The number 3 reason I Love New York City is it’s various places where one can have an adult beverage.
There are roughly (according to newyorkontap.com) 1,800 to 2,000 such establishments within the confines of the five boroughs of New York City which has introduced over sixty Rooftop bars during the past three years and where (back on the ground) only 3 actually call themselves “Dive Bars”.
Which is odd to me because I walk by so many which I consider to be just that.
What’s a “Dive Bar”? My loose definition is a place where the people are loud and the music is louder and you might just leave with the residue of someone’s gastronomical mistake on your shoes.
Here’s a sampling of the 50 best New York Bars:50 best New York Bars:
http://www.timeout.com/newyork/bars/50-best-new-york-bars
I love them for being here because if it weren’t for them the places I go to wouldn’t be as nice as they are.
I love Hotel Bars. But I am picky. The aforementioned rooftop bars are swank and trendy and inhabited with all the city’s most obnoxious poseurs.
I mean, c’mon … you go to a high-end joint that offers you the best selection of alcohol available and just to show off that you’ve got more money than you need, you order a $15.00 glass of Bud Lite when a 4-ounce Belvedere Martini is only $17.00?
The best of these nonetheless, is atop the Refinery Hotel on West 38th Street just off Sixth Avenue. Before it was crushed by the hipsters, it was a wonderful place for me to sit, have a Martini and read a good novel literally in the shadow of the Empire State Building.
Now the reason I bring up The Refinery (and I don’t want to make this sound like a review!) is that they have executed the hat-trick when it comes to taking on all comers. There are three drinking establishments to choose from and all accessible from within the hotel.
Downstairs from the Rooftop on the 39th Street side there is the Parker & Quinn Restaurant. Honest food, great bartenders and (during the week after work considering it’s location!) a 4-deep crowd of rowdy youngsters at the bar. The weekend afternoons are much more quiet and the clientele is more touristy and it is where you can have interesting conversations with people from all over the country.
Which brings me to the third bar in the hotel and my absolute second favorite in the City. Winnie’s Lobby Bar in the Refinery Hotel. Very nearly perfect, it is staffed by some of the most knowledgeable and professional Bartenders I’ve ever met … and I’ve met a few. It is a small bar; intimate and there is a speakeasy type atmosphere where I sit, chat or read with a cold Martini or Vesper or a single Malt. You would think there couldn’t be a better place for a man like me.
You would be wrong.
Just two blocks away on Fifth Avenue anchoring 57 story Langham Place Hotel, is Measure. The Martinis are 5 ounces of joy for $20. The Hotel is so expensive that I can sit at the bar for 4 hours and not feel as if I’m taking a seat away from any other patron at the bar. There are at various times, a piano player or a quiet jazz trio.
So those, taking the long way around are my two favorite Bars in NYC but what I’m saying overall is that with this, my number 3 reason I Love New York City are the up to 2,000 other reasons to love New York City. And while I love the atmospheres of the ones mentioned above, I love as well the Blue Bar at the Algonquin Hotel, the MO Bar facing Park Avenue, which is located on the 35th floor of the Mandarin Oriental hotel.
Then of course, there are these:
http://gothamist.com/2013/09/26/the_best_hotel_bars_in_nyc_1.php
High brow or low brow, it’s like everything else I love about NYC. There’s something for everyone.
I’ll leave you with a shot of the awesome Korean-owned Gaonnuri Restaurant at the top of 1250 Broadway … and yes, they have a nice bar, too!
There are roughly (according to newyorkontap.com) 1,800 to 2,000 such establishments within the confines of the five boroughs of New York City which has introduced over sixty Rooftop bars during the past three years and where (back on the ground) only 3 actually call themselves “Dive Bars”.
Which is odd to me because I walk by so many which I consider to be just that.
What’s a “Dive Bar”? My loose definition is a place where the people are loud and the music is louder and you might just leave with the residue of someone’s gastronomical mistake on your shoes.
Here’s a sampling of the 50 best New York Bars:50 best New York Bars:
http://www.timeout.com/newyork/bars/50-best-new-york-bars
I love them for being here because if it weren’t for them the places I go to wouldn’t be as nice as they are.
I love Hotel Bars. But I am picky. The aforementioned rooftop bars are swank and trendy and inhabited with all the city’s most obnoxious poseurs.
I mean, c’mon … you go to a high-end joint that offers you the best selection of alcohol available and just to show off that you’ve got more money than you need, you order a $15.00 glass of Bud Lite when a 4-ounce Belvedere Martini is only $17.00?
The best of these nonetheless, is atop the Refinery Hotel on West 38th Street just off Sixth Avenue. Before it was crushed by the hipsters, it was a wonderful place for me to sit, have a Martini and read a good novel literally in the shadow of the Empire State Building.
Now the reason I bring up The Refinery (and I don’t want to make this sound like a review!) is that they have executed the hat-trick when it comes to taking on all comers. There are three drinking establishments to choose from and all accessible from within the hotel.
Downstairs from the Rooftop on the 39th Street side there is the Parker & Quinn Restaurant. Honest food, great bartenders and (during the week after work considering it’s location!) a 4-deep crowd of rowdy youngsters at the bar. The weekend afternoons are much more quiet and the clientele is more touristy and it is where you can have interesting conversations with people from all over the country.
Which brings me to the third bar in the hotel and my absolute second favorite in the City. Winnie’s Lobby Bar in the Refinery Hotel. Very nearly perfect, it is staffed by some of the most knowledgeable and professional Bartenders I’ve ever met … and I’ve met a few. It is a small bar; intimate and there is a speakeasy type atmosphere where I sit, chat or read with a cold Martini or Vesper or a single Malt. You would think there couldn’t be a better place for a man like me.
You would be wrong.
Just two blocks away on Fifth Avenue anchoring 57 story Langham Place Hotel, is Measure. The Martinis are 5 ounces of joy for $20. The Hotel is so expensive that I can sit at the bar for 4 hours and not feel as if I’m taking a seat away from any other patron at the bar. There are at various times, a piano player or a quiet jazz trio.
So those, taking the long way around are my two favorite Bars in NYC but what I’m saying overall is that with this, my number 3 reason I Love New York City are the up to 2,000 other reasons to love New York City. And while I love the atmospheres of the ones mentioned above, I love as well the Blue Bar at the Algonquin Hotel, the MO Bar facing Park Avenue, which is located on the 35th floor of the Mandarin Oriental hotel.
Then of course, there are these:
http://gothamist.com/2013/09/26/the_best_hotel_bars_in_nyc_1.php
High brow or low brow, it’s like everything else I love about NYC. There’s something for everyone.
I’ll leave you with a shot of the awesome Korean-owned Gaonnuri Restaurant at the top of 1250 Broadway … and yes, they have a nice bar, too!
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