COCKTAILS

Pregame Cocktails in New York – Daniel Bellino Z – Pregaming

 

MARTINIS

 


Pre-GAMING? Have you heard about it? What is it you want to know? Pre-Gaming, when it comes to cocktails, or the drinking of any alcoholic beverages, is when you are going out to a nightclub, or for drinks at a bar or cocktail lounge, but have one or two drinks at home before going out. Why? Well, mostly to save money. Especially these days, days of $20 plus cocktails. The act of pre-gaming serves as social, financial, and preparatory way to start off the evening. Pre-gaming is a major way to save money, as it’s a lot cheaper to buy alcohol at a liquor store and make cocktails at home, as compared to drinking in a nightclub or cocktail lounge where drinks can cost $20 or more, plus with tax and tip, you’re looking at a cocktails cost $30 or more by the time you pay for the drink and add the tax and tip. “It’s insane.”

Back in the 1980s when I was a young man in my 20s, I often pre-gamed. My apartment was on Avenue A in New York’s East Village, and on nights offf, if my friends and I were going out to a club, we’d often pre-game at my house, having a drink or two before we left. At the time Stolychnya was a popular Russian Vodka, and my personal favorite in those years, so I always had a bottle of Stoli in my freezer. It’s customary to keep Russian Vodka in the freezer, just in case you didn’t’ know, and my drink of choice was Stoli & Grapefruit. During those times drinks ranged from $5 to $7 a pop. It was much cheaper back then, but still, at the time, though not expensive, that was exactly cheap, so as today, with everything from groceries, gas, and cocktails at bars and cocktail lounges in New York City, we were looking to save money too. My friends would come over, we’d drink Stoli, then head on out, primed with one or two drinks at home. 

Back in the 1980s East Village, wE had another way to pre-game before heading to one of our favorite nightclubs. We had lost of great inexpensive bars in my neighborhood, where you could get a cheap beer or cocktail. My favorite was the Holiday Ounge on St Marks Place, where I could get my favorite drink – Stoli & Grapefruit for only $2.It was a cool little bar run by one of the local Ukrainians “Stephan,” who I always loved seeing behind the bar, and ordering my drink from. Yes, it would cost me just $3, paying $2 for the drink, and leaving Stephan a $1 tip, so it was almost as cheap as (very cheap anyway) to pre-game at a local bar, as it was to drink at home, so we’d pre-game at the Holiday Lounge, have a one drink there, then head to Nell’s, Area, The Paladium, or whichever club we were going to that night. Yes things were much cheaper back then. You could go to a diner, and get a whole breakfast of 2 Eggs, with potatoes, toast, and coffee for just $2.99, which would cost you a little more than $4 zithtax and tip. Today, that same breakfast cost you $20 plus. That’s why I never go out for breakfast anymore. I eat breakfast at home. 

Besides saving money, which often is the main reason for pre-gaming (pre-drinking), saving money is not the only reason to do pre-game drinking at home. Having pre-game cocktails at home allows people to gather in a more intimate quieter setting to converse, listen to your own chosen music, and bond before going to a completely different World inside a New York City nightclub. 

Yes, I was listening, as usual to 1010 New Radio at home in Greenwich Village, as I always do. 1010 Wins New Radio “Give Us 1o Minutes & we’ll Give You the World,” is there slogan, and I’m a fan. Besides getting all the Big World News Stories, and the biggest news stories of New York City, they always give you all sorts of interesting other stories and info, that you wouldn’t get on network news. I find out so many things from 1010 news radio, I just love it. They give you little tidbits and if I need more info, I just jump on my phone and Google for more info. And so, I heard that Pre-Gaming Drinks at Home has now become a big thing, do to the “High Cost” of cocktails in New York City, bars, cocktail lounges, clubs, and restaurants. It’s just too much, and people have a choice. They “Pre-Game.” Something I’ve been doing in New York, since 1983. Yes, I’m usually ahead of the curve. On many things. I started drinking Negroni’s way back in the Summer of 1985, a good 30 plus years before most Americans discovered the famous Italian cocktail, and it became all the rage in New York and all over America. But I knew about them 33 years before they became the rage. Same thing with Cubano Sandwiches, and the Aperol Spritz, I discovered them many years before the rest of America finally caught up. Brag? No, just facts. I’m usually ahead of the curve. Anyway? 



by Daniel Bellino Zwicke – NYC








A NEGRONI COCKTAIL

HOW to MAKE a NEGRONI

Ingredients :

CAMPARI
GIN 
SWEET VERMOUTH
ICE
Fresh ORANGE Slices

Fill a Rock Glass with Ice. Add equal parts of Campari, Gin, & Sweet Vermouth. Garnish with a slice of Orange.

Serve.
Note : Most people probably don’t have Rock Glasses. You can make the drink using a wine glass instead.






An APEROL SPRITZ
HOW to MAKE an “APEROL SPRITZ”
INGREDIENTS :
APEROL
PROSECCO
CLUB SODA
ICE
ORANGE Slices
1 & 1/2 ounces Aperol
3 & 1/2 ounces Prosecco
1 ounce Club Soda
Ice
Orange Slice
Fill a wine glass with Ice. Add the Aperol, then the Prosecco, and top with the club soda. Stir, and add a fresh Orange slice.
Serve and Enjoy.
ALSO  –
The 3-2-1 RULE for making an APEROL SPRITZ
To make a classic Aperol Spritz, use the 3-2-1 rule: combine 3 parts Prosecco, 2 parts Aperol, and 1 part soda water in a wine glass filled with ice. Garnish with a fresh orange slice for a refreshing, bittersweet, and bubbly cocktail




CLASSIC COKTAILS


FRANK SINATRA


SINATRA SAUCE

The COOKBOOK

COOK & EAT LIKE FRANK

“COCKTAILS TOO”
AMAZON.com


The ROLLING STONES

The ROLLING STONES

ROLLING STONES NEW YORK T-SHirt

“ONE of a KIND”

This is an EXCLUSIVE PIECE

CAN NOT Be PURCHASE ANYWHERE ELSE

ONLY at COOL GIFTS TEES on ETSY
STONES T-SHRT

Good Times at Milano’s – New Yorks Famous Dive Bar

 


MILANO’S

NEW YORK’S FAVORITE “DIVE BAR”



It’s May 2nd, 2024. I’m at my favorite dive-bar, Milano’s on Houston Street, enjoying my $4 Rolling Rock Beer. It’s quite tasty and a “Godsend” at just 4 Bucks, this in a day and age when  in Manhattan, a cocktail can cost you $20 or more. it’s”Friggin Insane” !!! What’s a guy to do? Well Thank God, that though there aren’t many places left like Milano’s, there still are a few. 

Yes, thank goodness that there are a few great old dive-bars like – Milano’s, Rudy’s, 7B Bar, Blue & Gold on East 7th Street and a few other joints in lower Manhattan where the poor old working guy can still afford to have a beer or a drink or two, and it not cost an Arm & a Leg. These places are doing New Yorkers a service that’s quite admirable. The owners a not so greed as to grab every single dollar out there, and taking all they need and not going overboard with overpriced libations. “I Thank You Sirs – ever so much.”

I wrote a piece back in 2012 called “New York & The $3 PBR,” Paste Blue Ribbon beer, and places like 7B & Blue & Gold Bar that served $3 PBRs, or other affordable beer offerings. What does this mean, well it means that instead of going to a place and spending $40 or more for 2 drinks, or $60 plus for 3 cocktails with tax and tip, you could go to Milano’s or Lucy’s, hang with your friends (or not) and have 3 Beers (PBRs) and leave the Bartender a good tip ($5), and only spend $16. Now that’s not bad at all. Or if you only had 2 beers, you can get away with only 10 Bucks for the whole “Kit & Caboodle” of two beers and a $4 tip. Fast forward to 2024 and the Rolling Rock Beer I have at Milano’s was a damn reasonable $4 a can. “No complaint there.” I had two for just 8 bucks. But I sprung for a bag of Potato Chips for $3. Not cheap for a bag of Chips, but this was a little added luxury. I didn’t have to get the Potato Chips. Now that’s another Grip of Got. Have you noticed the price of Potato Chips these days? “Highway Robbery” !!! And Pretzels too ! It wasn’t long ago that you can get a small bag of Potato Chips or Pretzels at a Bodega for only .50 Cents. Not bad, when you’re walking around, a bit hungry and need something to nibble on and hold you over until your next meal. A slice of Pizza (now getting insanely overpriced) a Banana, or a small bag of Chips or maybe M&Ms could do the trick. Lately I’ve gone into modest grocery stores and Bodegas and see a small bag of Pretzels or Potato Chips for $2 a Pop. Are You Kidding Me? Highway Robbery ! And you’re not going to get me to pay $2 for a small frogman bag of Potato Chips, “No Siree” !!!

Sorry, I swerved off the subject there a minute. But like the high prices of Manhhattan Cocktails, overpriced cocktail lounges, and the ability to afford a couple cheap drinks (or Beers), the high price of Pizza and Potato Chips these days, is most relevant. Wouldn’t you say?

Anyway, let’s get back to Milano’s, the legendary New York Dive Bar that remains affordable, and has not been ruined by its popularity and notoriety as being one of New York City’s best dive bars, if not the best. I had a great time there last night, and have only one minor gripe. Well it’s been a while since I’ve been there, and they always had great music of the Jukebox, and it was famous as well. The Jukebox that is, Now, I’m sitting there chit-chatting with the bartender Dave (great guy), I’m sipping on my Rolling Rock, listening to the music, and all of a sudden some Shitty Crap Rap Hip Hop music comes on the jukebox. “What the Fuck” ??? Since when did they put this type of Shit into the Jukebox? “It’s Sacrilegious” !!! I Fucking Hate this Stuff. So-Called music? I call it Shit! With a capital S. Anyway, I guess there’s not much you can do. Well yes. The owner is able to not put that kind of crap in the box if he chooses to do so. No law against not putting Shitty Music in your jukebox. Not the last time I checked anyway. But who knows the way things are going these days? Politicians making insane new laws. It just might happen. I don’t want to think about it. I want to think happy thought s today. Anyway, I wish they owner did not out that Shitty Stuff in his Jukebox. It was always great. But I was subject to having to have to listen to a couple of Shitty Hip Hop songs last night, which always bring my mood, and anybody who has good taste, it’s enough to change you mood from happy and good, to something going towards the Negative. That’s the affect that Crappy Rap so-called music has on people of good taste. I guess the owner wanted to put crap in the jukebox, as I guess he does have a few customers with Shitty Taste in music, so he caters to them as well. Equal opportunity I guess? 

Well I had such a good time, that the couple shitty Hip Hop songs didn’t bring me down much. The beers, the other great music playing on the jukebox most of the night, was enough to balance out the Crap Hip Hop stuff, the bartender Dave was great, as was the conversation at the bar, and the general upbeat vibe of the place. I really did have a wonderful time at Milano’s last nigh, even despite the hip hop. I bought a box in the Kentucky Derby, which if I’m Lucky, I might wine. If not, no biggy, nothing will deter the good time I had, last night and every time over the years. Yes Milano Bar, “I Love You.”

Basta !




DBZ

May 3, 2024 NYC








BLUE & GOLD BAR
BLUE and GOLD BAR …  79 East 7th Street, East Village, NY NY

Everybody’s favorite East Village dive pulls in a regular crowd of college kids, bikers, local senior citizens and random eccentrics—like the long-haired guy whose only sound is a high-pitched shriek. Mixed drinks run for as little as four dollars, but that means the pretty Ukrainian owner will have to head to the fridge in the back room for juice, and you might be out of luck with ice. Stay long enough to play pool on the ratty table and mine the juke’s selection of hits from the ’60s to the ’80s. But if at all possible, use the bathroom elsewhere—don’t say we didn’t warn you. — Kenneth H. Hyman ExtraIn addition to black-and-white photographs documenting the bar’s history, Blue & Gold’s walls are decorated with fading pictures of European men blowing long Alphorns. 


Fire at PJ Clarkes New York

 


PJ CLARKE’S

NEW YORK

by Bellino
FINE ART PRINT From FINE ART AMERICA


NEW YORK – August 28, 2022  “Fire at PJ Clarke’s “


Yes there was a fire at PJ Clarke’s, the famed Old New York Bar and eatery on 3rd Avenue at East 55th Street.

The good news is that nonone was hurt, and there was very little damage. If PJ Clarke’s had burned down, this would have been very devestating news for those of us who truly love this wonderfule Old New York Institution, and would be crushed if it was gone, and we’d be unable to go there any longer.

Though PL Clarke’s has lost much of its charm in the past few years, when many more people than is usual have discover the place, and it has become overly crowded, in comparison to years past, when yoy would go in the back room, and it was not overly packed with way too many people. It was much more enjoyable.  Anyway, Thank God it is still there, we can see it, and go there, hopefully when it is not overly crowded, in which case the great vibe of the place is ruined, ever since the actor Timothy Hutton became a partner. My advice, is not to go for dinner when it gets way too crowded for comfort. Go for lunch, and sit in the back room, order a Burger and your beverage of choice, and relax.

Note :  Yes PJ Clarke’s was the late great Frank Sinatra’s favorite bar. Whenever in New York Frank would stop in. The great songwriter Johnny Mercer was a frequent patron of the establishment, and even wrote a song of which PJ Clarke’s is the inspiration and setting of the song. The son is One For My Baby, and is one of Frank Sinatra’s all-time greates saloon songs, as Frank woulds say, “Est em up Joe.”

Jackie Kennedy was a fan of PJ Clarke’s and often brought her two children Joh F. Kennedy Jr., and Caroline Kennedy there for the famosu PJ Clarke Burgers. Yes, many celebrites have eaten at PJ Clarke’s pver the years, including the great singer Nat King Cole who called the burger at PJ Clarke’s, “The Caddillac of Burgers.”


Basta! 


Daniel Bellino Zwicke









OLD NEW YORK

PJ CLARKE’S

by Bellino

Canvas FINE ART
From FINE ART AMERICA


SUNDAY SAUCE

FRANK SINATRA’S FAVORITE COOKBOOK
AMAZON.com