Happy New Year’s Day to all of you! I’m taking the night off since it’s a holiday. Tomorrow I have an announcement here about some changes that are going to be happening here. So check back for that if you want to, in the meantime, here’s hoping for a great 2012 for all of us!
Random Daily Photo: Random Daily Link. --------------------------------------- Bonus Photos by Gene Rubbico! Gene and Smoopy were out on the town in the BBC’s hometown of Baltimore last night celebrating New Year’s Eve and he sent in some photos of the fireworks there last night. Great photos, Gene, thanks for sending them in!
Live, from New York, it’s Cheeseburger Saturday Night! Your host this week is Phebe’s with special guest stars Gene and Terry from the BBC and The Ready For Prime Beef Player, Marty Wombacher. And now, please welcome Phebe’s!
Here's the special guest stars for the evening, Terry and Gene from the BBC. Smoopy stayed at home and was awoken by their non-stop texting.
For a snack item, I prepared a tasty, yet simple treat. Something I call, "White Trash Treats." Saltine crackers...
And Sleazy Cheese.
A tasty snack!
We took a taxi to our cheeseburger destination of the evening...
Phebe's!
Here's the dark candle lit front bar.
But we chose to sit at a table with a view of the Bowery.
Here's the view of Phebe's from our table.
Paris was our lovely waitress, here she is with Terry.
And presto, dinner is served! Gene got the Backyard Burger and fries.
Terry got the sliders with Swiss cheese.
I got the same, but with cheddar.
I also got an order of Tater Tots, which turned out to be enough for the table.
Delicious!
Burp.
Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark.
My Meal I got the sliders with cheddar cheese. Good mini burgers and I also ordered the tater tots which turned out to be enough for the whole table. It was a good dinner and great service considering how crowded it was there. In addition to the sliders, there’s seven varieties available at Phebe’s, including: Chipotle BBQ Burger, Bison Burger, Grilled Veggie Burger and a Backyard Burger which is a grilled Angus burger topped with carmelized onions, marinated tomato, pepper bacon and horseradish mayonnaise. The menu also features chicken and steak sandwiches, soup, salads and some of the entrees featured are: Bangers and Mash, Grilled Atlantic Salmon, Macaroni & Cheese and Chatham Codfish and Chips.
Phebe’s has a large variety of bottled and draft beers and lunch is available daily from 11am to 4pm. Brunch is served on Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 4pm.
Cheeseburger Rating Three Wimpys, a very good burger!
----------------------------------------- Bonus Christmas Present From Lex!
I got a package yesterday from Canada and it was a Christmas present from my friend and occasional MAD guest star, Lex!
She sent me official Canadian mittens! Perfect as it's just starting to get cold here.
Lex's daughter, Lizzy designed this one of a kind Christmas card.
I put it in a place of honor, on top of my refrigerator between Pokey and Gumby! Thanks Lex and Lizzy, I can officially start the holiday sneezin' now!
Live, from New York, it’s Saturday Night Cheeseburger. Starring, Live Bait with special guest stars, Gene, Smoopy and Kurt and featuring the Ready For Prime Beef Player, Marty Wombacher. Ladies and gentlemen, Live Bait!
As I reported on yesterday's blog, Gene and Smoopy, 2/3 of the BBC are in town and they're coming over to my place for beers before dinner, so it's time to put on my snackologist chef's hat and make a decent snack.
I call it The Cracker Barrel, and it involves all the above ingredients in secret amounts and prunings and it's dusted several times with chili powder. I serve it with onion dip.
And here's the guests of honor, Gene and Smoopy enjoying the snacks and beer.
And through the miracle of the internet, you're spared me taking a wrong turn and getting us moving in the wrong direction for about three blocks. Instead, you're magically delivered right here to Live Bait.
The bar has a southern, bayou theme going on as witnessed by the crocodile in the window.
There's a bar up front, but we decided to sit in the dining room in the back.
And here's the lovely hostess and our waitress waiting to seat and serve us. Like an idiot I forgot to get their names. I had had a few beers by this time, so I'm not really responsible for the rest of this post.
And check out who's at the table waiting to meet us, Kurt, who I originally met at the Coal Yard Bar last summer. Kurt's a photographer from Florida, check out his work here: Kurt Rogers Photography. He came along with his friend Simon who's also a photographer, Check out his photos here: Simon Garnier Photography. Okay, let's check out Live Bait before dinner arrives.
The back dining room has tables in the middle and blue booths line the walls.
A shot of the bar from the back end.
Candygram.
Vintage boat house signage hangs on the wall.
And there's not only neon in the window...
There's also neon on the walls inside of Live Bait.
See?
Okay, back to the table because I sense that dinner is about to be served.
Kurt got the cheeseburger deluxe with fries.
And Smoopy got the same, except got a salad instead of fries.
Being the rebel, Gene ignored the Cheeseburger Saturday Night theme and got the salmon.
I got the house specialty burger, The Bait Burger. And no, that's not a chocolate doughnut on top of it, it's a giant onion ring slathered in barbecue sauce. The burger is made out of spicy sausage.
It's a little sloppy to eat, so I ended up eating it with a knife and fork. Delicious and spicy cheeseburger!
As we were having after dinner drinks, Kurt's friends showed up and like an idiot I forgot to write down their names. I've had more than several beers at this point (I have an email in to Kurt, so be watching for an update naming these lovely women.) It was a great night with great people, thanks to everyone for showing up and enjoying Cheeseburger Saturday Night! **************Update: I just heard from Kurt and that's Natalie directly behind him and Annie is behind Natalie, sorry for the horrible memory, ladies, I blame it on all that acid in the '70's!
My Meal I got the BBQ Bait Burger, which is andouille sausage, American cheese, topped with a giganzo onion ring and barbecue sauce and it was delicious. The barbecue sauce added a little zing and the bun was bakery fresh. It’s the first cheeseburger I’ve ever had made from sausage and it was a great cheeseburger. In addition to the Bait Burger, there’s also a deluxe hamburger, a turkey burger and a soy burger on the menu. Some of the other entrees on the menu at Live Bait are: Seafood Jambalaya Over Dirty Rice; Smoke House Dixie Spareribs; Robert E Lee's Chicken Fried Steak and Jailhouse Chili Over Dirty Rice with cheddar and red onions. They also have a raw bar featuring fresh shrimp, clams and oysters.
They have 12 bottled beers and 9 beers on tap. Some of the specialty drinks include: Lynchburg Lemonade, Key Lime Martini and an Oyster Clam Shooter which is a raw oyster, Absolut Pepper vodka, cocktail sauce and tabasco. (Mental note to self: Never type in the ingredients to the Oyster Clam Shooter while hungover. I’m going to go throw up now.)
Cheeseburger Rating Four Wimpy's, a fantastic cheeseburger!
Live Bait 14 E. 23rd St. (Near Madison Avenue) 212-353-2400
Today was 11/11/11, and in honor of this auspicious day, I’m going to take 11 pictures of the numeral 11 around town and marry it up with videos of the band that go to 11, Spinal Tap. Enjoy!
-------------------------------------- Bonus Photos by Gene Rubbico! Gene and Smoopy from the BBC (Baltimore Bar Crawlers) are in town this weekend and they arrived today. In addition to hitting 467 bars and having 3,569 drinks between the two of them, they also went to the annual Christmas Show at Radio City Music Hall. Here’s some pictures Gene took from the show. Thanks, Gene and I look forward to seeing you and Smoopy tonight!
Live from New York, it’s Cheeseburger Saturday Night! Starring Pop Burger Pub and special guest star Lex! And featuring the Ready For Prime Beef Player, Marty Wombacher. Ladies and gentlemen please welcome, Lex and Pop Burger Pub!
My friend Lex is in town with her family and has a free night out, so she's accompanying me on Cheeseburger Saturday Night tonight. You may remember Lex from her appearance on 365 Bars and back in May on MAD. And we all know, when a guest comes to MAD Headquarters, snacks must be made. Tonight I thought I'd try a nutty mixture, here's the ingredients.
For this recipe you need two snackologist certified bowls.
The base is the Blue Diamond Jalapeno almonds.
Then slowly I add, shape, prune and mix in the other ingredients. As always, I want to warn you not to try this in your house, unless you are a board-certified snackologist. If you don't know what you're doing things can get messy and nasty real quick.
Three hours later the final mix is done. Now all we need is Lex.
And bingo-bambo, here she is, enjoying the snacks and a beer here at MAD Headquarters. Great to see you again, Lex!
Here's the cheeseburger destination for the evening, Pop Burger Pub in Union Square, a short walk from where I live.
When you walk in, there's a giant wall with a takeout window featuring the menu lit up all over it.
The words, "firm fries" were a little upsetting to both Lex and I, although we didn't really know why.
Lex poses with Christian, who's a busboy in the pub. A nice guy, the whole staff is friendly in here.
There's lots of wooden tables and seating in the spacious front room.
But Lex and I chose to sit at the bar in the middle of the pub.
Bartender Peter happily serves us up a beer and the night is underway!
The back wall features some of the bottled beers on the beer menu. Pretty impressive.
There's big wooden booths in the back, let's go say hi to these two women.
Here's Fayola and Jessica at their booth. They had just finished dinner and Fayola had the Superman Burger and recommended it, so that's what we decided to order.
We split an order of onion rings for an appetizer.
See?
The Superman Burger lived up to its name. It was huge and we split one, which was good, because I could never have finished a whole one.
Thanks to Lex for hanging out with me on Cheeseburger Saturday Night! Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark.
Our Meal At Fayola’s suggestion, Lex and I got the Superman Burger and it was...well...super! It’s a giant burger that comes dressed with lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese and crunchy bacon on a fresh toasted bun. It comes with fried pickles, but we had them on the side. We started out the meal with onion rings and they were crunchy and delicious.
There’s two other kinds of burgers available, Pop Burgers, which are two slider style burgers and the Invisible Burger which is a portebello mushroom burger. Other entrees include: baby lamb chops; fish and chips; lobster roll with tater tots and a steak sandwich with tater tots.
They have a large selection of draft, bottled and can beer and if you have a sweet tooth there’s hot doughnuts and chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies available.
Cheeseburger Rating Three Wimpy’s, a wonderful cheeseburger! Pop Burger Pub 83 University Place (Between 11th and 12th St.) 212-477-7574
MAD pals and two thirds of the BBC, Gene and Smoopy are in Pittsburgh this weekend. Yesterday they visited the Flight 93 crash site and memorial, checked into a Bed and Breakfast and then visited 399 bars and had 2,947 drinks between the two of them. Here's some photos of their day and night. It starts out at the Flight 93 crash site and memorial, then the bed and breakfast and then onto some of the nighttime bar shots. Looks like a splendid time, thanks for the photos, Gene!
Live from New York, it’s Cheeseburger Saturday Night! Starring Amity Hall with special guests Gene and Terry from the BBC and featuring the Ready For Prime Beef Player, Marty Wombacher. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome tonight’s host, Amity Hall!
Out on the town with 2/3 of the BBC, Terry and Gene. We started out at my apartment. They generously brought some beer including...
One lone Sol to replace the former orphan. Okay, Britta, this beer's for you!
After a few pre-bar beers we head off into the night.
And here we are at Amity Hall. One of the last stops on the bar crawl last year. (See: "Further Reading," below.)
Here's two familiar faces, Shannon and Nav! Great to see both of them again and they remembered Gene and I from the bar crawl last year.
The BBC and me!
Teagan was also on duty and here she is gooning with Shannon!
Wooden candle-lit tables line the wall opposite the bar.
A shot of some of the bottles behind the bar.
MAD presents an exclusive "Behind the Bar" photo.
Shannon pours a beer...
While Teagan presents a cashew!
The condiments are placed on the bar which means dinner is not far away!
Gene and Terry got the Angry Burger which has spicy cheese inside. I got that last time and it was great, but I decided to go with...
The Sliders. I had a late lunch and wasn't that hungry, so I thought I'd try something not quite as filling. They were delcious, but I have to admit the Angry Burger is a little better.
But I'm not complaining, the sliders hit the spot.
As always Gene cleaned his plate and worked up a sweat while doing so!
After diner Shannon gave us shots of Jameson on the house.
Cheers!
As we were leaving we said goodbye to Nav who was in his DJ booth. He DJ's at Amity Hall Friday and Saturday from 10pm to 4am and is available for private parties and other venues. You can call him at 646-418-1180 or email him at: DJ Nav. Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark.
----------------------------------------------- Bonus Photos By Gene and Terry At The Blarney Cove!
I had a drink with the BBC (minus Smoopy) at the Peculiar Pub after dinner and then pussied out and called it a night. They soldiered on to the Blarney Cove and here’s some photos of their time there, plus their bar crawling schedule from yesterday.
1. 1:36 pm—McGuinness's Saloon (Queens)
2. 2:23 pm—Gaslight (Queens)
3. 3:45 pm—Valhalla
4. 4:35 pm—Brickyard Gastropub
5. 6:22 pm—Ipanema
6. 6:41 pm—Johnny's Bar
7. 7:27 pm—Marty's Apartment
8. 9:17 pm—Amity Hall
9. 10:32 pm—Peculiar Pub
10. 11:29 pm—Blarney Cove (til 2:30am+)
The Blarney Cove, the magnet that always pulls the BBC back at the end of the evening.
Inside, this woman doesn't want her photo taken...
But this birthday girl isn't so shy and poses with Gene.
And last but certainly not least, Gene just sent in this photo from Pete's Diner where he and Terry were having lunch and who walks in but Shannon from last night! I told you Gene was stalking you Shannon! Two words: "Restraining order!"
I have to work late tonight and I have to work tomorrow on Saturday as well. Normally this would be a problem and I’d probably retreat to one of my Fortresses of Solitude, but tonight someone else is going out on the town for me. Two thirds of the BBC (Baltimore Bar Crawlers) are in town this weekend and for once it’s not Gene and Smoopy, it’s Gene and Terry. And as usual, they are on a tear in NYC. They pulled into town in the afternoon and ended up with a 13 hour BBC Bar Crawl Tour of New York City. Here's the itinerary:
1. 1:31 pm—Walters Bar 2. 2:21 pm—Billy Marks West 3. 3:34 pm—Skylight Diner 4. 5:22 pm—Courtyard Ale House - Queens 5. 7:55 pm—McGuinness's Saloon - Queens 6. 8:27 pm—Gaslight - Queens 7. 9:56 pm—Duke's 8. 11:00 pm—Molly's 9. 11:59 pm —Blarney Cove 10. 12:50 am—Blue & Gold 11. 1:08 am—International Bar 12.. 2:20 am—Maggie Mae's - Queens
And here's the photo documentary sent in by Gene. There's no captions because I wasn't there, view it like a silent movie of the BBC on one of their legendary bar crawls. It starts out in Penn Station and ends in Queens, with all the above bars and side shots in between. Take it away Gene!
Crazy Eddie sent in this photo from the Howl Festival that happened earlier this summer in Tompkins Square Park. It's a full color painting of someone who looks a little familiar...aaaahhh!
I’m too tired to even bitch about work tonight. I found out when I came in that I might have to stay until around four in the morning and damned if that shit came true. Now all I want to do is have a beer or twenty and go to sleep. I was exchanging emails with MAD commenter and one third of the BBC, Gene Rubbico and told him my situation. I also told him not to expect much of a post today. Well he sent me back an email saying that he and his wife Smoopy were just getting ready to go out and hit some bars and that he’d take his camera and send them in. Gene’s a better photographer than me, so I told him that would be great. So today, Gene takes over the main section of the MAD blog. I was going to call it GAD for Gene After Dark, but then Smoopy thought of GAS’D, for Gene and Smoopy (After) Dark. Perfect! So take it away, Gene, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to GAS’D!
Photos and captions by Gene Rubbico
6:58 pm Banners—Locust Point, MD. The evening begins here!
Bartender Cheryl serves up a fresh Yuengling.
Long Shot of Banners.
Brick, photos and a long wooden railing at Banners.
Outside Banners.
The sun is a settin.' A nice summer night out.
8:36 pm - Down the Hatch - Locust Point, MD - one of the best dive bars around. Let's go in and check it out.
Dee is behind the bar pouring my Natty Boh!
Smokes and cash! It kind of sounds like a movie title!
Down the Hatch—smallest bathroom ever!
Smoops and a longshot of the bar.
Smoops flipping the bird fantastic!
10:02 pm - Little Havana - Federal Hill, MD.
Another cigarette machine. They're everywhere!
Smoops getting our drinks at the bar.
A view from downtown from Little Havana.
On our way to Tiki Barge.
What a nice night!
11:16 pm - Tiki Barge - Federal Hill, MD. A great bar!
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