I want pints, not concepts
3 bars you haven't seen on Reels yet + I quoted Nolita Dirtbag help
Logically, it is wrong to be a hater of places I haven’t even been to. I know this. Sometimes I just really can’t help it!! There are so many cocktail bars in New York, there are so many places that are hard to get into, and there are more than enough places modeling tequila after pizza. My issue isn’t that they exist, or that people want to go. My issue is that 1. everyone spends a month posting the same pictures of the same places and 2. I can not muster up the courage to go and be excited.
New York would not be the city it is without buzzy institutions beckoning to transplants, tourists, and lifers alike. It wouldn’t be New York without lines, reservation waitlists, and conceptual martinis. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be New York without sudden closures of neighborhood mainstays, and proliferations of businesses that have made a profit—and fast.
Living in New York and writing about food means a lot of things—it means knowing what is happening in the hospitality world, it means reading reviews and staying on top of press, and it means having opinions. I’ve got these things down (especially that last part). The thing I definitely do not have down is the repetition and short-lived attention span of each concept that broaches the streets of the city. It definitely feels like we are all hearing about, seeing, and going to the same places, and I think, sooner or later, we all start to feel a bit run down.
When the New York Times published a piece about T.J. Byrne’s—what I would describe as a killer birthday party venue in the world’s most unremarkable parking lot—it was none other than Alex Hartman that so succinctly summed up how I’d been feeling.1
I literally do not want a concept. I am in no way craving another cocktail bar with a savory food inspired garnish. I am uninterested in bars I can not get into, I am unenthused by lines, and I am in desperate need of a pint of beer somewhere I know I can sit down with a little corner of a counter all to myself. There are so many good places in New York where you don’t have to wait, or bribe hostesses, or know someone. Yes, there are plenty of places that ARE worth a line and some fuss, but every once in a while, we all need breaks from the same old same old. When that mood strikes… these are your spots. Also, sorry I have 1 pic per place but to be fair there is nothing I love more than a bar where you don’t want to pull your phone out.
Bar Laika
It is both a blessing and a curse that Laika flies under the radar. A neighborhood gem in Clinton Hill that I always describe as a sexy Apple store, Bar Laika is owned by e-flux, a Brooklyn-based arts organization that spans exhibits, journals, cinema clubs, lecture series…you name it. Their Clinton Hill bar is an echo of many of those artistic tendencies and attracts a similar crowd.
It is unbelievably dark inside, every square inch is paneled in a chic light wood, and the cocktails are spectacular. For a date night, catching up with friends, a quick 5pm summer cocktail at a sidewalk folding table, a mezcal pencillin with crystallized ginger on a chrome toothpick, an olive martini, and a bag of potato chips is a winning combo. No lines, no reservations, just long wooden booths, loud music, and a lot of hot Brooklynites.
Ruffian
By no means a hidden gem, but one that just hasn’t reached the far corners of the internet…not yet at least. Winners of Bib Gourmands and best of rankings, Ruffian is the OG East Village wine bar. Pouring natural wines from before they had inundated every wine list across the city, Ruffian has known their stuff for nearly a decade. An Eastern European dinner menu features the seasonal hits—dips, crudites, cheese pairings, chicories, the works. The sketch on the dessert menu for their current citrus cake is the cutest thing I have ever seen and the only selling tool they could possibly need. The wine is spectacular—best enjoyed on a summer evening at a wobbly stool on E 7th. No snobbery, but plenty of people with good taste.
O’Hara’s
I wrote about FiDi lunches last week and will add that making my way through the bar scene for a work happy hour has been equally interesting. O’Hara’s is the winner by a mile—the Irish pub one block from my building is covered floor to ceiling with firefighter and police badges (?), has one million tables, and is packed come 6pm. The bartenders are simultaneously so nice and so grouchy, and they put reserved signs on tables just to deter people from sitting…not because there are real reservations. It’s loud and touch tunes makes it possible for anyone to take aux, which is definitely a choice and will likely lead to a woman or two singing Mr. Brightside during your visit. Most importantly, O’Hara’s is not trying to be anything other than a spot to grab well drinks, a Guinness, or mid chicken wings after hours. And frankly I love that.
You can find most of my favorite bars here:
Plus a few older letters about bars with great food, some of my favorite reliable spots around the city, and a list of every wine bar I love…with an accompanying map.
Not a sentence I am proud of but a sentence that is true.
i'm going to get "Not a sentance that i'm proud of but a sentance that is true tattooed on my chest"
O’Haras is the best spot for a pint in FiDi.