The Great American Ale Trail - Christian DeBenedetti [115]
PHILOSOPHY
Every beer has a good story, and every good story deserves a beer.
KEY BEER
Blue Point Toasted Lager, at 5.3% ABV is low in bitterness for the style, easy-drinking yet refreshing, light, and well-suited to a long night of trading tales.
THE GINGER MAN
11 E. 36th St. • New York, NY 10016 • (212) 532-3740 No website • Established: 1996
SCENE & STORY
A New York standby and offshoot of the original Houston Gingerman (though only this location is still owned by founder Bob Precious), the beer list is truly incredible here, with some seventy taps and scores of truly obscure beers and a solid menu of upscale pub favorites. The Ginger Man is large and well lit, with varnished wood booths, white tile wall details, framed beer posters, and one of the first bartending female Cicerones in New York (if not the United States). Wise imbibers will avoid weekday happy hour, when the bar lines up three-deep with midtown and Murray Hill office workers clamoring for a brew.
PHILOSOPHY
Big and brash yet benign. Around the bar are lovely chalk murals by Julie Gaither, another bartender, attesting that this is a beer bar with its heart in the right place.
KEY BEER
Fluffy White Rabbits from Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project. An 8.5% ABV tripel style beer, it’s hay-hued with layers of tropical fruit and spices like thyme and lemon grass.
GOOD BEER NYC
422 E. 9th St. • New York, NY 10009 • (212) 677-4836 goodbeernyc.com • Established: 2010
SCENE & STORY
David Cichowicz’s amazing little beer shop is the latest reason for beer lovers to spend some extra time in Losaida (the Lower East Side). The vast selection (more than five hundred, heading toward nine hundred, he says) is organized neatly along old-timey wooden shelves and in glassed-in coolers, and best of all you’re free to order pints while you shop or take growlers (with twelve taps running) to go. Cichowicz offers $6 pints and flights ($8 for four 4-ounce pours); snacks to keep you going include pretzels, organic grass-fed dogs, spicy or cheddar-filled kielbasa, and cheese plates.
PHILOSOPHY
The beers are divided regionally, with 80 percent domestic craft beer and 20 percent from overseas, and there’s an especially strong mix from the Northeastern region.
KEY BEER
Look for a local specialty you might have missed, like Brooklyn Brewery’s Cuvée Noire, a delicious, 8.7% ABV strong dark Belgian ale.
RESTO
111 E. 29th St. • New York, NY 10016 • (212) 685-5585 restonyc.com • Established: 2007
SCENE & STORY
The word resto is sometimes used as slang in France for a casual restaurant, but the sophisticated Belgian artistry here rises above the fray with sure-handed, nose-to-tail cooking served in a cozy refuge. Moules frites shine here, naturally: try the Dijon, house-made bacon, Parmesan, onion confit, and tarragon combo (the green curry, lemon grass, coconut milk, and kaffir lime combo is also excellent). What’s more, there’s a bit of bacchanalian sensibility when it comes to both beer and portions, which are available in ultra-large sizes. Fancy a delicious whole roast chicken for two ($60) and a 3-liter Jeroboam of luscious St. Feuillen Tripel ($165)? You’ve come to the right place. The great thing is that you won’t feel like an idiot for ordering said jumbo spreads. It’s what people do at Resto, and it’s worth both the cost and effort. Dining at the bar is a great option if the tables kept open for walk-ins are already spoken for. Sunday dinners are institutional, and recently beer dinners have gotten more frequent. The slightly older crowd consists of well-dressed Manhattanites, but doesn’t feel annoyingly business-like.
PHILOSOPHY
Chef Bobby