to the right is getting a bit of a workout lately and I thank everyone who has donated so far. Four drinks a night minimum (sometimes a lot more) isn’t cheap in New York and I appreciate the help.

I still have some dough left over from the mysterious Tiki Bar Susie and tonight I got two more donations! The first one is from this website resident artist, “Boris.” “Boris” generously sent in 20 bucks for the bar crawl and that was nice of him. “Boris” created the banner and you can read all about him here: “Boris.” He does freelance artwork, so if you have a website that you need a banner or artwork for, he’s your go-to guy. Just send me an email and I’ll pass it along. “Boris” also does CD covers, book covers and just about anything you can think of artwise.

The second donation comes from a woman that I have drank many beers with, Tina Hennessey. Tina sent me thirty bucks! I wish she and her trouble-making husband were out here so we could all go to a bar together! Speaking of her trouble-making husband Tim, he’s one of the owners of the best ice cream parlor in Peoria, Illinois. If you don’t believe me, go to Emack and Bolio’s at 4534 North Prospect Rd  in Peoria Heights, Illinois and find out for yourself, check them out online here (their store is on the bottom right of the page): Emack and Bolio’s.

Okay, enough money talk, and onto the bar crawl. I’m kind of tired tonight so I thought I’d hang close to where I work. The Koreatown section of Manhattan is minutes away and I found a bar there called The Red Bar & Lounge. I read that the signature drink there is called a Tornado and the ingerdients are Coors Light and Johnny Walker Black. Kind of bizarre and they encourage patrons to throw a napkin coaster soaked in the drink at the ceiling. It’s just too weird to pass by, so that’s tonight’s destination and now through the magic of the internet and a camera, let’s go! (I accidentally deleted the outside photos of the bar, I’ll take them again when I go to work, check back for the update around four in the afternoon. I’m a fucking idiot!) UPDATE: The picture is up and note that there is no sign for this bar, so keep the address handy when you go. Just go up the stairs and it's the first door to the left.

Here we are at the comfy and cool Red Bar & Lounge.

Lisa, the lovely bartender on duty happily serves up two Tornadoes. She also clued me into a fun night that's coming up which her co-worker Joe Masse is headlining. It's a night of comedy and fun at the Village Lantern on Saturday, January 30, 2010. I'm going to be there and you should come too. I'll take your photo if you do!

And she not only serves them up, she demonstrates how to drink them. First you shake it up and down.

And then you swirl it all around, letting the whiskey create a tornado in the beer.

And then you throw the napkin at the ceiling. Why? I don't know, it's just the thing to do. Mine didn't stay there long, i'm not to good at throwing napkins.

LIsa however is an expert and she showed the proper napkin throwing techinque.

Here's the front room of the bar, which is a fun party area.

Kristen and Dania were sitting at the bar enjoying the night out at The Red Bar & Lounge.

The Red Bar & Lounge is a comfy environment.

This is Anne who's interning at a magazine here in New York and recommended I go to the Ghost Bar in Las Vegas. I'm going there in a bit and I will check it out! Thanks, Anne!

A well stocked bar. Booze wonderful booze!

Free popcorn! Woo hoo!

I think this guy is wanted by law. He didn't want his picture taken and refused to surrender his name.

This is Sam and this is his first night in New York. He came from California and his first stop was the Red Bar & Lounge.

I've switched from Tornadoes to Sapporo. This is my third one, which leads me to...

Tonight's bathroom break.

Another clean urinal. I've been bowled over by the clean toiets on the bar crawl so far. Pun intended.

Hey, how'd that get there?

Obligatory bathroom mirror shot!

Review

This is truly a little treasure of a bar/lounge in Koreatown. It’s got all the comforts of a lounge bar, but it’s not overly noisy and there’s none of the attitude you get at some lounge bars. There’s lots of specials, cheap but great drinks, I encourage you to try the Tornado. Get some pointers from bartender Lisa if she’s working that night, she’s a master of the signature drink and will expertly walk you through the finer points of getting the tornado to swirl in the glass. It’s really cool and a great drink!

This is one of the most comfortable bars in Manhattan, there’s nice music, but it’s not overpowering and would be a great first date bar. They have a small menu of food and daily drink specials. There’s a friendly and nice vibe in the bar from the bartenders to the people on the other side of the bar. And you get to throw alcohol soaked napkins at the ceiling! Who could ask for anything more!

Red Bar & Lounge
51 W. 35th St. (between 5th & 6th Aves.)
212.244.4090

Thanks for the shoutouts!

It's not even two weeks and 365 is getting some internet attention.

Mucho thanks to Splice Today, Peoria Pundit and Gidget, the coolest DJ in the world for helping get the word out. Check out the links below.

Splice Today

Peoria Pundit

Woody Radio

January 20, 2010—Bar 10

Day Ten—Tuesday, January 20th—The Wharf Bar and Grill

Another day and another donation! The mysterious and sultry Tiki Bar Susie who comments here donated 50 dollars! That’s right, 50 dollars! I’d have been thrilled with five bucks! That is above and beyond generous and will cover a couple night’s boozing expenses. Mucho thanks to you Susie, I need to buy you lots of drinks next time you’re in town!

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And speaking of drinks, I found a great bar website while Googling for a bar tonight. The website is called Murphguide.com and here’s a link to it: Murphguide.com. There’s tons of bar information on there website and I’m going to use it for help in picking out my nightly bar. This has nothing to do with anything, but did you realize tons spelled backwards is snot? Well it is and it’s snot my fault! Anyway, I found this Tuesday night special on the Murph site, check it out:

One of the specials tonight at the Wharf is a “Bucket of Rocks,” which they describe as “6 Rolling Rock Nips for 8 dollars.” Holy shitballs, does that mean this beer has nipples? That would be the greatest motherfucking invention in the world! I mean the only thing better than beer is nipples, right? The proof is below:

So imagine combining these two wonderful things! Imagine there’s no heaven, it’s easy if you try, now imagine nipples on beer bottles, I’m gonna fly! To the Wharf bar! Woo hoo! (And cheers, to my friend Parvona, all the way in Arizona! I hope you’re enjoying hummus right now!)

On my walk to the Wharf I passed this place which cracked me up because in my day a "Lid" was what you called an ounce of marijuana. Anyone else out there old enough to remember this? Another thing that cracked me up about this place is that it offers hat embroidering while you wait. Are people in that much of a hurry to get their hat embroidered these days?

And here we are, the Wharf bar.

A decent crowd for a Tuesday night.

And bartender Bobby serves up the Bucket of Nipplized Rolling Rocks.

And here I sadly find out there's no nipples on the beer. They call them nips because they're miniature bottles of beer. So sad!

While they may not have nipples on the beers, there is a massive booze selection at this joint.

Here's some of the regulars from the Wharf: Jarett (a.k.a. Justin Inch—he's a wise guy!), Drew, bartender Bobby and the lovely Dani.

Some of the specials at the Wharf.

This is John who was seated next to me. This guy has had more sports injuries than Evil Knievel! You wouldn't know it from the picture, but his jaw was once busted in three places. Ouch!

The back room at the Wharf.

Here's Laura and Shevon, who were first timers at the bar.

Some of the many draft beers to be had at the Wharf.

Another Wednesday special is $1.00 tacos. I got three and they were deeeelicous!

Bobby and John shoot the shit while I shoot their photo.

Here's Amanda and Eric who confessed they were sort of regualrs at the bar.

Tabasco Sauce!

Some of the specials to be had at the Wharf Bar and Grill.

Uh, oh. The bucket is empty which means...

Bathroom break!

I'm really amazed by the clean toilets I've encountered. What happened to the grungy bathrooms in bars?

there's a bulletin board to remind you of the bar's business as you do your business in the john.

Hey, how'd that get there?

Obligatory bathroom mirror shot! Thanks again to Tiki Bar Susie for the generous donation! Cheers and beers!

Review

The Wharf Bar and Grill bills itself as an unpretentious place and that’s just what it is. A nice clean place to hang out with friends, hoist a few beers, put some tunes on the jukebox and enjoy the seafaring atmosphere in the joint. Happy hour is from 4 to 7 pm, Monday through Friday with four dollar well drinks (and Absolut drinks) and five bucks for pint frozen drinks. Check out their website (below) for daily specials. There’s also 16 beers on tap and 22 selections of bottled beer for your boozing pleasure.

The kitchen is open till two in the morning (nice for those of you that puff the wacky tobacky in between drinks) and they have a large menu of appetizers, burgers, sandwiches, wraps and full course entrees from their grill. One of the favorites are the Wharf dogs which come two to an order with chili and cheese on them. The dollar tacos on Tuesday is a great bargain and a great taco! And you can enjoy them at the outdoor deck which thanks to a retractable roof that is open year-round. And there’s 11 plasma TV’s for you funnelheads and sportsfans out there.

Now if they could only figure out how to get nipples on beer bottles!

Wharf Bar and Grill
587 Third Ave. (between 38th & 39th St.)
(212) 490-7270