Johnny Utah's 51st Btwn 5th-6th ave

JOHNNY UTAHS
51st street Btwn. 5th-6th AVE

http://www.johnnyutahs.com/menus.php

    Now THIS is a fun bar. Before I begin to describe this bar, let me answer a few questions.... 
Q: Is it Fun?
 A: YES!  
Q: Is it expensive?
A: YES!!  
Q: Is there a cover? 
A: Sometimes 
Q: Is there a line? 
A: Sometimes 
Q: Are there amazingly hot beautiful ladies working here and dancing here and riding mechanical bulls with tight fitting clothing?  A: YES YES YES YES!!!

This place is not just a bar, ..it is a Steakhouse/Restaurant/Club!

If you are looking for an awesome time (and don't mind spending a sh*% TON of money)..Then look no further then one of my favorite happening Mid-Town spots JOHNNY UTAH's, and no I'm not talking about Keanu Reeves character in Point Break (Bitchin' movie...R.I.P. Swayze) No, No..This bar is the place of all places on a Thursday, Friday, Saturday. This place has a private VIP VAULT, yes i said VAULT. There used to be a bank in this building, and Johnny Utah's made the bank vault a private room to eat lobster and steak and drink expensive beer, wine ,or champagne!

Vault @ Johnny Utah's

  Did I mention this pricey Southern style @$$ Kicker is also home to a ...shhhhhhh....MECHANICAL BULL! Nothing better than watching wealthy middle/upperclass folk eating steak and lobster, drinking bottle service all night and being flung off a mechanical bull possibly breaking an arm or twisting a neck..., Don't get me wrong, I myself have been dared (intoxicated) enough to sign a waiver, cut a line of bitchy overdressed models, and jump on that feathered stuffed "Sonofabitch". Its a good time because I can only think of 2 bars known in Manhattan that have mechanical Bulls and both are going through lawsuits right now because of them....but this doesn't mean the fun has to stop.

Sometimes at J.U.'s you will find fun deals such as $2.00 watered down-bottom-shelf-piss tequila shots that will help the wallet and your buzz....there is a nice menu to this place as well and food is reasonable considering you are in New York (Flippin') City and nothing comes without a price. This IS THE PLACE to take (impress) a date, have co-workers meet you, look for nice (classy/slutty dressed) girls and enjoy yourself. You won't find bugs in your beer or theme shots on the menu, but in the summer you will find VIP kiddy pools, people in bathing suits, bottle service, good food, laughs, and overpriced drinks. If you like music they have hosted many famous DJ's and the music is always stirring at this Southern (classy classy CLASSY) style establishment

To Sum it up, This Bar Rocks and should be visited at least once in your life.

-thisBARrocks.com

Limerick House NYC @23rd near 6th Ave

Limerick HOUSE
23rd street btwn 5th-6th ave

This is a fun bar on any night of the week offering food and drink specials. They have great snack food such as fries and wings. This bar plays host to many local business/organization drinkers. After hours it is a place for Outback Steakhouse/Best Buy/Masonic groups to grab a cold beer and talk about the week.

(Urban spoon has a menu here http://www.urbanspoon.com/cities/3-new-york/restaurants/32796-limerick-house/menu)

This bar is sometimes HIT or MISS (Sometimes it has *talent other times it has none) this bar has a diverse crowd of young and old and a nice amount of tv's, the staff is mostly friendly (MOSTLY, not always so be nice..and good luck...sometimes they are very slow with service even when the bar ISN'T packed). The bar fills up quick but there are always a nice amount of tables for seating.

These are Photos from a typical week night at Limerick House

This bar also hosts a Karaoke night on Mondays (upstairs) and has several sports or Holiday (booze Days-Cinco de mayo,St. Patty's, the night before thanksgiving..). This bar is not a party bar but is a bar where you can actually carry on a conversation and move around freely without bumping into everyone present. If you find yourself in Chelsea, and are looking for a nice place too cool off in the summer or warm up in the winter, this is your place. The kitchen is open til 1 and and the drinks flow til 4am so stop by ad enjoy.

-thisBARrocks.com

Patriot Bar NYC 110 Chambers Street

Patriot Bar 110 Chambers St
NY,NY 10007

                             The words "Rank" and "Dump" may come to mind as you enter this "Palace of drunken debauchery", these words may sound offensive but when you walk through the door of this 
"(un)Classy" dive you will understand... If you are looking for a good time (Drunk,puking, loose women, hill-billy country music) than this is your one stop shop. Located in Tribeca on the corner of Church St. and Chambers. (Hilarious a bar of this "variety" would be downtown, let alone on a street named HOLY by the word Church..I mean the street should be on fire at this point)

    This Bar is unique for the food  $0.50 sliders and hot dogs 

(risk your life/heath/appetite), but also its fine (awful) selection of beer..$2.00 beers.$6.50 pitchers...Lets get down to brass tacks and say this is PBR bar,..story behind this... while attending once, I asked for a cleaner glass and received the same beverage poured into a new one (water bug still inside) and the new glass had lipstick on it...after which I replied "thank-you" and smiled accordingly. This bar isn't here to serve you, nor is it the cleanest...Once a piece of wood fell from the wall revealing ants and other fun numerous legged critters...BUT...i still stand by it for the phone is hosts on a Thursday and Friday night, there is a country music juke-box upstairs and a pool table in the back, you will also notice all the bright colored bra's hanging about in the bar...yes...its that type of bar.

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This is not a place to bring a date (or maybe it is if the date is going South) and this is DEFINITELY not a bar to have a business meeting.. ("I like your plan Jeff, have those figures on my desk tomorrow after you wash the blood off your tie from the bar fight happening behind you").but like I said before, if you like a party (rough rough rough) this is a fun spot to stop by, and if you are visiting NYC from the south, this bar is a must...if you are like many Americans (Southerner's) and love Monster Trucks, Big Hats, Fire Works, Guns, Country Music, Fried Food, Cheap Beer...than "Yes"...this may just be the bar for you....Will you find all of that there?...NO..But you may find other things as well...Any bar that writes Slut or Olympic Drinking team on the Chalkboard is a bar I want to be at...

This is the bar on a typical weekday night...please note how "Meticulously it is maintained"

Don't let the small windows or rank interior fool you, this bar is an absolute DIVE..but for people who like that "OOORAH"

BLOCKHEADS 322 W 50th Street Btwn 8th-9th Ave

BLOCKHEADS @ 50th Btwn 8th-9th Ave




    HOLY MARGARITA!!!! Yes I know,....They have stuffed monkeys for a logo, but don't let that fool you! This Bar ROCKS! If you like sitting outdoors (Yes) and if you like drinking (double yes), than this place is for you. Nothing says summer like a hangover....or wait..I meant "nothing says summer like a Frozen Drink" (virgin or alcoholic..its summer, and its hot outside). This place Blockheads located in Midtown Manhattan (there are also 2 other locations) offers the perfect summer drinks. there are 2 others in Manhattan yes, so whatever your neighborhood there is one close by..

1563 2nd Avenue
New York

499 Third Avenue, 3rd Floor
New York

   But those aren't as fun as this one, This one is smaller than two School Busses inside (just not as yellow) and there is only one bathroom (plan your drinking accordingly, but if you do happen to wait in the extremely long line, that is a great way to make friends...you'll have so much in common...you both drink..you both have to pee....its a great starting point for a conversation). The outdoor area is where the magic happens, there may be a wait on the left side but the right side is public seating, meaning first come first serve (or snipe a table out from under others by arriving ath the back side of the place at the staircase closest to 8th ave :) suckerrrrs!) Also, a little added bonus for smokers, in NYC you can't smoke at a restaurant..or bar...buuuuuuuuuuuuut...on the "Public Seating" side, its considered a park/public/seating area...that means you can light up on this side and order drinks and appetizers, you just cant order main courses, for that you have to be on the other side...I know confusing..but if you want a drink, that happens at any part of BlockHeads. 

Now that we have all of that out of the way, I would like to talk about the drinks...Margaritas (either frozen or on the rocks)..this place is home to the $3 margarita...no that's no typo..its $3 American...(and so begins the "drinking on a budget" campaign). The fact of the matter is this, the margaritas are good..but if you drink like I do (I.E. a drunken' sailor on leave in Las Vegas) it will not suffice your appetite for the booze, rest assured I have been known to solve this problem with a $3 shot of tequila! YES that's right, the order should go as follows "A Margarita with a shot on the side please ma'm". Once this arrives pour the shot into the "Rita' and enjoy a tasty strong beverage, then..."repeat, repeat,repeat until you can't read" (that should be on a T-Shirt). Blockheads also offers free Chips and Salsa (I love this place) to go along with the wonderful drinks you will have. The food is also excellent and offers a true Mexican/American style cuisine of tacos burritos,nachos, *chicken fingers (*American) and *burgers (*American).

Next Question, is the food good, answer "Yes it is", they do close earlier than most places in NYC so Sunday you will be finished by 10pm and all other days are fun til 11pm. I have closed this bar down before numerous times and most of those times I arrived as soon as they opened, most of the time they are very friendly (before the drinks and shouting and bathroom lines), but when this place fills up they are understaffed for the flow of people, so drinks start to take longer and longer (make friends with a waitress and walk inside to where the bar/drinks are made and you will never have this problem) and last but not least lets not forget a few Tips from thisBARrocks.  $3 Ritas + $3 Shot = Amazing Rita !!(there are different flavors ((black flower is the BEST)) but if you are on a budget just get the classic, flavor prices increase the cost of the drink by about $2, but they do make it taste less like licking the floor after you have had about 10 of these babies) Free chips and salsa, talk nice to the waitress and these will be bottomless for a fun filled day of drinking and chips, and last but not least the bathroom line, ***** SHHHHHH-- there is a secret bathroom outside in the world wide plaza building, there is a security guard with a yellow vest on walking around in the park area, be nice to him (extremely nice because you are probably drunk at this point) and ask him if you may use the restroom, (DO NOT ASK IF THERE IS ONE..he will lie to you, because you are a drunken' boozed up buffoon and probably slurred the words "Baffroom") he will guide you to the Southwest corner of the park where there is a metal door in the side of the building with an amazing bathroom inside...but shhh, if too many people find this out there will be a line over there and people will hate you!..

-thisBARrocks.com

Raccoon Lodge (BAR) Warren street @Church

59 Warren Street
(between West Broadway & Church)
New York, New York 10007








    If you find yourself stumbling through Tribeca looking for a cheap dive bar (Yes, there are a few and I plan on writing about all of them), then look no further than the Raccoon Lodge (aka "the Cooner"). As you enter this bar, there are a few questions you should be asking yourself, first (1) "Have I had a Tetanus Shot (2) "How drunk do I want to be?" (3) "Am I going to make it home tonight"

I'll keep this short and sweet, THIS IS A DIVE, I'm not trying to fluff the cake on this and have you show up here in a suit and tie looking to meet a swimsuit model, I'm sure its happened before to someone...but not you..and definitely not at this bar..., It has a unique style with all the fun artwork(Junk) on the wall, they have a pool table (nice!) and a Punching bag machine (hit a high score and win a beer!!"C'mon be a man and look like a fool too"). Beers (pints) are at $4 and PBR's are $2.50 cans (YESSSIR' the Dive Bar Beer of choice!). This place has been down here for 30 years and hosts daring after work wallstreet Gordon Gecko's and also a handful of construction workers, firemen (Off-Duty... of course...Wink-Wink..there is no such thing as a drunk fireman), hipsters, and after hours restrauntors..(waiters)..all looking to cut loose, have a good time, and drink cheap @$$ beer. So if you are any of these people, or would just like to try it...come on down and get good and drunk like everyone inside!

thisBARrocks.com

Reade Street Pub Btwn. Hudson and Greenwich

 Reade Street Pub
135 Reade St., New York, NY 10013 

(Btwn Hudson and Greenwich)

      Let's go through all the things that make a bar great...Beer (check), TV's (check), Food (check),  People (obviously its great to have a good mix and a diverse crowd..check), Juke box (Music..check)...what more can you ask for? how about crayons and white paper table cloths to draw on (CHECK! This may sound lame until you're about 6 beers deep and feel like drawing a masterpiece onto a bar table while your friends all scowl at you...), or how bout a beer only found at this specific pub? That's right, Reade Street offers its very own house brew (I think its "Red Wolf" which was owned by Anheuser Bush and is now extinct on store shelves but somehow can make it to pubs as a house brew) It has a beautiful Amber taste and is infact reasonably priced, pitchers are around $15 and pints of other beers average around the $4-$6 mark. 

   In a neighborhood where $9 barely buys a glass of wine or a bottle of sparkling water, it's a rare treat to find this comfy local bar still running and thriving in Tribeca. Reade Street isn't spectacular (to rich obnoxious jerks who think that the more they spend the better it taste), but it's affordable (always a plus), dependable (like your grandmothers Buick), and for the right mood ("drinking at a bar" mood), its a great place to go in Tribeca. Darkly intimate (because its where a Dive meets a nice neighborhood takes it out on a date, and this is the bastard love child they conceived and hid in lower Manhattan), filled with a number of fun collectables (JUNK) like baseball caps, model trains, strange artwork, banners and old pictures. There is also a jukebox mixing Sinatra(New York New York), Lynrd Skynrd (Sweet Home Alabama), and Prince (you have to know prince...come on' guess a song...its in this Juke box), Reade Street also has a fireplace that warms the bar in the cold months, Nine quality taps (featuring a sunny Reade Street Ale...maybe Red Wolf...maybe..) combined with 25 bottled options so that you may diversify you beers and taste. There's also an extensive food menu (burgers, fries, fish and chips,....salads??). The Bar hosts tv's so you can catch the local NY teams when they play (NICE!). When you leave this spot to find another in Tribeca you will immediately realize that you are downtown and not all bars can be as Cheap and fun as Reade Street Pub..(That should be on their website....or a bumper sticker...at least a saying..) Overall this place is a 7 out of 10 for a top notch place to grab a pint and catch up with friends, the people here are friendly and they even have a *FREE*-MASSIVE (think trick-or-treat style) bucket of hard candy by the door to grab a few and take with you on your drunken travels. If you are a smoker ( don't quit, no one likes a quitter...) there are benches out front of this pub to sit, smoke and chat with other cancer loving addicts...If you find yourself downtown...and thirsty...Reade Street Pub is definitely a cool place to stop in!

thisBARrocks.com-

History of Whiskey

What is that Golden delight with a kick that we find in bottles and love to see in a small glass with iced cubes? Yes folks we are talking about Whiskey. The reason I wanted to write this post...well..reasons...are simple, Whiskey is the STAPLE of most bars (heck..ALL bars). Whiskey is one of those things that when people talk about it, ears perk up. No great bar story started out with everyone eating salad and drinking mineral water...oh no...Whiskey is a drink that Country Musicians, sad lonely people, fun awesome people, smart people, dumb people, and yes...DRUNK PEOPLE appreciate. Most whiskeys start the ball rolling at 40% (80 Proof) and go up from there (Such wonderful and strong bastards like Wild Turkey at 101 and a rare reserve WT at 108.2 keep the fun at a higher % )

Whiskey didn't start out (when it was created) as it does today...in fact it was much different... The earliest certain chemical distillations were by Greeks in Alexandria in about the 3rd century (AD), but these were not distillations of alcohol (pretty much they didn't know how to use it to party..Yet). The medieval Arabs adopted the distillation technique of the Alexandrian Greeks, and written records in Arabic begin in the 9th century, but again these were not distillations of alcohol (still using it for noble purposes and not "Rocking"..boo-hoo). Distilling technology passed from the medieval Arabs to the medieval Latins, with the earliest records in Latin in the early 12th century. The earliest records of the distillation of alcohol are in Italy in the 13th century (Gotta' love the Italians, where they love wine, the Irish love Whiskey) where alcohol was distilled from wine. An early description of the technique was given by Ramon Llull (1232 – 1315).Its use spread through medieval monasteries (Praise It!), largely for medicinal purposes, such as the treatment of colic, palsy, and smallpox,...still not to enjoy and consume..

Distillation spread to Ireland (DUH) and Scotland from the European continent in the later medieval centuries.Because the islands had few grapes (" Dis Ain't Italy") to make wine with, barley beer (IRISH BEER) was used instead, resulting in the development of Whisky...So this is why you have two different types of whiskey...Scotch Whiskey (Scotland) and your Irish whiskey (Ireland.."top-uh-da-mornin') There are also the great rye whiskeys and grain whiskeys in the US that were created here because the creators (Jack Daniels) probably admired the "Golden Drink" from across the "Pond".

Now, You're probably asking yourself "Is that True?"  " Is That Real?" "Is That how Whiskey was Invented"..."Is That how this wonderful (potent) beverage got into this small glass?"...Well...how the hell should I know (I'm probably Drunk), but I will say (slurr) this, it makes for interesting bar conversation, but if you do some research (why would you), this is the most common "type" of answer I can find, take it for what its worth ($ not much $ ), go out and start admiring something that has been around for CENTURIES! Shoot it in a shotglass, have it in a mix drink ( Jack-n-Coke anyone?), or drink it neat (like a real man)...savor it and drink responsible...responsibly....responses..responded...I think its responded... drink responded and answer the bartender when they talk to you...
-thisBARrocks.com

 (Potent) delight got into this small glass