Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010—Bar 297

Day 297—Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010
Milady's
Okay, Aaron left today and is headed back to Chicago and tomorrow Biff and her entourage are taking off. But we’ve got one hell of a sendoff night planned. One of my favorite writers is David Sedaris and he’s appearing tonight at the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem. And Biff not only scored tickets, she got 14th row tickets! So hopefully I can take pictures in there and document part of his show. Before the show we’re going to Sylvia’s restaurant for a delicious dinner. Then after the show we’re going to one of Biff’s favorite bars (she asked if I would wait to go there till she got here, so of course I did) Milady’s in Soho and I think we’re going to meet 365 Aussie commentator Tim Clack and his girlfriend/almost wife Shannon. Sounds like one hell of a night, huh? Well let’s go see how it turned out.

Okay, after a long cab ride, we're here uptown at Sylvia's restaurant.

Inside I'm reunited with Andrew who I met when I did the bar crawl in here. Andrew's the lead singer for the fine band Stereoboro and you can check them out on Faceook right here: Stereoboro.

Earnest was our friendly waiter for the evening.

And he took a shot of us gathered round the table. I, of course, am in full jerkoff mode.

After dinner we made our way over to the Apollo Theater for the David Sedaris show.

Here's the crowd outside waiting to get in. I wish I could show you photos from the inside and from the show, but they have lots of rules for taking photos inside. Some of them include that you have to be wearing two left wingtipped shoes, you have to have been born in the month of March and in the year 1937 with a mole on your left butt cheek and you need to have a tattoo of Jacob Fuchsberg located somewhere near your right ankle. It was just too confusing for me, so I guess if you want to see the inside of the Apollo and photos from a David Sedaris show, I suggest that you get your own fucking tickets! Okay, I feel better. The show was great, thanks for the ticket, Bifferoonie! And now, it's off to the bar.

And by the magic of the internet, here we are at Milady's bar.

Some of the nightly food specials are listed outside on this sign.

It's kind of crowded in here, I wonder if 365 commentator Tim "Clacky" Clack is in the house?

And as I amble up to the bar, here he is in all his one-fingered saluting glory! Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, Tim Clack!

So I order up a round from the lovely bartender Alyce...

And deliver them to our table. From left: The aforementioned Tim Clack, Shannon, Janie, Biff and Paul. And now I had to depart to go do my 365 thing.

There's tables opposite the bar for drinking and dining.

And there's a pool table at the end of the bar.

And here's the man who's shot I ruined with my flash, Eric with the lovely Suzanne.

A neon sign hangs over the bar.

Here's a list of the beers available at the bar.

Here's Tim posing with our waitress Simone, who's smile lit up our table.

And I can't let Clacky have all the fun, here's me and Simone. Simone was really cool and a great waitress.

Meanwhile back at the bar, Alyce is taking care of business.

Noel and Joshua were chilling out at the end of the bar.

And the parting shot from Milady's. To Biff and her crew! Have a safe trip home. And be looking for Clacky showing up along the bar crawl in the next couple of weeks, along with the Baltimore Bar Crawlers A.K.A. The BBC! Stay tuned and goodnight, everybody!

Review

Well, it’s quite a rude awakening today. It’s early, I’m hungover and I have to go back to work. The horror, the horror! I’m running late and I don’t have time to write a review, so here’s one from New York magazine, which branded Milady's as a critics pick.

-------------------

At Milady's, rent control pensioners paying $300 a month rub shoulders with yuppies paying $3,000 for the same apartment. But the only factionalism is between the dining contingent, which takes up most of the postage stamp-sized space, and drinkers clinging to the bar. The place feels like a condensed version of the pool table/jukebox/poker-machine joints that still thrive in the outer boroughs. The unavoidable TV sets switch from AMC by day to ESPN at night, as the crowd shifts from young and old to young and younger. As the evening wears on, classic rock cranks up, territorial pool regulars close ranks and you feel as if you're at a Staten Island cop bar plunked down in Soho. — Bruce Bennett

-------------------

Thanks to Biff, Paul, Aaron, Janie and Chrissy for joining me on the crawl, I had a blast! And I look forward to hoisting a few more with my Aussie mates, Tim Clack, his lovely girlfriend/wife Shannon and Colin. Cheers to you all! And suddenly...work. Fuck!

Milady's
160 Prince St. (@Thompson St.)
212-226-9340

-------------------

Bonus Urinal Photos!

Jon Hammer who along with Karen McBurnie publishes the fine Grade “A” Fancy online publication, recently attended the 100th birthday party of the giganzo urinals at Old Town Bar. I couldn’t make it, but luckily Jon did and he sent along these photos and captions. I wish I could’ve made it, but time is just whizzing by. (Rimshot.) Take it away Jon and thanks for sending in this jurinal. You and Karen need to join up on the bar crawl soon!

So the urinal celebration at Old Town was pretty packed, but I managed to snap a few pix.  Starting with the poster for the event on the door: Post-It note: Being touted as "can't miss" event.  Har!

Here are the birthday boys, festooned with balloons and flowers.

Very festive, but it was just another working day for our heroes.

Obligatory mirror in the bathroom shot.

My posse for the evening, Shane, Paul Friederike, Robert, Janie and Grade "A" Karen. There was a huge crowd, fans of both the Old Town and really big urinals, there were speeches and there was beer. All in all, a fine night to commemorate a century of leak-taking.