Mary Pickford

Okay, this post is only tangentially related to Las Vegas, but related it is. My friend Bruce gave me a birthday present while we were in Las Vegas. And a mighty fine present it was.

A Present For Barman


I love classic cocktails and this book is full of them. Several of us who were in Las Vegas are also regulars at the annual Fishing Opener in Minnesota. Our motto - Bring The Opener, Forget The Fishing. Anyway, everyone thought it would be a brilliant idea if I was responsible for selecting and preparing a Fishing Opener Signature Cocktail each year. I thought that the first one, appropriate for a bunch of manly men such as ourselves, should be the Mary Pickford.

A Very Merry Mary Pickford


Of course it would be remiss of me to just spring a drink on the boys without testing it first.

The Mysterious Chinese Woman and I went to Armando's for dinner last night and on the way home I stopped by the liquor store to pick up most of the ingredients while the Mysterious Chinese Woman dutifully trotted off to pick up the pineapple juice. What a trooper. A trotting trooper.

Some Assembly Required


A quick aside, courtesy of Todd at the liquor store - you can substitute the Marischino Liqour for Sweet Vermouth in most drinks. In fact, according to Todd, who is seldom wrong, the use of Marischino Liquor pre-dates the use of Sweet Vermouth.

I was concerned about being able to pick up the Grenadine because in New York liquor stores can only sell liquor and wine. No beer, no mix, no olives, nothing. Llord's, however, makes a special version of Grenadine with 1% alcohol and this somehow gets around the law and allows it to be sold in New York liqour stores. Rose's once made a version of their lime juice that way, but I don't think they do anymore. At least I haven't seen it for awhile.

Mixing It Up With Mary


And it turns out just like the picture.

Pretty And Pink


Of course, the final test has to be the taste.

Kissing Mary


A very good drink indeed. Quite refreshing, a wee bit sweet, but nothing cloying. Just as long as we don't start sticking our pinkie fingers out while we slurp them down.

I promise, a few more pictures from Las Vegas tomorrow. I was very lazy yesterday.

Frankie's Tiki Room - Las Vegas

I love Tiki bars, always have and always will. And I really like dive bars as well. So naturally I really love dive Tiki bars, and Frankie's Tiki Room fills the bill perfectly.

Frankie's Tiki Room

If you click on the picture above you can go to the Frankie's Tiki Room website which, as you can imagine, is quite interesting.

Frankie's Tiki Room is not somewhere your average visitor to Las Vegas is likely to stumble upon. On the other hand, if a tourist did find this place, they most probably were stumbling. It is out where the locals live and play, and it is kind of a non-descript white building with a small parking lot next to a gas station. The reason I talked my buddies into going was that I had seen an ad in Modern Drunkard Magazine, the magazine my brother-in-law bought me (along with a subscription) for my birthday.

Modern Drunkard Magazine is a mighty fine read. Click on the picture below for a link to their website, you won't be disappointed.

But I digress. As any good dive bar should be, this place was amazingly dark. When you first walked in you were, for all purposes, blind. There were a couple of small televisions playing cuts from some of the strangest movies I have never seen. They looked like they ranged from the 1930's to the 1960's and the common theme was, well, that is a very good question. Things vaguely Tiki, I guess.

But what they considered vaguely Tiki seemed to range from Zombie movies, very appropriate, to Hawaiian dancers, also appropriate, to what looked like an early version of Charlie's Angels. A very early version. Scene's from I Married A Genie would have fit in, somehow. Right next to the scenes from I Married A Zombie.

The drinks ranged from the standard dive bar beer and a shot to the standard Tiki fare such as Mai Tai's, Navy Grog's, and Zombies, to their more eclectic Tiki creations such as the Green Gasser and the Bearded Clam.

Bearded Clam Glass


I stuck with the Zombies, which were very good indeed. The bartender said it was someone's original 1956 recipe, and I have no reason not to believe her. They were quite tasty and very rummy.

The More Standard Tiki Fare


My buddies all stuck to the standard dive-bar drinks, mostly Rum and Cokes. No sense of adventure. I was also the only one to buy the must-have Frankie's Tiki Room calendar.

How About A Date


Frankie's Tiki Room was a great little find and I want to thank Modern Drunkard Magazine for bringing it to my attention. If you ever get to Las Vegas I would strongly recommend that you make the extra effort necessary to visit this place.



After we left Frankie's we headed to the Double Down Saloon. Both Frankie's Tiki Room and the Double Down Saloon are owned by the same person, group, or whatever. There is also a Double Down Saloon in the East Village in Manhattan and it too is part of the same group. I will certainly make a point of getting there.

I will cover The Double Down Saloon and the rest of my trip, if it all fits, tomorrow. Time to watch some football and then meet The Mysterious Chinese Woman and a couple of her Mysterious Sisters for dinner sometime between the end of the Jets game and the start of the Giants game.

Back From Vegas

I just got back from Las Vegas and will be posting about my trip tomorrow.

Have you ever noticed that when you are on an airplane and the pilot makes an announcement that starts "Well folks..." whatever follows is never good? Luckily this time it was simply heavy turbulence as we started our descent into JFK. But it was HEAVY turbulence. Actually, if you have the stomach for it, turbulence can be kind of exciting, like a roller coaster.

The Knicks have now won four in a row and are talking about the play-offs. Hope blooms eternal, even for a team with an 8 - 15 record.

Birthday Blow-Out

Ah, birthdays. They only come once a year and there is a good reason for that. I kind of forget what it is, though. Oh yeah, if they came more than once year we would age more quickly.

The day started out with mimosas and a bagel with lox and raw onions. One of my favorites and the bagel shop just down the block and across the street from me makes some of the best.

Then later, after boring the Mysterious Chinese Woman to tears by playing about a hundred birthday related songs (thank you Rhapsody) we headed out to lunch at the Mesa Grill in Manhattan. Quite a bit smaller than the one in Las Vegas, but every bit as nice with friendly service to boot.

Mesa Grill


I started out with a Mescal Margrita at the bar. Not too bad, but a tad sweet for my taste. I would have asked the bartender to make it with just squeezed lime juice instead of the mixture that they use, but she was really busy. I just didn't feel like it would be appropriate, although I am sure she would have accomodated me. She was very friendly.

Me And My Margarita


After a short wait at the bar, which I quite enjoyed, we were seated at our table.

Beauty And The Beast



So Many Decisions


I have always liked the cowboy upholstery here. I wish I could buy a couch like this. The Mysterious Chinese Woman, on the other hand, didn't share this opinion.

I chatted a bit with the new manager here, Claudia. She hadn't been to the Las Vegas restaurant yet, but I think she said she was slated for a visit.

Bar Man And Claudia


The Mysterious Chinese Woman settled on the Red Snapper Filet done up in Bobby Flay's typical Southwestern style.

Looks Yummy


And the Mysterious Chinese Woman assured me that it was every bit as good as it looked.

Me, there was no question. I went for the rib eye.

In All Its Glory


About To Dig In


The steak was every bit as good as the one I had in Vegas. This time I ordered it medium instead of medium rare and it was done to perfection. Now I will have to say that the steak in Vegas was larger, but the one here was more than I could eat, so size wasn't really the issue.

After our meal we went back to the bar to have one for the road. The couple who was sitting next to us while we ate and who were very friendly stopped at the bar as well and bought me a birthday drink. That was nice of them.

The bartender, Susan, finally had time to pose for a picture. I have to say, she was one of the most efficient bartenders I have ever seen. She kept everything humming and made all the drinks for the bar as well as for the entire restaurant. Plus, a few people were eating at the bar so she helped them with their selections and served up the food when it was ready. My hat is off to her.

Susan The Efficient


We then headed back to Brooklyn where we stopped into Pete's Waterfront Ale House for what turned out to be a few beers and a shot of Sam's Apple concoction. Goes down good on a chilly day and went down mighty fine even on a warm day like this one was.

Beer For My Men And Whiskey For The Horse


You know it is a special day when Gaid comes out from behind the bar to give you a hug.

Gaid And Bar Man


I think he really wanted to hug the Mysterious Chinese Woman

Plenty To Go Around


My friend Arden also stopped by to say hello. You may remember he is the one who had the photography exhibit at the art show in Red Hook.

Arden And Bar Man


Even Jim, the most excellent cook, popped out of his kitchen to say hello.

Jim Out Of His Lair


Quite frankly, my day should have ended at Pete's. But one thing Bar Man has little of is common sense. For some reason I decided it would be a mighty fine idea to end my day with a beer and a shot at one of the best dive bars in Brooklyn. Although, truth be known, it really isn't that much of a dive bar anymore. Oh, the bar is the same, it is the patrons who have changed. I think shutting down the Brooklyn House Of Detention may have cut into their business a bit. And with the no smoking laws even dive bars seem more upscale somehow. No kids in this one, yet.

Montero Beckons


I think I was finally starting to feel the effects of my rather long day. The guy just behind me was in Pete's while I was there and after chatting a bit I convinced him that he too should experience Montero.

Bar Man On His Last Legs


Somehow the Mysterious Chinese Woman seemed to be holding up much better than me.

Eternally Perky


And, finally, it was time to wend our way home. Where did the day go?

Holiday Spirits Abound


All in all it was a mighty fine day. And there was still a bit of Cavas Hill Cava left over in the refrigerator so I could kind of continue my celebration this morning.

Oh, and both the Knicks and the Nets won yesterday. The odds of that happening are pretty remote. Especially since the Knicks were playing a decent team, the Atlanta Hawks, and the Nets hadn't won a game all year.

Observations On Turning 65

You start getting discounts that you could have used when you were much younger and didn't have any money.

Heading out to Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill for my birthday lunch, then on to Pete's Waterfront Ale House to harass my favorite bartender, Gaid.

Will post more tomorrow, with pictures, I hope.

Listening to Warren Zevon's Studebaker. I had a 1950 Studebaker that I entered into a destruction derby. Came in third and sold the car for junk on the spot afterwards.

Confusion Reigns

Just got this in my email:

FIRST FRIDAY Holiday BLUES SHOW
Featuring
BLACK COFFEE BLUES BAND
dec 5th 11PM

Waterfront Ale House
540 Second Ave
New York
212-696-4104

Only problem is that Friday is December 4th, not December 5th.

Addendum - Just received a message from Sam of Pete's, he said the Black Coffee Blues Band will, indeed, be playing tomorrow, December 4th. Sam blamed the typo on too much eggnog. If you have ever had Sam's eggnog (and if you haven't, you really should) you would understand how that could happen.

How Generous

I just received an email from Verizon notifying me of a change to my terms and conditions.

This is the change:

1. If you are on a term plan and Verizon ceases offering service to your location prior to the end of your term commitment, you will not have to pay an Early Termination Fee.

Now all that I could think was that before the change, even if Verizon terminated service to your area, you would be charged an Early Termination Fee. I think the change is good, just surprised that it was actually needed.

Just so you know, I have Verizon DSL, land line, and wireless service and am generally very pleased with my service and their customer service. I just thought that change was kind of funny.

Slow day, obviously. I need to get out more. Friday is my birthday and the Mysterious Chinese Woman is taking me out for dinner at some secret location. That should give me something to post about.

Oh, for anyone wanting to send me a birthday card, my address is:

96 Schermerhorn St. Apt. 2A
Brooklyn, NY 11201

I had a nice several days out at my sister-in-law's place for Thanksgiving, spread out over four days. Went out to restaurants three times and had a huge Thanksgiving dinner. No pictures though. I feel kind of awkward taking pictures to post when I am at family get-togethers.