Showing posts with label Hells Kitchen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hells Kitchen. Show all posts

7.11.2007

leaning, [post] tower

freshman year of college makes drinking beer feel like a chore, so it took me a while to recover and start to appreciate that there is a purpose to knocking back a cold one other than proving to all the frat brother crushing cans on their heads and doing shirtless kegstands that you’re the beer pong partner they didn’t know they were looking for. but by the time i traveled in Europe junior year, i had distanced myself far enough from cases of natty ice and pitchers of bud light to give the brewskie a second chance. i drank beers all the places you’re supposed to drink beers: guiness in dublin. heineken in amsterdam. pints of everything in london (okay blah blah blah it was mostly pints of cider. pub culture! it was still pub culture! cider or beer, it all still makes you start to think that sign hanging over the bar advertising bangers and mash sounds like a great idea.) so even though i still usually pick a glass of white over a pale ale, the fact that i can write usually instead of always is an improvement!

all of this is a very fancy way of saying: lansdowne bar. 44th and 10th.

what, you didn’t get that by reading between the lines of a paragraph about college and europe?
the point is that at this pub-y watering hole, far enough west that it’s more of a destination than a home base, you can order a beer tower. (when i first heard that, i pictured a pile of pints, stacked in a pyramid, a la soup cans in a grocery store. well… i say grocery store, rob trump says hilarious foil of a bowling alley.) what it actually means is only slightly less surreal: for thirty bucks they deliver to your table this six foot clear tube, which holds 120 ounces of beer. before you freak out, that only the equivalent of two pitchers.

okay, freak out now. I DIDN’T KNOW A PITCHER WAS 60 OUNCES EITHER!

there’s a tap at the bottom and that’s basically that. and you can fill it with any beer they have on tap. i would have remembered to ask which ones they had, but we had twin towers (too soon?).

6.18.2007

Vintage clothes sometimes don't fit, but the bar did

Feeling particularly feisty for a weekday night, my friends and I decided to try a new bar. Now, I have nothing against expanding horizons, especially when it's in the name of drinking, but I like feeling at home when I drink (I also like to drink when I'm at home). There are definite perks to having your regular bar-- being aware of the price range, finding the bathrooms with ease, y'know, going where everybody knows your name. Yet, despite its newness, I immediately felt quite comfortable at Vintage. A lot of this could have been due to the fact that we were able to grab some cushy chairs in the back-- a *must* if this is where you choose to booze.

The atmosphere at Vintage is not particularly swanky, but not cheap looking either. It felt cozy. I would give the clientele a similar review-- not swanky, but not cheap...I don't know if clientele can be cozy, but fine, they were cozy too. After a good look around, it was time for my first drink of the night. Well, I mean, obviously it wasn't my first first drink. But it was my first drink at this particular venue. I went to the bar and ordered my signature rum and diet, to which the friendly bartender responded, "What kind of rum?" This took me aback, as such a query is not typical of my ordering dialogue. I guess I'm not usually in bars where it matters. A modest lady, I responded with "whatever's cheap." Yet, given that I was asked for rum-type at all, I started to fear that Vintage might be out of my desired price range. Wrong! Just $5 for my R & D. Phew.

Satisfied with both the price and potency of my drink, I cozied myself into a chair and entered into a game of Botticelli (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botticelli_%28game%29 --not a drinking game, per se, but fun to play while drinking). Despite the fact that I am horrible at said game, I had a great time. Enjoying myself while doing something I'm bad at?...a rare occasion indeed. I can’t help but conclude that Vintage played a part in my cheery mood. Thusly, I must recommend, it’s a pretty graight bar.

Vintage
753 9th Ave
Between 50th & 51st
(212) 581-4655

http://www.vintagebar.net/

Bar Notables:
*Waitress service for drinks if you're in the back (not mandatory)
*MANY MANY varieties of beer (nothing on draft though); definitely worth a go for beer lovers
*Also a large list of specialty martinis (with specials)
*Cute menu for bites
:( Not Graight service-- waiters are spacey and slow, but everyone is nice

Subways:
C, E at 50th, 1 at 50th...or there's every subway and the tube at 42nd