Ottmar & Employees Only

We jumped back on the subway and the next stop is the Staten Island Ferry. An hour round trip to get a view of the city. After this trip, we will have to make our way back to the same area as brunch and then part ways again.

The girls have tickets to see Joan Osborne and Susanna Vega at The City Winery. I made last minute plans to see Ottmar Leibert at the Highline Ballroom.

The view of the Statue of Liberty was awesome as well as the New York skyline!

Once we got back on the train, Jess told me where I needed to get off in order to make my concert. It was close to Bathtub Gin and once again Siri guided me to my destination. A very small venue and no room to move.

He was amazing but the crowd was a bit overbearing. If you moved from your spot too damn bad. So I stood my ground and waited until after the show to get some food and beverages.

My show ended at 8:15 and I sent Tish a text letting her know I was on my way to meet them at our last stop. Their show would be another hour or longer. So I made my way toward Employees Only and figured I would find something along to the way to eat and drink.

One steak house quit serving at 8:30…really?  So I was just 4 blocks from our meet up and I smelled that wonderful aroma, cigars.

Hudson Bar & Books was a happy accident  and I had time.

They had everything on the cocktail menu and cigar menu. The eats menu not so much. Very limited but was able to find a snack to munch while I burned one in NYC.

I ordered an Old Cuban and selected the Arturo Fuente Short Story to burn. Several cocktails later and the girls texted me they were leaving soon. Perfect timing and I left this nice nugget of a find.

Being as fat as I am, I took a nice stroll through the city of NYC. Then I rolled up on a small building with a “Psychic” sign in the window. Texted Tish and Jess, they said it would be 15 minutes until they arrived. Okay I can hang.

The crowd control, okay…the days of bouncer is long gone. He was a big ole boy and had an impressive presence. We chatted about things from days gone by. The ole ‘80s and how you dealt with the A-holes at that time period. Many stories were shared and some were quite funny. Within 10 minutes, Tish and Jess arrived. At this point of the night, we were going to be just standing at the bar enjoying craft cocktails.

Little did I know my new friend was about to hook us up with a good evening. He said: “Follow ME!” Okay the fat man was ready to see what could be an epic night.

“Sit them at a good table.” Okay, redneck is down with that!

Menu’s were dropped off and I new what I wanted for a drink. Employee’s Only signature drink…

Mata Hari!

Remy Martin 1738 Cognac shaken with Chai-infused Martini Rosso & Pomegranate Juice. Served straight up.

A wonderful blend of flavors and amazing presentation. And I was very impressed with their wine list. Although this joint is known for its craft cocktails, many of the folks around us were ordering bottles of wine.

I have to say, E.O. & P.D.T. are tied as my favorite speakeasy thus far. Although, the Booze & Boobs at Bathtub Gin was another highlight of my trip.

We head home tomorrow and I’m already planning another visit and tour of the other speakeasies on my list.

I made my last visit to Hot & Crusty for coffee and croissants. The lady who took my order really took control:

Me: “Coffee & Croissant”
Chick: “You take cream?”
Me: “No.”
Chick: “Oh, you take cream today!”

Obviously she mistaken me for a regular. So I got to enjoy coffee with cream. How the hell do people do that to perfectly good coffee.

After Tish had her coffee, we went for a walk at Riverside Park before we packed up the car. A young lady riding a bike looks and smiles and that’s when I stop and turned to Tish. Her expression confirmed what I thought…it was Amy Schumer.

So, I ended my first official trip to the Big Apple with my first celebrity sighting.

It was an amazing time and I can’t wait to return. Thank you Jess for your hospitality and we will see you soon with more speakeasies and watering holes to visit.

Brunch & Burlesque…Yes Please!

Yes, I know I skipped a day. I was working in at a vineyard…imagine that!

At any rate, here is the next to last entry of this series:

Once again, blurred vision and 11 o’clock seems to be the norm for this trip. Showers and then we were out the door heading to Bathtub Gin for…wait for it…

BRUNCH & BURLESQUE!

The subway trip seemed to take forever. This is because I have not had coffee and that’s not a good thing. We get off the train and took a stroll to the stop. This is the address for the place but we are outside of a tiny coffee shop, Stone Street Coffee.  Okay I’m ready to drink rot-gut coffee at this point.

Then a gentleman asks: “Are you here for brunch?”

We give him our name and the wall opens to yet another gorgeous bar with a large copper claw foot tub in the middle of the dining room. Okay, I’m all excited at this point.

The girls decided to have Mimosas and opted for an Irish Coffee. Oh this was going down really good. For my brunch, I went against the norm. Wagyu Burger with Wild Mushrooms and Gruyere, a side of Fries and then a few Allagash White’s were consumed.

Then it was time for the girls to perform. I felt it was necessary to have the girls on the outside so that they could enjoy the girls. Okay I wanted them to feel uncomfortable. I know, Jerk!

Did I mention, this was my first time enjoying Sunday brunch?

Breakfast & boobs, I can get use to this. Kind of like back in the days of closing strip clubs and then going to breakfast with the talent. You know you’ve done that before! Don’t judge!

Another New York watering hole that I’ll return to on my next visit!

Jess had a surprise for us and it involved water.

PDT

It was a short stroll to our last stop of the evening. As you know, most speakeasies are disguised and you need to look for landmarks. As soon as I saw the Crif Dogs sign or the other that says: “Eat Me”, I knew we were there.

The long counter of stools were filled and there was a short line to use the phone booth. Yes, I said phone booth and it was sporting an “out of order” sign.

The routine is simple, dial 1 and wait. The adjacent wall opened to a magnificent dim,  yet sultry lit bar. The young lady asked for my name and said it would be 5 minutes. So we hung out with a very young crowd and when they called my name, we heard grumbles from the peanut gallery.

I was borderline righteous at this point and said:

“Hey Scooter, you should have made reservations…Rookie!”

We took seats at the bar. Gorgeous backlit bar with high-end spirits. Several taxidermy items on the walls made my two vegetarians nervous.

Our bartender presented us with our cocktail menus and I spotted my first drink:

Paddington
Banks 5 Island Rum, Lillet Blanc, Lemon & Grapefruit Juice, Bonne Maman Orange Marmalade, St George Absinthe

An amazing presentation of a craft cocktail with magnificent balance of citrus flavors. If the first one was this good, I can’t wait to try my second choice.

Shark
Butter infused Bacardi Silver Rum, Wray and Nephew Overproof Rum, Frangelico, Blue Curaçao, Lemon & Pineapple juice, Cream, Bitterman’s Elemakule Tiki Bitters

A true Tiki drink, I wanted the bartender to turn on some Buffett tunes at this point. The girls truly enjoying their drinks too.

And was it worth the trouble of getting reservations…

I can honestly say, this is one of my favorite bars of all-time. I will be back and will tell all my friends about this place.

At the end of the night, NYC got the best of me but tomorrow will be another day of go, go, go. This country boy is ready for another day of fun. Music and more cocktails are on the docket.

Did I mention brunch and boobs too!

Stallion!

We made our way over to the East Village to visit and have a few drinks at Cooper’s Craft & Kitchen. We were able to get a table at 5:30 for snacks.  I enjoyed a Lager from Kansas City, sorry I failed to make a note of the brewery. I know…Rookie!

Then it was time to part ways until later in the evening. I had a nice stroll to meet Stallion and the girls were only a few blocks from the theater. I got on my high horse and headed down to Madam X to meet up with my old friend.

Using the GPS on my phone, I rolled up to my destination to discover this place was a basement bar. As I walked in, I first thought it was one of those places…

you know…N.Y. Ballet!

Strip Club folks, Strip Club.

The barmaid was very nice and began to laugh as soon as I spoke.

“You’re not from around here?”

“Yes Mama, I’m from Brooklyn!”

She wasn’t buying it!

I grabbed a brew and began to look at the décor. It was dark, big puffy vinyl seats in the back that just reeked of strip club without the brass pole. Then from the back I heard the voice:

“COOP!”

It was. Stallion! The last time I saw him it was 1997 at Camden Yards. He used to cover the Orioles.

He invited me to join him and a few others on the patio, I like a deck and patio as most of you know!

One beer lead to many, many more. He was wondering where I was heading too next. I told them about PDT and the city folk were impressed that this country boy knew so much about NYC’s night life. I mentioned to them that one friend told me to visit McSorley’s and another said not too. Stallion said; “If you’re this close you are going to visit.”

Once again we were walking, Stallion and I rolled into this vintage bar as the others had to grab a train for home. The beer selection was most interesting, dark or light. Which ever you choose, they brought you two mugs for $5.25. I believe we had 4 rounds of those. So much history that if you’re ever up there, you have to visit.

We settled up with the bartender and went over and met the girls. Stallion and I parted ways and it was so Awesome to see him after all these years. I assured him that I would be back and we would tear NYC up.

Now it was time for some craft cocktails, onward to PDT!

Trees in NYC?

I rolled over and had to squint to see the clock because I’m blinder than a bat and I saw…11:00. I can’t remember the last time I got up that late. I tossed my cloths on from the previous night and headed down to Broadway to this little coffee shop called Hot & Crusty.

Ordered a large black Joe and a croissant and found a window booth so I could watch the locals walk by. Oh who am I kidding, I was watching the chicks in sundresses and cowboy boots. It’s cute when those city slickers trying to channel their inner redneck.

My phone started buzzing and it was an old friend I worked with at NVD, Dave or…I like to refer to him as: Stallion! We made some plans to meet around 8 that evening.

The girls were going to some play in the east village and I wanted to visit some local pubs and night clubs. My main goal that night was to make reservations for me and the girls at Please Don’t Tell or PDT.

By the time I got back to the apartment, the girls were finally stirring around. We got all gussied up for a day in the big city. Jess was in need of food and we stopped at Bodrum Mediterranean Restaurant that had wood fired pizza. I ordered a white pie and devoured the entire plate.

Then it was time to venture into Central Park and do the tourist stuff. It was quite impressive to see that many trees in a big city but, I can see trees in Virginia. They took me down to the John Lennon memorial, Strawberry Fields which was really cool.

In the meantime, it took me an hour to get reservations for PDT and I was able to score a place for 3 at 1:30 a.m. I hope this place is worth the trouble!

Art at the end of the night.

My First Time…

…to New York City! You have a Dirty Mind!

A few months ago, I visited NYC for the very first time. Oh, I’ve been on a bus trip a to see the Orioles vs. Yankees a few years ago but this was my first time being a tourist.

And tour I did!

Tish and I stayed with our friend Jess in Upper Manhattan for a few days. We drove up and our trip was to only take about 5 hours but… if you know us, we always stop somewhere to taste the local fare and beverages.

Using the Vinowine app, the closest vineyard to our route was Spring Gate Vineyard. After Siri took us on a 45 minute tour of the back roads of Pennsylvania, we pulled into the parking lot and we were more than ready to try wine.  And to our surprise, beer & cider too.

The Riesling, Vidal and Chardonnay was nice. Their Chambourcin was the highlight of their reds. Their biggest surprise was the brewery. The pale ale was extremely good and I could have sat there all day emptying pints. But Jess was waiting.

Once we got back on the road, our sights were set on the Big Apple!

Jess was texting wondering about our ETA, it was going to be late so all was good. I sent her a few links to some possible outings. One peaked her interest and she quickly responded:
“Sunday Brunch reservations have been made for 2:30.”
This will be entertaining to say the least.

As we rolled into Upper Manhattan, Jess was informing us to double park in the street outside of her apartment so we could unload the car. This was new to me – hell if we did this in Strasburg, Johnny Law would have us towed and in bracelets. After we carried all the crap to Jess’ place it was time to find a place to park. 30 minutes later, we found free parking for the duration of our visit.
We walked to get a late dinner at the French Roast located at the corner of Broadway and W85 St. I ordered the 8 oz. burger with bacon and Gruyere on a Brioche bun, washed it down with a Left Hand Nitro.

It was well past 2 a.m. and to my surprise the bars were still open so we had a night cap at Prohibition.  The Paulaner Hefeweizen was a good way to end my first night in NYC.

Tomorrow we will see what kind of mischief this country boy gets into.