NY Barfly

West 3rd Common: The Best Bar Food in Town?

What makes good bar food? First, it has to be cheap. A burger should ideally be in the $10 – 12 arena, with plenty of options available in the same range. Yes, variety is necessary, but leave the pig ears and sweet breads to the gastro pubs and stick with the familiar. Finally, it has to be good. That may seem obvious, but have you seen the disgusting chicken wings out there? Those suckers will make you swear off pub grub and stick with steamed vegetables forever.

West 3^rd Common is from the folks behind Alphabet City’s Common Ground, and the comfort food on their menu lives up to all three rules of successful bar chow. Their signature Common Burger is $11, and we’d pay more for this juicy sucker any day. They’ve got variety, but not too much. Their Crawfish Monica, a classic from New Orleans is just different enough. It’s like the best Mac N’ Cheese you ever had.

Have they got the quality? Um, try the duck sliders. Word.

The spot definitely rivals our other top bar food picks (Flight 151 on 8^th Ave, Brother Jimmy’s southern twist). In classic drunken spirit, they’ve also got a wicked happy hour. You can grab $3 draft beers, $4 well drinks and wine, and $5 cosmos and apple martinis until 8 pm.

Do they have the best bar food in town? We’ll leave you to cast the deciding vote. West 3rd Common is located at 1 West 3^rd Street, between Broadway and Mercer.

Party Report: LuckyRice Bash at Fatty 'Cue.

Question: What gets Daniel Boulud, Anita Lo, and Pichet Ong in the same room, all of their hands dripping with BBQ sauce?

Answer: LuckyRice, New York’s first Asian food festival.

Oh, and Zak Pelaccio, who was slinging meat at his gigantic smokers outside his new Williamsburg haunt. When those puppies start their work, it’s like smoke signals. Top chefs in Manhattan flock toward the plumes for a taste of his pork loin smoked on the bone or lamb ribs with cincalock and white wine brine. Drool.

All of the restaurant heavyweights are involved in the LuckyRice festival. Can you say “yes, please?” The fest runs from April 29^th – May 2^nd, and is followed by a city wide restaurant week from May 3^rd to May 9^th.

You can check out more info at their website LuckyRice.com. But for now, more pics of the party!

 

 

Free BBQ on April 1st at The Sunburnt Calf

No kids, it’s not an April Fool’s joke. Alphabet City favorite The Sunburnt Cow has given birth to a baby. If the crowds who flock in for the Avenue C spot’s unlimited drinking deals are any indication, it’s a drunken baby. Awwww. The Sunburnt Calf is the Upper West Side’s newest drink den. With two floors, 80 seats, and an upstairs balcony, this spot is sure to draw in the always thirsty UWS partiers.

To celebrate their opening, The Sunburnt Calf is going to hold a free outdoor BBQ on April 1^st. The party starts at 4 pm so stop by, have some free grub, and check out the new space.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to bring a gift for this baby shower. The Sunburnt Calf is located at 226 West 79^th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam.

Beer for Babes, Tonight.

Here’s something new: a beer tasting class just for women. The derelicts over at The Village Pourhouse (64 Third Avenue at 11^th Street) are hosting a “Beers for Babes” ladies-only beer tasting tonight at 7 pm. If you can’t head over and sip some suds this evening, they’re repeating the event on April 19^th at the same time.

They promise to lay down some beer basics, and a beer sommelier will lead a tasting of some flavored brews like Bluepoint Blueberry Ale, Ithaca Apricot Wheat, and Lindeman's Pomme.

Now, we all know The Village Pourhouse. Do they really want to teach some ladies about beer, or are they just trying to lure in some brew loving chicks to flirt with? Either way, it’s sure to be a fun time.

It’s $40 a head. If you want to head over, check out this website for advance tickets: www.villagepourhouse.ticketleap.com. No word if there is any discount for the especially babe-ilicious.

Teen Idols at The Eldridge / Beer Geeks A -Tizzy

-Apparently the door policy at The Eldridge is as tough as ever. To get in, you have to be a 16 year old pop star. Justin Bieber was seen at the spot enjoying some burgers and fries. If, like us, you said “who’s Justin Bieber?”, welcome to old age.

-Beer Geeks are excited by the availability of Greenport Harbor Brewing Company beers, which are making their way to spots in Brooklyn and Manhattan. You know what happens when beer geeks are excited. Geek out!

-Here’s a list of the top 20 wine trends to avoid in 2010. Putting ice in white wine is at the top of the list. We didn’t realize one of our favorite practices had developed into a trend.

Win $10,000 to Bling-Up Your Home Bar

You know that show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition? Well, Grant’s Whisky is tweaking it. It’s now Extreme Makeover: Home Bar Edition.

The whisky company is giving away a boatload full of prizes, including $10,000 cash and a home theater setup with a 42 inch television. One lucky winner will take home the dough, while 10 runners up will get a giant TV that will snazz up any home bar area. 50 other winners will get a Grant’s Whisky Branded Bar Mirror, which you can pretend is one of the television prizes while you stare at it during the big game.

To enter, you just have to check out their website here and upload a picture of your sorry-ass home bar. The judges will determine which space is most deserving of a makeover, and award the cash to give that home bar some bling.

Top 10 Cocktail Blogs

The search is over. You can stop trolling the web for the best blogs that focus on all things drink. (You can even find the perfect drinks to make when hosting poker parties.) If you want to read about cocktails, liquor and drunken good times, we’ve compiled a list of the best wine and spirits sites that the web has to offer.

In fact, we’re such an expert in this area, that Blogs.com invited us to write a guest post guiding you through the top 10 liquor blogs on the web.

You can check out the list here. Think we were shameless enough to include our own blog on the list? Of course we were, silly!

More Tiki Please / The Quest for Free Drinks

-The tiki craze is expanding. The new Lower East Side spot Painkiller is slated to open in the next couple weeks. Now, Eater has word that no less than Julie Reiner is donning the hula skirt and coconut bra. She plans to turn Soho spot Tailor into a tiki den. How many mai tais can one city handle?

-The Frugal Traveler from the New York Times tries to drink for free, hitting some gallery openings and wine tastings. He didn’t try our favorite tactic to score free drinks: thievery.

-Grub Street has word of two new rooftop bars. A slew of hew high up spots are opening this season. These bars are as high as the credit card debt that we racked up drinking at these spots.

Happy Birthday Tanqueray (yes, the gin used to be a person).

Lushes everywhere have another reason to celebrate this March. St. Pat’s is over, but the party rages on for Tanqueray’s birthday.

Did you know that the gin is named after Charles Tanqueray (who we affectionately know as Charlie). He was born in England, in March of 1810, to a clergyman. Charlie wasn’t much for religion, even though his grandfather and great uncle were also men of the cloth. He opened the Vine Street Distillery in Bloomsbury, London. He would have been part of the Bloomsbury group, but he was too drunk to put his name into contention.

Well, we can all honor good old Charlie with a few gin and tonics this weekend, doesn’t that sound like a good idea? Yes, we were already going to have a few gin and tonics this weekend, but it’s nice to have a reason to justify another round.

Pizza and Happy Hour at 57 Napoli

Just opened 57 Napoli Pizza e Vino is also known as the pizza speakeasy. Upstairs from C’est Bon Café at 120 East 57^th Street, it is a bit tricky to find. Sounds like our type of place, especially because of the 2 for 1 drink deals they have on Monday – Friday from 3 – 7 pm.

Flipping the spot’s pizza dough is Salvatore Olivella, and he’ll be dishing out his signature Nutella pies. They are also serving goodies like antipasti, salads, panini, and pastas, so there’s plenty to gorge on. But, as you know, we’re headed there for the drinks.

They have a small list: 5 reds, 5 whites, with a couple of sparkling and dessert wines. They’re normally $5 a glass, and they have a range of beers for $5 – 6. The deal’s for house reds and selected beers. The best part? You’re used to drinking a little too much at happy hour and then stumbling somewhere for pizza. Now you can kill two birds with one stone.

57 Napoli Pizza e Vino is located at. 120 East 57^th St.