Coney Island Cyclones

MurphGuide, one of my favorite sources of information about goings on in New York, offered a special deal today; a ticket to a Cyclones game, free beer, hotdogs, and hamburgers at Peggy O'Neill's before the game, and a free post-game drink to send you on your way afterwards. And all for just twenty bucks. Needless to say I couldn't pass up such a deal.

It is a bit late in the season so on a lovely Thursday afternoon there really wasn't much going on.



I headed towards the beach from the subway and was presented with this teaser.



Of course the answer was yes but, sadly, the place I wanted to stop into was closed.



I think the Freak Bar is still open on the weekends though so I may try again one of these days.

I headed to an old reliable though to find solace.



How much longer Rudy's will be here is questionable. All the land that it sits on has been sold and more than likely any new development will not take into consideration the historical significance of Rudy's. If it was up to me it would be declared a historical landmark.

I wanted to buy a tee-shirt in case the place wouldn't survive into next year. The manager Sam assured me that it would have at least one more year to go though. He was out of tee-shirts for sale but had an old one with some kind of a stain, mustard, probably, that he couldn't quite remove. He said I could have that tee-shirt for free.



Hey, this was better than just buying a souvenir, this had an authentic stain.

As I headed toward Peggy O'Neill's I passed by Cha Cha's and the Shoot The Freak game.



Cha Cha's is another favorite of mine but it too, is probably doomed. As I have said before, I love the concept of sitting in a dark dive bar having a beer and looking out on a beautiful beach.



After another quick beer I did head down to Peggy O'Neill's which is built into the Keyspan Stadium complex, so it is handy.



I got there a bit early so I stopped inside for a beer before the festivities begand to have a beer which was cheerfully served up by Paul, the bartender.



Soon enough though the free beer began to flow as well as the hotdogs and hamburgers. I had one of everything.



They even had live entertainment.



We headed into the game and it was a beautiful evening. You can see the old parachute jump that has been repainted and relit, but not reopened, in the background.



We stayed until the moon rose high before heading home.



The Cyclones were losing when we left but managed to pull out a win in extra innings and clinched a playoff berth. Maybe we should have stuck around.

On the way back to the subway Nathan's was tempting, but the temptation was resisted.



I didn't even stop in to pick up some hotdogs to go.



The subway terminal here has been totally remodeled and it looks more like you are entering an opera house than a subway station.



The subway home was almost empty, but very clean. The Mysterious Chinese Woman decided to ride with me instead of poofing tonight.



All in all it was a very fun night and I want to thank Sean Murphy for putting this together. Check out his website, a link is on my blog here, and try to attend some of the events he puts together. They are always a good time and usually a good deal as well.

Riverfront Park

Not too far from where I live is a hideously named neighborhood, DUMBO, that is fast becoming one of the most expensive in Brooklyn. DUMBO stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass, a stretch if ever there was one. At least they have taken down the huge picture of an elephant that they once had up on the side of a building.

Not too far away, however, is a lovely little park that is, one day, going to be the north end of a larger park that will stretch all the way to Atlantic Avenue. It is really kind of nice to be so close to downtown Manhattan and still be able to experience a bit of wilderness. One of the entrances to this park requires a bit of faith to walk through, however. It kind of looks like you are walking down a somewhat dangerous alley.



However, the views are well worth it.



There is even a little beach where you could have a picnic. I wouldn't recommend swimming though, the East River is notorious for its dangerous currents.



There are a number of interesting sculptures in the park which is kind of a plus and a minus. Some of them complement the natural setting such as this one.



Some of them, though, just seem a bit out of place.



And some seem downright out of place and are more of an eyesore than anything else. In a city where the streets are full of trash, do we really need to see a pile of discarded sinks in a lovely little park?



And when I came upon this I actually thought it was just a pile of refuse that had been raked up and was awaiting removal.



But no, it actually is a "work of art." At least in someone's eyes.



I guess this one must be a commentary on vandalism. It looks like someone knocked down and carried off most of the statue.



Walking home I caught this interesting juxtaposition, the massive Brooklyn Bridge and a small lighthouse that now houses an ice-cream shop.



A little bit further along the stretch that will one day be a part of the larger park I came across this.



In a way it is kind of sad. The year after the World Trade Center came down this field was planted with two patches of sunflowers in the shape of the fallen towers. The sign proudly proclaims "After Winter, Spring." Sadly, interest didn't last long and after the first year the field has been taken over by weeds. It would, in my opinion, be better to take down the sign because it certainly seems inappropriate now, all things considered.

Heartland Brewery, HUH?!

Things that make you scratch your head. In today's Daily News in another article about how New York is going to support New York Breweries, there is a section titled "On Tap In The City." It says "Here is a look at some of the top breweries in the city." They list, appropriately enough, Brooklyn Brewery, Chelsea Brewery, Sixpoint Craft Ales, and Greenpoint Beerworks Inc.

However, and this is the kicker, they also list Heartland Brewery with the comment "No longer produce their own beers, buy it from Greenpoint Brewery." Now, if they don't produce any beer but buy it, they certainly aren't a brewery, so why is it even listed? Could it be because they are a co-sponsor of the New York Beerfest this Friday that kicks off the launch of this campaign?

Bruno's, Banks, Blarney Rose

For the longest time I have been under the impression that Blarney Rose was replaced by a bank. Several alert readers of my blogs have pointed out my error and I shall now correct it. Blarney Rose, a wonderful dive bar with a decent steam table (it is interesting how many dive bars had good food) was replaced by Bruno's Hardware.

Bruno's is a venerable institution in my neighborhood. Beloved by many, including me, and hated by others. Bruno's is truly one of these places where, if they don't have it, you probably don't need it. And it is a happy clutter that almost makes it mandatory to ask someone where something is located. But, for goodness sake's, don't ask Bruno. Well, you can't now, he is dead.

Bruno is probably why most people who don't like Bruno's Hardware don't like it. Bruno looked like he should be walking out of a biker bar at four in the morning. And, he did have a bike, a Harley. Of course he also had a Mercedes Benz. He wore a dirty old black cowboy hat, cowboy boots, jeans, and, usually, a plaid shirt. He communicated basically through a series of grunts. Usually he just ignored you if he passed you on the street. I made a point of always saying "Hello" to him and, after about a year, I got him to grunt in reply.

This was Bruno's when I first moved into the neighborhood.



You can see that it looks as though he has already expanded once, or bought the two buildings at the same time. Oh yes, Bruno buys, not leases.

Then, sometime after I moved into the neighborhood Bruno bought out Blarney Rose. He didn't do anything with it for a few years, but then he opened his second location on the same block.



Aside from the bank on the corner, this pretty much gave Bruno the whole block.



He is still missing this place in the middle and there have always been rumors about how much he wanted to buy it.



After Bruno passed away I think the stores have passed to his son and daughter so, hopefully, the tradition will continue. It does look like they are going to be doing something with one of their buildings though, the one on the corner of Schermerhorn and Court.



Well, I hope this clears up the confusion, on my part, about what happened to Blarney Rose.

Sunburnt Cow and Roasted Pig

Today Zum Schneider celebrated their sixth anniversary at their current location on the corner of Avenue C and 7th Street today. They always throw a great party and I hope they will be able to celebrate their seventh anniversary next year. They are currently in a dispute with their landlord so the jury is out.

The festivities started at 1:00 P.M. but the Mysterious Chinese Woman and I arrived a bit early so we headed uptown a couple of blocks for, what else, a beer before we drank more beer.

Sunburnt Cow



I had been in here before and didn't realize it has an Australian theme to it, kind of. The bartender's accent today gave it away though. Usually I have a draft beer but thought I would check out the bottled stuff instead. It was a lucky call because they have several good Australian beers. By good I mean anyhthing but Foster's. I told the bartender I thought Foster's was Australia's answer to Budweiser. He said "Not quite." He explained that people in the United States drink Budweiser but nobody in Australia drinks Foster's.

The Mysterious Chinese Woman and I shared a Coopers Sparkling Ale and a Tooheys Ale, both very fine lagers indeed.





Wouldn't have minded staying for another, but we did have more beer to drink and a pig to eat so we headed back to Zum Schneider.

Zum Schneider



There certainly wasn't any doubt about the freshness of the roasted pigs.

Umm, Smelled and Looked Wonderful



You have got to love New York. The stuff you find on the street is always amazing. Like a pig being roasted.

I don't know who got this cut, because it wasn't on the menu.



Of course we had to start out with a couple of beers and a plate of appetizers before we tucked into the main meal.





The appetizer plate we chose had a nice selection of cold-cuts and cheese with pickles and radishes along with a nice basket of bread. Cautionary note, the butter was in a big lump on the plate with the cheese and both the Mysterious Chinese Woman and I took a bite of it before we realized what it was. In France they put butter on their radishes. At $7 this appetizer plate could easily serve as an adequate meal for two. The picture below was taken after we had already eaten a fair amount.



Needless to say we didn't stop there. We had to order the roasted pig. It was $20 but one person would be hard pressed to eat it all. Particularly when it came with a huge dumpling and a salad plate with coleslaw, cucumbers in a cream and dill sauce, potato salad, and red cabbage.



I headed to the bar for another beer and the bartender, Noel, had to get into the act.

The Bar Man and Noel



The Mysterious Chinese Woman Seemed to have quite a thirst today as well.

Quaffing Away The Day



Well, by the time we left we were stuffed and soused. The Mysterious Chinese Woman took a shortcut home using a portal that wasn't available to me.



I hate it when she does that. I was forced to take a more conventional means of transportation.



A great day that we topped off by watching Zombies on Broadway with Bela Lugosi. Well, Bella is in the movie, he wasn't actually watching it with us. It just doesn't get much better than that.

Tout Va Bien

Well, this restaurant is not in my neighborhood, but went there to have dinner with The Mysterious Chinese Woman and two of her sisters. One was going to a play so it fell to me to pick a restaurant in the theater district. This one got good reviews and is on 51st between 8th and 9th.



Of course, before dinner, I had to have a cocktail at the bar and the bartender, and damned if I can remember her name, mixed me up an excellent Bombay Martini. I asked to have it in a smaller glass than the normal, much too large, in my opinion, ones you usually get and she accomodated me and put the extra in another glass on the side.



They had a very nice French bistro menu and a reasonably priced Prix Fixe menu for the before the theater crowd. We shared a couple of flank steaks, mussels, scallops, duck, chicken, pate, and, of course, snails. They had a plate of celery and radishes on the table and I got everyone to try the radishes with butter. When I visited Paris I noticed that people ate them this way. The general consensus was that this combination was very tasty indeed. Desserts were included but I opted for Pernod and espresso. The decor was somewhat simple in a rustic sort of way and the service was most friendly.



The service was great, the wine reasonably priced, and I would come back again at the drop of a hat. I am looking forward to having the rest of the steak that I took home for dinner tonight. The portions were most generous and the French fries that accompanied the steaks were delicious as well.