The Opener

It has long been a tradition, like for well over twenty-five years, for a bunch of buddies to get together at a friend’s cabin for the opening of Walleye fishing in Minnesota. Now this really is a big deal, the Governor, Tim Pawlenty this time, goes every year and gets all kinds of news coverage, weather predictions for the weekend are studied, wives bemoan the fact that it almost always falls on Mother’s Day, the real deal. This year the Governor had a fellow that I know as his guide, a fellow named Mike “One Doggie” Lessard. Mike is a friend of Barry Woods who owns Woody’s Fairly Reliable Guide Service. I guess with so much coverage “Fairly Reliable” just wasn’t enough.

Our crew didn’t have to worry about such things though because, quite frankly, we don’t do much fishing. We are more into drinking and dining. And we are always successful at that and this year was no exception.

A View Of The Lake With Rico




The beer of choice this year was W.L. Logar Lager, a home-brew prepared by my friends Bruce McClellan and Jon Logar. Jon lives on Wolf Lake and claims that that is what the W.L. stands for. The rest of the crew maintained that it really stood for Wiener Licker.

Bruce And Jon Showing Off Their Beer



Bruce Pouring Bar Man His Beer



The Crew Having Some Brew



Inside The Cabin



This was a very hoppy beer, to say the least. In fact when it was first cracked open it was almost over-poweringly hoppy with a real harsh taste and smell of fresh green hops. There was some question about how drinkable it would be. Amazingly enough it quickly mellowed and became a very refreshing, although still very hoppy beer. Although it was named W.L. Logar Lager, I think that was taking a bit of poetic license because I am pretty sure this was ale and tasted like a very good IPA. Bruce, the master-brewer of the team, said if had a chance to age for another couple of months it would really smooth out.

Although we had plenty to eat and drink at the cabin, including delicious ribs fixed on the grill, collard greens and pork to go with it, a Junior’s Cheese Cake, all the way from Brooklyn, and Rico’s famous omelets in a bag for breakfast, we still found it necessary to make our way to the Blue Max for a few drinks. The Blue Max is in the process of changing hands and when Rico and I stopped in on Friday we got two-for-one drinks and even managed to walk out $37.50 in pull tab winning in our pocket. Woot.

The Crew Heading Into The Blue Max



My Pals Affectionately Saluting My Arrival



There were eight of us spending the week-end, or at least part of it. Aside from me, and moving left to right along the bar were Gus, Rico, Chris, Cubby, Jerry, Bruce and Jon. Cubby had recently returned from climbing Mt. Kilimajaro so he had some interesting tales to tell and pictures to show. Bruce also showed us pictures of his climb of Mr. Whitney.

Although there was no fishing except for a couple of lines with bobbers tossed in off the dock, a few of the hardier souls did partake in some water activities. We were, after all, in a cabin on a lake.

Jon, Jerry, Bruce, And Cubby On The Lake



Jerry And Bruce Paddling In The Puddle



All in all everyone had a very good time as we do every year. Oh, except last year when, for reasons we won’t go into, the owner of the cabin, Jerry, had to cancel. Otherwise the Blue Max and its neighbor, the Eagle’s Nest, would have been among the 1000 bars that I hit.

Oysters

I decided to try out a recipe for Rocky Mountain Oysters the other day.

Rocky Mountain Oysters in the Raw



I just fixed them like I would fix fried chicken.

2 pounds fresh bull testicles (oysters).
1 cup floor
1/4 cup cornmeal
1 cup red wine
salt
black pepper
garlic powder
Louisiana Hot Sauce
cooking oil

With a very sharp knife, split the tough skin-like muscle that surrounds each "oyster". Remove the skin. Set the "oysters" into a pan with enough salt water to cover them for one hour (this takes out some of the blood). Drain. Transfer "oysters" to large pot. Add enough water to float "oysters" and a generous tablespoon of vinegar. Parboil, drain, and rinse. Let cool and slice each "oyster" into 1/4" thick ovals. Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of sliced "oyster" to taste.

Mix flour, cornmeal and some garlic powder to taste in a bowl. Roll each "oyster" slice into this dry mixture. Dip into milk. Dip into dry mixture. Dip into wine quickly (you may repeat the procedure if a thicker crust is desired). Place each "oyster" into hot cooking oil.

Add hot sauce to cooking oil (to taste). Cook until golden brown or tender, and remove with a slotted spoon or wire strainer. (careful the longer they cook, the tougher they will become)

Drain on paper towels and serve.


They looked delicious but, based upon the reaction of my friend who ate them, I don't think this will be a regular dish at my tailgate parties, or anywhere else, for that matter.

Post Oyster Feast



I will keep you posted on any new recipes that I come across.

Cinco de Mayonnaise Malaise

Well, here is another example of how the person working at a bar can make all of the difference in the world. I decided to celebrate Cinco de Mayo with the Mysterious Chinese Woman by going to one of the most authentic looking Mexican restuarants in my neighborhood. I mean this place does look like it could have been plucked out of a small beachtown in Mexico.

Pacifico



I have been here before and given it a pretty favorable write-up so I was hardly prepared for what I experienced today. Now, first of all, it was about 3:00 P.M. so it wasn't exactly the busy time of day. The outdoor deck was, however, almost full. The only tables available were in the sun and it was quite a hot day. We decided to sit inside where it was a bit cooler and there was only one party of two already seated. In other words, the place was just about empty.

As we were waiting for someone to take our order a group of four young women came in who wanted a table for six. They were curtly informed that couldn't be seated until their entire party arrived. Again, this in a place that was almost empty. They said they just wanted to sit and have a drink while they waited for their friends but were again told that wasn't permissible. So, they left.

Then the same guy asked us what we wanted and we said just a couple of margaritas. We were told that if all we wanted were drinks we would have to either sit at the bar all the way in the back or at a table outside. We said that we really didn't want to sit at the bar where it was dark or in the sun on the deck but couldn't we just sit at the table inside by the window looking out on the deck. We were told no, even though, again, there was only one other couple inside. Who knows, maybe if the fellow had been a bit nicer and we liked our drinks we would have stayed to order some food. But, who needs the aggravation. We got up and left.



Cafe Tabac



I guess, to make a point, we decided to head to a French Bistro that we liked to "celebrate" the French's ultimate victory in the war. Cinco de Mayo actually celebrates a fairly impressive victory by Mexico over invading French forces during the war, but about a year later Mexico lost the war.

We decided to have a bottle of wine and an order of mussels, some of the best in town, and were able to enjoy them at a nice sidewalk table.

A Nice Repast



We could have sat there even if we didn't order the mussels though and the waiter was a very pleasant fellow. We talked a bit about Tony Bourdain, author of Kitchen Confidential and former executive chef of Hales, a very good French bistro in Manhattan and now starring on No Reservations, a television show on the Travel Station. He had made a comment about eating mussels in restaurants in his book and I paraphrased it and told our waiter that I would eat mussels in Cafe Tabac anytime.

Here is what Tony said:

"I don't eat mussels in restaurants... More often than not, mussels are allowed to wallow in their own foul-smelling piss... I have had the misfortune to eat a single bad mussel... sent me crawling to the bathroom shitting like a mink, clutching my stomach and projectile vomiting."

But hey, everyone is entitled to their opinion. Ours were delicious, as usual, and the bread to sop up the juices was just what you would expect in a French bistro. Even the French fries served with both catsup and mayonnaise were good.

Raising Our Glasses To French Hospitality



I finished up with an espresso and a glass of Ricard, similar to Pernod, before we meandered on home.

The New Harry's

Harry's Cafe


Harry's used to be a venerable old bar and steakhouse down in the Finacial District of Manhattan and conveniently located right across the street from where I worked for a number of years. It was largely populated by those who worked on Wall Street and there was a large ticker display running along the wall. Lots of suits and cigars and very good steaks. There was a large U shaped bar that was generally jammed from about 5:00 P.M. until everyone headed home in the early evening. Unfortunately it has been closed for about three years so it didn't make it as one of the thousand bars I visited last year.

It has now re-opened, although the official grand opening won't be until May 12th so they were missing a few things, like draft beer. Also, the place has been remodeled and doesn't quite have the old charm. It has been split into two with the steakhouse on one side and a smaller bar on the othe side in the cafe part. That is where I parked myself with a couple of buddies for a few libations.

We started out with a Bombay Martini followed by a Chimay. Ben and I had the Blue while Ronnie had the red. Very good and I shall review them in the not too distant future.

The bartenders were very friendly and recoginized me as the Bar Man, and that was flattering.

Mike And Carolina, The Bartenders


A fellow seated next to us said he followed my blog and was pleased to meet me. He just moved here from Boston so was happy to meet someone who could give him some bar recommendations. And I was more than happy to do so.

Mike, A Fan And Now A New Yorker


Harry's Cafe, it turns out, has a very good selection of beers so we decided to sample some. Carolina said that they would be getting some nice ones on tap too, including at least one Belgian.

Our next beer was an Innis and Gunn:





My friend Ben, who is a real beer maven, started talking about it and, after I figured out he wasn't talking about Guinness, we decided to have one. It is one of the best beers that I have ever had. An amazingly complex set of flavors that has elements of carmel or toffee, nuts, honey, vanilla and more if you roll it around on your tongue long enough. It is aged in for 30 days in oak casks which are then emptied into a marrying tun where it is aged for another 47 days to allow the flavors to blend. It is brewed in Edinburgh, Scotland. However I have also heard that it is brewed by Caledonian for Innis & Gunn. Well, whoever makes it, I strongly recommend it.

After that our discussions about beer continued and we got around to talking about hefeweizen beers and whether they are a heavy or a light beer. Ben seemed to think they are heavy and Carolina agreed with him. Ronnie and I, however, thought they were more on the light side. To settle the arguement Carolina suggested we taste one so she popped the top on a Franzikaner Hefeweizen and poured us each a taste.





"Hefe" means yeast and "Weizen" means wheat so it is no surprise that Hefeweizens are made with wheat and are a top fermented, unfiltered, bottle conditioned beer that usually has a noticible yeast deposit on the bottem and can be somewhat cloudy. These beers are popular in both Germany and Belgium but in Belgium they often add coriander and other spices and botanicals. They are also called Weissbiers or white beers because back when most beers and ales were dark these were the exception to the rule.

This particular beer was a bit sweet and fruity and was, I have to admit, guite full-bodied. It was very good.

We decided to see what else Harry's had to offer and Carolina said they had a nice Australian beer. Now I was hoping that it wasn't going to be a Foster's, and was pleased to find out that it was a Coopers Original Pale Ale.



Not a very good picture I am afraid, but the beer was very good indeed. It has a bit of a citrus bite to it with a slightly bitter aftertaste. But bitter in a good way. It is supposed to be brewed using the "Burton on Trent" brewing style, but I will be damned if I know what that is. A lot of good beers are, indeed, brewed in Burton on Trent, a town in Straffordshire, England that straddles the River Trent and grew up around the monastery of St. Modwen. The water there contains a lot of dissolved salts from the gypsum in the surrounding area and this gives the beers a somewhat unique taste that is thought to be desireable.

Ben Enjoying His Coopers


Ronnie, Ben, and Bar Man Enjoying Our Beers


Ben is quite self conscious about his height so we got him a telephone book to sit on and took this picutre too.

Revised Picture Of Ben And "Friends"


Sorry Ben, I couldn't resist. Ben is actually not short, he was sitting and we were standing.

Ronnie And The Normal Sized Ben


Ronnie had to leave to catch a ferry so Ben and I had one more Innis & Gunn for the road before heading of into the night.

Beer Beer and Beer

Today I reveiw beers. A most enjoyable task.



Magic Hat Circus Boy



Now I have to admit I am a fan of Magic Hat. The Magic Hat Brewing Company is located in Burlington, Vermont and their #9 is a big favorite of mine. It has a bit of an apricot taste but not cloying or overly sweet. A nice beer for a summer day while sitting on your porch, if you have a porch. But this is about Circus Boy, something that I saw for the first time this morning when I went to get a cure for a session of vodka drinking last night (see my previous post).

Circus Boy (I don’t know where they get their names) is billed as a hefeweizen and is an unfiltered beer so it is a bit cloudy but there didn’t seem to be any discernable yeast deposit on the bottom of the bottle. It has kind of a perfume-like taste to it but doesn’t really have a perfumed nose. In fact it tastes a lot better than it smells, although it doesn’t smell really bad, by any means. On the other hand, it doesn’t smell really good either. It certainly doesn’t call out for a squirt of lemon juice like many more traditional hefeweizens do and you also wouldn’t want to put any raspberry syrup in it like they often do to hefeweizens in Berlin.

I guess if this was a wine you might call it amusing and unpretentious. I think it would be a good beer to bust out along with the #9 at a barbecue just for something different. In fact, might sound a bit sexist here, a lot of women might like it as an alternative to wine coolers. Now don’t get me wrong, I will drink a wine cooler on occasion and Mike’s Hard Lemonade really hits the spot at times.

If you want to visit an interesting, although somewhat confusing website, check out Magic Hat’s. Whoever designed it must have been a Monty Python fan.

Victory Hop Wallop Ale



Well, a wallop it does pack, a hefty 8.5% wallop. Sneaky too, you don’t really notice how strong it is because it is really, really hoppy. When you first pour it a nice head rises up that, as the bubbles burst, releases an almost fresh hops-like aroma. Sadly, the head dissipates quite rapidly and then the beer takes on an almost funky odor. However, the beer doesn’t taste funky at all. If you let it set in the glass a bit the funky smell goes away and you get the hops back again. Either that or the guy next to me farted just as the head went away. It is really quite good with a strong flavor of hops, quite dry, but not, somehow, overpowering. I quite enjoyed it, but then I like strong flavors and am partial to IPAs. This makes your typical IPA look a bit pale in comparison though.

This beer is brewed by the Victory Brewing Company and is located in Downington, Pennsylvania. Victory is another brewery that makes a whole bevy of good beers. I am, as you probably know, a big fan of micro-breweries and even the larger ones that produce a product with some real taste like Samuel Adams (note, I am not a big fan of Anheuser Busch and their ilk).

I certainly would recommend this if you like hops. If you don’t, run away.

Bigfoot Ale



Well, if I thought the Victory Hop Wallop Ale was strong, this one is a real kick in the head, a whopping 9.6% alcohol. Despite a real heavy malty flavor the alcohol does come through, but not in an entirely unpleasant way. It is one of the few brews that I have ever had that actually warms the tummy on the way down. This also, to me at least, would be the perfect beer to end up a session with the boys and girls. I don’t think it would be wise to start out the evening with it though. Everything else would pale in comparison and you would be hard pressed to spend the night drinking these. I suspect it would be a rather short night if you tried.

Bigfoot is made by Sierra Nevada, another reliable brewery that puts out consistently good beers. Despite its name it is actually located in Chico, California.


If you like my reviews of beers let me know and I will continue to do them more frequently. I am certainly not going to do another 1000 bars but will, of course, continue to post on any new ones that I go to or any interesting experiences that I have in ones that I have visited before. I am not retiring, just slowing down. I might also do write-ups on interesting or classic and well-made cocktails that I either make myself or order in a bar.

Your comments and emails are always welcome and let me know what you think about what I am doing and help me figure out what to do next. However, if I get a bunch that say they would like me to review ballet, it ain’t gonna happen.

Salutations to Salute

Salute In Rego Park, Queens



Salute doesn't have a bar, but that doesn't mean you can't do a bit of serious drinking. It was a bit of a trek for me to get out here to 108th in Rego Park. I took the G line to where it ended in Long Island City and then switched to the V line and took it to Rego Park. Then, instead of the two blocks that my friend Felix said I had to walk it was twelve blocks from the subway stop. Added to that was the one block back from 98th to 97th to ask for directions and then back to 108th and it was a nice long hike. Of course I got there before anyone else and had worked up a powerful thirst. I wasn't about to break into the iced bottle of vodka I brought with me so I ordered a beer instead. Instead I had a Baltika Extra 9 Lager, a nice Russian beer that packed a bit of a bunch, 8% alcohol, and came in a big, if somewhat unusual sized, bottle, 1 Pint, .9 Ounces. Must be a metric thing.

A Nice Pour Of Baltika 9 Lager



The beer had a very nice flavor that hits you with an initial bitter taste that melts into a sweet, malty finish. It has a nice golden color with almost no head. It is brewed by Pivzavod Baltika / Baltic Beverages Holding in the Russian Federation. Now this is a bit confusing because Doyna LTD is also involved as a company that was established in 1997 to develop and market high quality imported European beer brand in the United States. I think they are just the importer though. Baltika has a wide range of beers, many of them with numbers. Perhaps I shall have the chance to try them all. According to Doyna's website, Baltika is the second larges selling beer in Europe, Heineken being number one.

Two of my friends that I was dining with are Russian and when I asked what I should bring to drink it was fairly unanimous, vodka. I picked up one that is made in Texas on the recommendation of my friend at the local liquor store. I told him I would get all kinds of static for bringing a Texas vodka and I was right. However, after the first toast everyone agreed that it was quite good.

Felix Showcasing Tito's



Tito's In Its More Usual Position



At the risk of making Salute even more popular that it already is, I have to say that the food was delicious. Traditional Russian fare from the salads through the fantastic lamb soup and the delicious shish kabobs. I usually stay away from these unless I make them myself because typically they are over-done and tasteless. These were absolutely delicious.

The Gang; Bar Man, Ronnie, Al, and Felix



Our Waitress and Photographer



Needless to say a single bottle of vodka wasn't going to do it for this crowd so Al went out and got another.

Al And The Olifant



Luckily there was a care service available to get me back home for a mere $35 plus a generous tip.

The New Guy

As some of you may know, there is someone trying to go to 1000 bars this year. I am a bit flattered because he has cited me as his inspiration. His name is Matt and we hooked up this evening to hoist a few together. We hit a couple of places that were duplicates for him, meeting at Pete's Waterfront which he had previoiusly visited and finished up at Keefe's, where he had also been. I think I have this right, I wasn't taking notes and was a bit tipsy at the end.

In between we hit:

Long Island Restaurant And Bar


Montero


Magnetic Field


Floyd's


I have already visited all of these places, of course, but it was fun to visit them again with someone trying to replicate my feat. He is on pace, although a bit behind where I was at the same point in the year. I certainly wish him the best and you can follow his exploits at his blog:

Matt's 1000 Bar Blog

Belated and Bugged

Well, this is a bit belated, to say the least. I went to these places the last week I was in Mexico, March 22nd to be precise, and then didn’t get around to writing about them until now. Took me awhile to dig everything out from my suitcase and get the pictures uploaded. I finally found a charger for my camera at a new Radio Shack that must have just opened this year.

Wednesday is art walk day in Puerto Vallarta so you get to stop into a number of art galleries and get a free glass of wine or a cocktail (if you are lucky). The Mysterious Chinese Woman also had her eye on a restaurant that was supposed to serve the most authentic Mexican food in Puerto Vallarta so we decided to combine the two, go on the art walk and then have dinner. Well, it kind of worked.

Flea Market Bar



We walked across the bridge that takes you from the south side of town where we stay to the north side of town where the galleries and the restaurant are located. Right across the bridge is a flea market little bar inside of it that has decent drinks at a low price. I just couldn’t pass it by so we stopped in while I slacked my thirst a bit.

It was getting a bit late by the time I finished up so we only had time to hit one gallery before heading to the restaurant.

El Arrayan



This is a very pleasant restaurant with an authentic Mexican décor and a little bar off to the side. The hi-lite of the meal had to be the appetizer, roasted grasshoppers.



Now before you gag let me tell you that they really were quite tasty, kind of crunchy with a bit of a smoky nut-like flavor.



You really should try them if you get a chance, and this would be a good place to do it. They let me cut back the normal portion of three tacos to just one so I didn’t actually have to make a meal of them As you can imagine, the Mysterious Chinese Woman wasn’t about to help me out with this.

After dinner I had a quick drink at the bar before moving on out.



Piano Bar



There was a pretty good singing guitar player in here but aside from us and a female admirer the place was totally empty. I hope it was because it was so early because it seemed like a very nice place and the bartender was friendly enough. It must be pretty frustrating to have to play and sing your heart out to an empty place. We did put a nice tip in his jar to help keep his spirits up.

I had a shot of tequila, Herradura reposada, my new favorite, with a Pacifico chaser at the bar.



I have been practicing pronouncing Herradura so I only get a puzzled look about half the time when I order it. It takes awhile to figure out how to roll your “R”s.

Roxy



Well it took me long enough to get back here this year. You may remember that this was the last bar that I hit on my twelve bar march last year. The sign has changed but not much else. Still a great late nice place to pop into for a few drinks and to listen to some decent music. You can dance your heart out too.

We just had a couple of beers (and another Herrandura for me then headed on home after a nice night on the town.



They had a new line of tee-shirts so I felt compelled to add to my collection.



Maybe next year we will get to a few more art galleries.