DRINK - Summer Bars

Habana Outpost
Fortified by a large fence like a military base parking lot that you'd really like to get drunk and fat in, Habana Outpost - Fort Greene's earth-conscious eatery, unofficial summer headquarters for the thirsty and financially-impared - holds within it a one-stop spot for summer. Their margaritas are frozen, their bathrooms run on rain water and their customers run on Six Point beers at $2.50 a cup. The Cuban-Mexican cuisine comes out of a truck parked out back, next to a bunch of picnic tables and their famous make-it-your-damn-self human-powered smoothie blending bicycle - if you like want to burn off your marg calories before drinking it. A packed seasonal schedule of fun includes block parties and free moonlight movies every sunday screening classics ranging The Last Dragon through To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar, which becomes a classic after a few of those bike-blended margaritas. 

Hanana Outpost ; 757 Fulton St. at S. Portland; Brooklyn;718.898.9500

Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden
If you're in the mood to casually imbibe a friendly glass of craft beer and savor some delicious food as the warm winds blow through the trees, then you know it's summer. If that beer is a $5 dollar mug of Staropramen and the food is a plate of perogies with sauerkraut, then you know you're at Bohemian Hall. This Czech social club turned beer garden has everything you'd look for in a great Czech beer garden: Czech beer and a garden. One of those places that's well-loved and popular for very good reasons, this massive playground for lovers of beer and open-air drunkenness can also enjoy nights of free live jazz, blues and helpings of Czech/Slovakian culture outside of beer, if there is such a thing.
Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden;  29-19 24th Avenue and 31st; Astoria; 718.274.4925
http://changeupmag.com/2010/04/bohemian-hall-beer-garden/

Painkiller 
There's nothing worse than a bar with a half-assed theme - whether that ass be literal or figurative, it best be full. Painkiller is a bar that takes its tiki seriously. Established and run by tikiphiles that believe in, as stated in their exhaustively researched website thesis statement, the philosophical connection between the Polynesian islands and the island of Manhattan. This bar gives 100% full-assed effort in the preservation and presentation of true tiki style, from cutesy things like calling their store hours "hours of relaxation" to tireless work on their pina colada and scorpion bowls that will definitely relax your body and brain-cells alike.
Painkiller; 49 Essex Street and Grand; Manhattan; 212.777.8454
http://changeupmag.com/2010/06/painkiller-nyc/

Mission Dolores
The relatively low level of charm maintained by the industrial zone that stretches over 4th avenue in Brooklyn went up considerably with the addition of Mission Dolores, a unique open air bar created mostly out of reclaimed materials and good old-fashioned heart, at home in the striped-down car repair shop vibe of its surroundings. With a similar selection and appreciation of craft beers as sister establishment Bar Great Harry, Dolores expands the idea with a stunning menu of 21 rotating craft beers, all to be enjoyed in the open courtyard that sits not outside the bar but inside it, like a donut. A donut made of amazing beer.
Mission Dolores; 249 Fourth Ave and Carroll St; Brooklyn; 718.399.0099

The Delancey
There's a lot to concede to when you make the choice to summer at Delancey, which is, in every way, a bar & nightclub. For one thing, depending on the night, you'll be fraternizing with a mixture of douchebags and assholes. For another, you may need to be prepared to pay a cover, and you may wonder what the hell for. Then... then you'll go up on the rooftop garden, and you'll understand. Oh, that's right, you'll say, this is amazing. If you go on Wednesday, you'll be enjoying the pleasure of someone else BBQing for you, on a tropical-esque getaway (of sorts) of plant decor, frog-adorned fountains and breezy relaxation. The rest of the club is a different story, and remember, you've got to pass through that to get in or out.

thedelancey.com 168 Delancey Street and Clinton St; Manhattan; 212.254.9920

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

EAT - Dessert Truck Works

The first thing you might notice when walking into Dessert Truck Works on the Lower East Side is that it's decidedly not a truck. It shares similarities with the Dessert Truck, most notably the desserts, but with one important difference. This distinction between food truck and pastry shop had to be made in 2009 when New York's ridiculously restrictive truck vendor permits basically put The Dessert Truck off the streets. And so goes the old adage, when NYC closes a permit, it opens a cafe. Everyone knows the best things are always sold out of a truck - food, Discmans, truck parts. So why not top notch pastries? The truck in question - initially put on the pavement in 2007, closed in 2009 and now reopened until the Man shuts 'em down again - sprung forth from the inspiration pastry chef Jerome Chang found in the Taiwan's street food scene, where, like some backwards opposite world, the restaurant-quality food is sold on trucks at street prices, and hamburgers eat people.
Read more

LIFESTYLE - Sneakers

Remember when you were a kid and you just wished you had your own store that had only your favorite things, where you and all your friends could hang out there all day and everything would be the coolest? For some kids that was a pizza and ninja turtles store, for others a Pokemon and WWE store, and for Dave Ortiz, it is a skateboards and sneakers store, and this wonderland of cool stuff is actually real. After spending years working in the meatpacking district with popular Zoo York graffiti-inspired skate brand, Ortiz opened his own store, taking the name of the neighborhood as literally as an actual meat packer. Dave's Quality Meat is a sneaker and skate boutique clenching tightly to the concept of the corner butcher, to the point where items hang from meat hooks, purchased are wrapped and boxed like beef shank, and clothes are kept in a refrigerated meat locker, which is presumably how Dave keeps all his threads so funky fresh. And freshness is key to DQM's commercial succes
Read more

EAT - CALEXICO

If you've always wanted to feel like a junkie but never been man enough to try crack, Calexico food cart is here to help. There's a reason why they've named their special blend of chipotle and magic "crack sauce," and like real crack, you'll understand after you've tried it. That jones kicks in and you're back on the streets, checkin their twitter (like a real crackheads do), looking for that damn food cart with another helping of your fix. Started by three brothers from California, Calexico has earned the Vendy award for best street food and cheers from numerous publications, but has also stacked up its share of naysayers. Apparently a couple of white dudes starting a Mexican cart in NYC that attracts unfathomably long lines of hipsters strikes some as an inauthentic Mexican dining experience. Only two things can explain such blasphemous nonsense: they clearly haven't tried the carne asada, and/or are too old or ugly to be hipsters. Curmudgeonly M
Read more