A Cold And Rainy Day

A truly miserable day early on. Cold and rainy. I didn't like the looks of it at all because I had planned to wander a bit further afield than I had wandered before. But, being a trooper, I carried on. In fact, I got of to a fairly early start heading to the one bar I was sure would be open before noon.

32) Hank's Saloon

On the corner of Atlantic Avenue and 3rd Avenue in Brooklyn. Not too far from the Long Island Railroad terminal and major subway hub. This is in the vicinity where the proposed new home of the New Jersey Nets will be if everything goes to plan. I would suspect this would substantially increase the business at Hank's (named after Hank Williams) Saloon.

Hank's Saloon is a bit of a gritty place, a borderline dive bar. It has a very eclectic clientele, especially at night, and sometimes has live music. There was just me, the bartender, and one other person when I popped in. I started my day with a backberry brandy and 7-up.

33) Peperoncino

On the corner of St. Marks and 5th Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn. This place was a bit of a hike and I was cold and somewhat wet by the time I got there so I was greatful that it was warm and had a pizza oven going.

A nice bar and dining area and very friendly staff. Looks like it would be a nice place to go for dinner. I was the only customer so they had nobody else to talk to. I had a nice Chianti (no fava beans) and they put out a little plate of cookies for me to nibble on.

34) Beso

Just up the street and jam packed with people having brunch. An extremely noisy place but the food looked and smelled delicious. It had a bar but I was the only one having just a drink. Everyone else was eating. I felt a bit decadent, but hey, I am.

I had a Dewars and soda and headed back out into the cold.

35) 200 Fifth Restaurant and Bar

A very large sports bar at, where else, 200 5th Avenue . The bar is quite big and has two sides to it so it looks like it could comfortably seat 50 or more. On one side of the bar are seven televisions, six of them tuned to college basketball and soccer on the other. There is a pool table in the back.

They have at least three dozen beers on draft and I had a Speckled Hen.

36) Mezcal's

Not the same one I visited the other day but part of the same group. They have four locations and this one is at 396 5th Avenue. Even though this is a mini-chain, it does have an authentic Mexican bar aura about it. Just one other person in the place eating so I bellied up to the bar and had a margarita, straight up with salt. They make them with real lime juice instead of the syrupy stuff that most places use because they are too lazy to actually squeeze the limes. It was an excellent margarita.

37) Nana Reastaurant and Bar

This place, at 155 5th Avenue, was closed when I was toddling up 5th Avenue but open as I started to head back home so I stopped in. A good decision. A long narrow bar that opens up into a fairly large restaurant in the back. They had a pool with large goldfish downstairs by the bathrooms, and I thought that was a nice touch.

This place is a Japanese restaurant and, given the cold rain outside, the bar had a very Bladerunner feel to it.

I had a hot saki, and it really hit the spot.

38) O'Connor's Bar

This place was on the way back home at 39 5th Avenue and is another real classic. I don't know how long it has been around, but it looks like forever. A kind of a dank, cluttered look with a somewhat sad-looking moosehead over the bar.

I was the only one in here other than the bartender and it was my last stop so I had a couple of Rolling Rocks as we chatted about how the Jets had no chance to win against San Diego. Just goes to show you how much we knew.

Well this was an excellent day although I was so cold and wet when I got home, and a bit tipsy as well, that I jumped right into bed for a bit of a nap. Who could blame me, except for my long-suffering wife. I plan on making it up to her tomorrow by taking her out to brunch (and hopefully hitting two bars as well)

Only 962 bars left to go as I slowly (well, not that slowly, actually) crawl my way towards my goal.