May 8, 2011
Live, from New York, it’s Cheeseburger Saturday Night! With special guests, Jon Hammer, Karen McBurnie and Lex from Canada and featuring the ready for prime beef player, Marty Wombacher. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome, all those people and Old Town Bar!
Okay, my friend Lex is in town from Canada (you may remember her from a special guest appearance when I went to Hurley's last year on the bar crawl) and she's coming over and I've also invited Karen and Jon, the masterminds behind, Grade "A" Fancy. They're coming over to my place for a beer or two and then we're headed over to Old Town Bar. And of course, since I have guests, it's time to make another award-winning snack mix! Tonight's snack is a pure popcorn mix, utilizing seven different brands found in far flung exotic popcorn palaces around the world. (Okay, really I got them at Duane Reade.)
And out comes my board-certified snackologist bowl.
I hate to be redundant, there's nothing worse than redundancy, I really hate it. Being redundant really cracks my nerves and sends my spine tingling. As you can see, I hate to be redundant...okay I love being redundant! I love being redundant. I love being redundant. I...okay, I'll stop. The point I'm going to be redundant about is to tell you, please DON'T try this at home unless you're a board-certified snackologist. And I really doubt you are, I mean you can say you are and I won't call you a liar, but I'll definitely think that that you are one. A liar that is, and not a board-certified snackologist like I am. Anyhoo, here we go, carefully adding the popcorn in small amounts, shifting and pruning the snack so it is positioned just so. It helps to be prudent, it really does.
And here's the finished popcorn snack, a beautiful thing!
Due to the fact that I was drinking and not thinking, I forgot to take photos of us enjoying the snacks, but remembered I needed to get a photo before we went to Old Town and here it is. My three guests, from left: Karen, Jon and Lex. They're holding up swizzle sticks that Karen and Jon brought for my collection.
Very cool! And check out the red one in the middle, an official Friars Club swizzle stick! A real gem for the collection, thanks, Karen and Jon!
And here we are at Old Town bar! I love that neon sign!
It's one of the best bars in America, I tell ya! If you don't believe me, just look at the front window.
It's crowded up front, but there's usually tables in the back, let's check it out.
And as sure as shit on a shingle, we got a cozy corner table. Here we are and our friendly and lovely waitress, Pamela got in the picture with us.
I wandered away from the table to get a long shot of the bar.
Here's a shot of Pamela in action.
And as we learned last year, all the best bars have tin ceilings!
Back at the table, Karen showed me her bracelet which at first I thought was adorned with subway tokens. Then she told me they were old tokens from Show World! Beyond cool!
The beers have kicked in and it's time for a bathroom break and a good excuse to take a picture of their famous massive urinals.
Here's a poster from when they had the 100th anniversary celebration honoring the urinals. I didn't go, but Jon did and from what he told me the party was a real pisser!
Back to the table and dinner is served! Karen got the sliced steak sandwich...
Refusing to conform to Cheeseburger Saturday Night, John got a cheeseless burger...
Lex got the turkey pastrami and fries...
And sensing that turkey was starting to trend at the table, I got the turkey burger with cheddar cheese. #turkey Everything was delicious and it was a great old time. And then before you know it, it was time to go.
And when you gotta go, you gotta go! Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark!
My Meal
The food at Old Town Bar is really good, a couple notches above your standard pub grub. I got the turkey burger and most turkey burgers have a tendency to be dry and bland, but not at Old Town. Mine was juicy and spicy and topped with cheddar cheese and big honking glop of their homemade mustard. Delicious! And the onion rings were great as well. Sadly, no one ordered the hot dogs, sorry, Biff, maybe next time.
Cheeseburger Rating
Three Wimpys
Old Town Bar
45 East 18th St.
212-529-6713
Further reading: Grade “A” Fancy, New York Magazine, Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York and Wall Street Journal.
You might also like: Toilet Paper, Rolling Paper and Paper Magazine.
Five Mothers
Moms Mabley
Mommie Dearest
Mark Mothersbaugh
Mothers of Invention
Motherfucker
You should never smoke in pajamas,
You might start a fire and burn your face.
(Surprise link...click on it...I dare you!)
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Bonus Photo!
Lex brought me flowers, which was really nice! Here they are and I thought I'd post a picture of them every week as they slowly wither and die. Lex also brought some bakery cookies which were delicious! Thanks, Lex, great to see you again!
17 Comments
Reader Comments (17)
Always love to see the guests, nice looking bunch there! Granted I have never used a urinal, but I fail to see how you would not walk away with wet shoes in that bathroom. Maybe the women can answer that for me, great shot ladies! And the food looked delicious. Minus the mustard of course.
Loved 'The Tingler' link...I heard they really did rig the chairs to shock the audience during the 'scary' part of the film. The food looks great!
@kari: I knew you'd hate the mustard!
@Jaws: I love the movie, Tingler, I need to screen that here one of these weeks. The food was great and we had a nice night out.
I'm too predictable. I need to find new things to like/dislike :)
Old Town ... is there a better bar in the city ?
Lets hope they stay open forever !
great to see lex and the Grade "A" Fancy team...jon and karen w/ MAD after dark...MAD must be one hell of a snackologist...that creation looked snackalicious and was gone in a and before a flash....got to thinkin' maybe thats what i should be when i grow up...but Snackology/Video and Teachers Guide (112) is out of print...guess i missed that train...the shots of those dishes made me salivate like pavlov's dogs... great tunes today...was gonna list a bunch of pleonasms...opted for the followin':
Express Lane: Five beers or less. (Sign above a urinal.)
the old favourite found in Gents toilets the world over, commonly added to any sign instructing visitors: Please do not throw cigarettes in the urinal... "... Because it makes them difficult to light..."
rr
Oh, as to the Sheik YerBooty album..."Bobby Brown' was my favorite song...kind of an anthem as far as I was concerned, I worked with a lot of 'Bobby Browns' back in the day when I worked as a contract draftsman.
What a great gang you assempled for the night out.
Karen's "Show World" bracelet is amazing.
Good looking gand and good looking grub too.
Happy Mother's Day. (where applicable)
I'm assembling your care package.
Assembled.
Damn you un-editable posts!
I love that last picture of the ladies at the head! Totally awesome shot. Sounds like you had a fantastic time at Old Town, which isn't surprising, as it's one of the best bars in the world...or at least America. I am slightly disappointed, however, to hear that no one got the super delicious hot dog. Listen, people, I know they're not the healthiest option on the menu. I know that they're chock-full of calories and cholesterol and saturated fats and whatnot. And I even know that they have questionable food product in that there casing. But Old Town makes what may be the best hot dog I have ever tasted. And they serve it to you on a toasted bun, no less. Alls I'm saying is that, if you're making the trip to Old Town anyway, you may as well splurge on a hot dog or two. You only live once.
@kari: I like your mustard hating, never stop!
@GENE: It's way up there, great fucking bar!
@rr: "Please do not throw cigarettes in the urinal... "... Because it makes them difficult to light..." Ha ha ha! Great find!
@"Boris:" That Show World bracelet is too cool and it was a great night out!
@Biff: I swear I'll get the hot dogs next time, I felt bad no one ordered them. I couldn't seeing as it was Cheeseburger Saturday Night!
I love Old Town too! Looked like a great night!
@onmorefoldedsunset: Old Town rules, it was a great night!
Thanks for the fun and snacks. Hope Lex is enjoying her whirlwind tour of Manhattan's nitespots.
Oh -- excellent choice of black background on the snack shots, Marty! Professional, dare I say?
K
@Grade "A" Karen: Thanks for the swizzle sticks and for coming over. It was a fun night, Lex went to the Mars Bar! Photos will be up soon!
Sorry I haven't been seeing the post Martin. Been busy scoopin the ice cream. I used to sing that Zappa song to Mike and Brian to make them feel guilty about still living at home. IT WORKED
@tehennessey: You're name-checked on here on a post, see if you can find it! I'm drinking a beer right now! Cheers!