{"id":958,"date":"2016-09-01T22:43:30","date_gmt":"2016-09-01T22:43:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kaysnycways.com\/?p=958"},"modified":"2016-09-01T22:43:30","modified_gmt":"2016-09-01T22:43:30","slug":"bars-books-french-fries-and-such","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kaysnycways.com\/index.php\/2016\/09\/01\/bars-books-french-fries-and-such\/","title":{"rendered":"Bars, books, french fries and such!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Or….Places I like and why!<\/p>\n

On occasion, I like to go to a nearby establishment in the late afternoon for a light libation, a little bar conversation, and, perhaps, \u00a0with a book or crossword puzzle.<\/p>\n

A friendly comfortable place that likes us “older folks”, walking distance from my apartment \u00a0and not crazy expensive and serves a good wine, or bourbon old fashioned and french fries. \u00a0 You would think that would be easy to find in\u00a0this \u00a0City, and it is, but it does take a little time \u00a0and effort.<\/p>\n

I know, you get the walking, likes seniors, reasonable, but what’s with the french fries? \u00a0 A tradition, I’m big on traditions. \u00a0This all started with my younger trouble-making sisters. \u00a0One of them said, \u00a0“Let’s stop for a drink.” \u00a0Found ourselves a place and sat down at the bar.\u00a0\u00a0 We\u00a0just wanted a little something to pick on. Looked over the appetizers, but\u00a0nothing.\u00a0 Looked at the rest of the menu ,and there it was…\u00a0French Fries<\/em>. \u00a0 Those luscious fattening little \u00a0things have\u00a0\u00a0become the \u00a0go-to bar snack for me and most\u00a0of my family and friends.<\/p>\n

What’s a girl to do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

One afternoon I was walking back from my local small bookstore with my new book in hand. \u00a0 It wasn’t really what I wanted to do, but I did it anyway, spend the money that is. \u00a0I love browsing \u00a0independent book stores like Shakespeare & Co. \u00a0on Lexington Ave. \u00a0I could have borrowed it from the library, but I have a thing about having my own copy. \u00a0 \u00a0 Although, I do borrow on occasion. \u00a0Coulda, woulda, shoulda, so I bought it. \u00a0 Senior moment…can’t remember the name of the book.<\/p>\n

It had just started to rain, when I stopped that day at Donohue’s, also on Lexington\u00a0(opened in 1950), \u00a0\u00a0\"Image\"down the street from my apt. \u00a0I sat at the bar and ordered an old fashioned and, of course, fries. A couple came in and sat next to me. \u00a0I smiled and then went back to cursing Will Shortz. (you know, the editor of the NY Times crossword) as I worked on that day’s puzzle. \u00a0“Excuse me,” I heard and turned to look at the two next to me. \u00a0She asked, “Do you know the best way\u00a0to get to \u00a0the Metropolitan Opera?” \u00a0It was so hard not to say, “Practice, practice,practice.” But, no, I didn’t. \u00a0Their\u00a0question \u00a0started a conversation about The Met opera and The Met museum.\u00a0\u00a0Then some goodbyes and off they went to Lincoln Center and “Aida”<\/em>. There you have it… a\u00a0nice place, good drink, bar conversation, fries \u00a0and home.\u00a0That’s what I’m talking about!<\/p>\n

\"Finnegan's<\/p>\n

And over on First\u00a0\u00a0Avenue, a \u00a0dear friend introduced me t0\u00a0Finnegans Wake Pub, it’s \u00a0been there since 1972. \u00a0Besides the ubiquitous french fries, they make a delicious chicken pot pie. Chicken pot pie seems to be standard pub fare, some are ok, but theirs is really, really yummy.\u00a0\u00a0 The conversations between my friend and I \u00a0and the tables around us or at the bar are always fun at this cozy neighborhood place. Drinks are good and\u00a0the price is right!<\/p>\n

\u00a0“Wait for it”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Then on\u00a0\u00a0Second and 70th \u00a0is Beach \u00a0Cafe. \u00a0(since 1968) a little bar\/restaurant, where you can get a\u00a0great bourbon old fashioned. It\u00a0has really been through tough times for a while now \u00a0with the noise and scaffolding and walls up for the Second Avenue subway. \u00a0But another comfortable easy place to stop with friendly folk from the area. \u00a0Just\u00a0ignore the \"Photoconstruction around. \u00a0 \u00a0“Hamilton”<\/em> was the bar conversation one afternoon, when I heard the woman next to me say to the fellow next to her,\u00a0\u00a0incredulously “You’ve seen Hamilton\u00a0how many times?” \u00a0He laughed and said, “Six.” \u00a0 “How did you manage that?”, she asked. Now all our eyes were\u00a0\u00a0focused on this lucky guy. He gave an answer that wasn’t a surprise.”I have a friend who has a friend who knows somebody.” \u00a0We laughed. \u00a0I had to go,\u00a0but I heard this comment\u00a0as I left, smiling.\u00a0“I didn’t think you had any friends.”<\/p>\n

“If you’re gonna dance, you gotta\u00a0\u00a0pay the band”\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0One of my favorite places, in the City, \u00a0is the classic \u00a0New York bar, Bemelmens \u00a0at the Carlyle Hotel (1947) on Madison Avenue, little further away from the others, but worth the walk. \u00a0 I love \u00a0the atmosphere\u00a0and\u00a0the wonderful\u00a0bonus\u00a0of\u00a0listening\u00a0to the \u00a0jazz pianist playing those great \u00a0standards. There was a wonderful bartender there, that retired a few years ago, he made, according to a friend,\u00a0\u00a0the best Cosmopolitan ever! \u00a0\u00a0Drinks are still great\u00a0and\u00a0\u00a0their little trio of bar snacks, which they keep refilling,\u00a0will make one forget about french fries. \u00a0 Just\u00a0\u00a0be ready for the “ouch factor” when \u00a0it’s time to pay the bill. \u00a0It’s become, for me, a special occasion place. \u00a0As an aside, it is one of the best places for eavesdropping… and \u00a0do I have stories to tell? \u00a0 Woo Hoo! \u00a0‘nother post,’nother time.\"Bemelmans<\/p>\n

“In my own little corner”\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0Just so you know, I’m not promoting any of these places.\u00a0I’ve had \u00a0interesting times at each and wanted to tell you about them, because as vast as NYC \u00a0is, \u00a0it is filled with \u00a0neighborhoods and communities and these places happen to be in mine. \u00a0However, my most favorite place is in my own apartment, in my comfortable chair, my feet up, \u00a0with \u00a0a good book, some jazz playing in the background, \u00a0and a nice glass of something. French fries can wait.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Enjoy!<\/p>\n

\u00a0Love this City.<\/p>\n

Senior moment \u00a0recovery : \u00a0<\/em><\/strong>The book was \u00a0the last of the Ferrante Neopolitan Novels,\u00a0The Story of the Lost Child<\/em>. Now I remember why I\u00a0\u00a0couldn’t borrow\u00a0 it from the library, I have the other three, can’t break up a set.<\/p>\n

KAY’S NOTES<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Important to know:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0The locations of the places in this post are \u00a0all on the Upper East Side and within a few blocks of each other with the one exception of Bemelmans which is a little further away – but not that far.<\/p>\n

Donohue’s<\/strong>, Lexington Avenue between 64th and 65th<\/p>\n

Shakespeare & Co<\/strong>, Lexington\u00a0between 68th and 69th<\/p>\n

The Beach Cafe<\/strong>, Second Ave and 70th<\/p>\n

Finnegans Wake Pub<\/strong>, First Ave and\u00a072nd (no apostrophe-according to their site)<\/p>\n

Bemelmans Bar<\/strong>, Madison Ave and 76th (no apostrophe here, either)<\/p>\n

Photos: Courtesy of their websites<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I try for correct info on my posts, but no guarantees people.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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Or….Places I like and why! On occasion, I like to go to a nearby establishment in the late afternoon for a light libation, a little bar conversation, and, perhaps, \u00a0with a book or crossword puzzle. A friendly comfortable place that likes us “older folks”, walking distance from my apartment \u00a0and not crazy expensive and serves … Continue reading “Bars, books, french fries and such!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","category-restaurants"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7svLB-fs","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kaysnycways.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kaysnycways.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kaysnycways.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kaysnycways.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kaysnycways.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=958"}],"version-history":[{"count":64,"href":"https:\/\/kaysnycways.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1022,"href":"https:\/\/kaysnycways.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958\/revisions\/1022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kaysnycways.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kaysnycways.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kaysnycways.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}