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!
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