This Little Piggy Went Island Hopping

It is cool and clear this morning and should be just perfect for my visit to Pig Island where I plan to spend four or five hours eating barbecue and drinking beer.



I think there is a free ferry that I can pick up right at the end of Atlantic Avenue that will take me to Governor's Island where the big shebang is going to take place.

It isn't too late to make plans to attend, and I can't think of a much better way to spend a nice fall day.  You can find out more below.

Just Click The Pig



If you go, be sure to look for Sam Barbieri and the award-winning Fuhgeddaboutit BBQ Team.  He, as I am sure you must know, is the guy from the Waterfront Ale House and his stuff is, indeed, award-winning.



Check back tomorrow for the pictures.

My Three Blocks

As I mentioned yesterday, although the Atlantic Avenue was a mile long I spent my time on the three blocks between Court Street and Hicks.  Well, I wandered a little bit beyond the Atlantic Antic when I crossed Hicks to visit Montero.

The Mysterious Chinese Woman and I and a couple of friends left my place around 11:30 AM, walked to the end of the block at Court Street and walked up two blocks to Atlantic Avenue.  It was kind of early so the streets weren't overly crowded, yet.  Nice day, too.  Cool and a bit overcast but no rain.  A relief from the really hot sunny Saturday.

A View Of The Crowd


To go with the Middle Eastern food you had to have a belly dancer.

Goes Good With Stuffed Grape Leaves


Not to be outdone, Last Exit had a couple of dancers of their own, with names like donuts.

Pink Sprinkles


Honey Gold


Actually, I don't know if those were their names, but they seem appropriate.  I think that association with donuts comes from a Tom Waits song.

And what would a street fair be without balloons?

Sits On The Porch Swing Watching Them Fly


That was another reference to a song, this time by Elton John, lyrics by Bernie Taupin.

And, of course, there were plenty of songs being played with bands everywhere.

Beach Boy Wannabe


Just Rocking Out


After walking around a bit I parted company with the Mysterious Chinese Woman and our friends to duck into the Waterfront Ale House to wait for my friend Allen, back for another session.  Or so I thought.  As I was nursing my beer a long-term follower of my blog, Michaela, showed up to say "Hello."

Just Popped In To Say "Hello"


I had planned to spend some time here because my friend Dimitri and the band he plays in, The Black Coffee Blues Band, was going to be appearing a bit later in the afternoon.

My friend Allen did show up but he wanted to head to Montero to say "Hello" to Pilar.  We headed out and I saw that The Black Coffee Blues Band was just setting up so I went over to say "Hi" to Dimitri.  When I turned around Allen was gone so I headed to Montero, figuring I would meet him there.

Montero, Just Outside The Atlantic Antic


The Atlantic Antic ends on the east side of Hicks and Montero is just across the street next to a Deli.  "But Montero was joining in the spirit this year with a band of its own.

Going Mainstream
 

Montero was doing a brisk business but my friend Allen was nowhere to be found.  Pilar was in her usual corner holding court, though.

The Queen In Her Court


I had a couple of beers waiting for Allen and then gave up and headed back to the Waterfront Ale House.  I couldn't help but notice the one darkened place in the Atlantic Antic.

So Sad


The Long Island Restaurant, which is owned by Pilar's sister, has been closed for years.  Apparently, because Pilar's sister owns the building she has no financial need to rent the place out and is now too old to run it herself.  And so this classic, old-time bar and restaurant sits empty.  I was lucky enough to drink in here a few times, but the last time was over four years ago.  And even then it was open only sporadically.

On the way back to the Waterfront Ale House I passed by Roebling Inn and my friend from yesterday, Lizanne, was outside serving up beer and being a star of her own.

You Go Girl


By the time I did get back to the Waterfront Ale House the Black Coffee Blues Band was going strong.

Dimitri Rockin' Out


And the crowd sure did gather to take them in.

Crowd Pleasers


That is Poppa Chubby sitting down on the guitar (actually, he is sitting on a stool and playing the guitar) and his wife Galea playing bass guitar.

They played pretty much all afternoon so after listening to them for an hour or so I ducked into the Waterfront Ale House, scored a table and hooked up with the Mysterious Chinese Woman and her friends.

Guess Who


I ordered ribs, the Mysterious Chinese Woman had a cheeseburger, one of our friends had a pulled pork sandwich that he bought from their stand outside and his wife ate a Junior's Cheesecake that she smuggled in.

After we were done eating everyone but me headed back to my place while I hung around listening to a bit more music.

And Allen, well, it is a sad story.  Suffice it to say that he never even made it to Montero.  Oh, don't worry, he was perfectly fine except for a sore head where a couple of hens were pecking at it.

All in all it was another great Atlantic Antic.  Barring some unforeseen circumstances I will be back again next year and, just maybe, see a bit more of the mile-long party.  Probably if I hadn't been to Hank's Saloon the day before I would have been more motivated to head down there but, well, I just kind of settled in at Waterfront Ale House.

One Mile And One Million People

That is what the paper said this morning.  I told you it was a great street fair.  For reasons that I shall explain later, Bar Man only saw three blocks of it.  But I think you will see, even within just three blocks there was plenty to see, eat and drink.

This is some of your food choices, on just three blocks of the fair.

Middle Eastern Sweets


More Middle Eastern Specialties


A Little Lobster


Carribean Delicacies


The Mysterious Chinese Woman couldn't pass up the Ox Tails.

Nobody Does Ox Tails Like The Carribeans


Chiles And Chocolate Go Well Together


Fish Tacos


Grilled Corn


Grilled Sardines And Spanish Sausages


Jamaican Jerk Chicken


Pulled Pork And Pastrami


Or at least the guys responsible for the pulled pork and pastrami, from Waterfront Ale House, of course.

Now, keep in mind, that isn't even all of the places where you could grab a bit to eat in just the three blocks that I covered.  And way more restaurants and food stands along the rest of the mile from Court Street up to 4th Avenue.  I know Junior's Cheesecakes were being sold up there somewhere.  One of my friends came back eating one.

Needless to say there was more to this fair than just food:

But You Knew That


Come back tomorrow for the rest of the story.

A Warm Up

Today is the Atlantic Antic, and I will say no more about it until tomorrow when I will have pictures.  But yesterday my friends Allen and  D.J. were in town and we did a mini bar crawl along Atlantic Avenue.  Too much drinking to take many picture, but I got a few.

I met them at the Waterfront Ale House and we dumped down a few beers there and chatted with Gaid, the World's Friendliest Bartender, and Sam, the owner.  Then we headed down the street to Montero's.  The big excitement there was that Lady Gaga had been shopping at a store just down the block.  Pity that I missed her.  If she had stopped into Montero's she may have found inspirattion for another video.

Pilar's Daughter, D.J. And Bar Man


Allen had a new iPhone and, like so many others, found this to be more interesting than actual humans.

Go, Allen, Go


He did find the museum like quality of Montero's to be interesting, however.

Just Like The Met


From there we ambled across the street to Last Exit, where the Waterfront Ale House used to be located.  It wasn't open yet so we ambled back across the stree to a fairly new place, Roebling Inn.  I would enlighten you about the connection of Roebling to Brooklyn (heh, connection, that is a hint) but I am trying to sober up for the Atlantic Antic.  A bit of Pernod and orange juice along with some over-the-counter medication that I bought in Germany seems to have helped.

Lizanne, Bar Man And D.J. At Roebling Inn


From there we headed to Hank's Saloon, but by this time I had lost all focus and was no longer taking pictures.  The last one for the day was when, gratefully, I was getting out of the subway by my place.  Yes, Bar Man was too intoxicated to walk home from Hank's.  Well, perhaps I could have, but Allen and D.J. were both taking the subway too and I kind of showed them the way.

Home At Last, Almost


But I didn't go home.  I stopped into Queen, ordered a Rob Roy (a Manhattan made with Scotch) and called the Mysterious Chinese Woman to invite her to join me for dinner.  I had the clams and linquini with red sauce, absolutely fabulous.  She had it as well and we had a wonderful time until she said we should talk about astronomy and I thought she said astrology and then, well, we were asked to leave.

Ha Ha, not really.  Well, part of it was, the astronomy astrology misconnect was true, but we left of our own accord.

I bought a shirt in Berlin that I want to wear today, but the Mysterious Chinese Woman is giving me static and says it isn't appropriate.

I Don't Know Why


I told her it was reminiscent of the Military Kiss statue in Prague (in Military Kiss park) that celebrates the Russians liberating Czechoslovakia from Germany in World War II.

A Military Kiss


You may notice that the Russian soldier is taller than the more submissive Czech soldier. Ah, politics.  Actually, though, that statue excites me in mysterious ways.  I think of Marlon Brando and Danny Kaye for some unholy reason.  Mr. Peepers would probably be more appropriate.

Anyway, that is it for yesterday, let's see what today brings.