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It’s an Irish pub somehow located in the interior plaza of a FiDi housing complex. The blinds are down; the red vinyl booths are empty. There’s an octagonal painting of the Twin Towers; Tiffany lampshades; a dim back room with stained glass windows; an ancient waiter who wears a suit; a horrific porcelain leprechaun. The wings are pretty good.One of the few bars in the vicinity to predate 9/11, Byrnes is a holdout against the mass extinction of normal places for normal people to get a drink in the city. For every haunt like Forlini’s that closes we’re treated to half a dozen new TikTok-bait establishments called, like, Ghosted & Fried that serve TUNA POKE WONTON TACOS and MEXICAN STREET CORN RAVIOLI (real menu items at Beauty & Essex) to Syracuse marketing majors in Allbirds. And don’t get me started on the neon signs…Even more insidious are the places like Bernie’s that mimic suburban taverns in order to sell homesick creative directors a plate of five mozzarella sticks for $17. Skip all that, go to Byrnes.
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People are there to watch the game and watching it on one tv or even better a projector gives it a communal vibe. A sports specific bar is overwhelming with all the TVs.
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Brendan Behan in JP
Glorietta Baldy in Bed Stuy
The Emerson in Clinton Hill
Oct 17, 2024
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In a neighborhood of bad Irish bars this is the best. They just celebrated their 100 year anniversary and most of the clientele are approximately the same age.
Apr 3, 2023
I have been working in this neighborhood for SIX years at [redacted art school] and just went here for the first time. It is 132 years old.
That math is pathetic ! much time to make up for. this place is a treasure if you like things like observing the oldest dumbwaiter in NYC, tin ceilings, and old stained glass and wood.
The women’s bathroom still has little makeup stations with mirrors and tables. It‘s very charming.
I’ve also heard something about the urinals but will need a counterpart to report back.
The food and drink don’t matter to me. A beer is a beer everywhere. It was fine. Go for everything else.
Oct 18, 2024
Top Recs from @ezra
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This 2007 cult classic from Richard Kelly has it all: An insane ensemble cast including The Rock, Justin Timberlake, Mandy Moore, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Janeane Garofalo, and Wallace Shawn. An original score from Moby. Nonstop schizzed-out nonsense about the end of the world, quantum entanglement, psychic porn stars, exploding blimps, and, as Timberlake helpfully informs his drug dealer, “angels under a sea of black umbrellas, angels who can see through time.” Then he pours a can of Bud on his head and lip-syncs a Killers song to an arcade full of strippers.
Jun 28, 2022
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The year is 2007; reality TV is an unstoppable cultural juggernaut. So they went for it: Survivor with kids. 40 of them, ages 8 to 15, sent to a Nevada ranch (coincidentally the same one where Alec Baldwin would later shoot two people) and left alone to create their own “society.” Split into four teams, they compete in challenges; the losers have to cook and clean for the winners. Each episode the kids vote for one among them to win a $20,000 prize. It went about as well as you’d expect: the show was canceled after a season, one participant was severely injured, and CBS was investigated for child labor law violations. It’s all on Youtube.
Jun 28, 2022
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The best meal in New York under ten dollars, or at any other price point, is the silken tofu topped with diced century egg at this hole-in-the-wall Chinese spot in Elmhurst, Queens. Get the “oil spill noodles” too.
Jun 28, 2022