I’ve had two suggestions to go to O’Connor’s bar in Brooklyn in the last week. One was from onemorefoldedsunset and the other was from my former co-pilot from 365 Bars, Al Rizo, who is an expert at New York taverns. To prove I take suggestions and because I’ve wanted to check this classic Brooklyn dive bar for quite some time, we’re off to O’Connor’s! Never let it be said I don’t take requests!
And it's down into the subway we go to begin our journey to Brooklyn.
We're taking the Q train, which you always have to wait forever for it to arrive.
I'm always paranoid about someone pushing me on to the tracks down in the subway and always have a hand on a pole. It always amazes me to see someone standing so close to the tracks, texting away with earplugs in her ears and oblivious to everything that's going on around her.
And five minutes later, she still can't stop texting.
I'm so tempted to push her on to the tracks myself!
Finally the train arrives!
And she's still texting!
I should've pushed her on to the tracks when I had a chance!
Okay, through the miracle of the internet, we're here in Brooklyn and I'm done obsessing over the woman who couldn't stop texting. I still wish I'd have thrown her on the tracks though!
And here we are at O'Connor's. There's no sign and I walked by it once without realizing this was the bar. Let's check it out.
This is about as old school as it gets! It's one of those bars that feels like night time, even when it's the afternoon. Let's grab a stool at the bar.
Here's Chris the friendly bartender serving up a bottle of Budweiser. Chris told me that O'Connor's has been on this block since 1930.
As you can see, it's a well-stocked bar.
Here's the front window from my point of view at the bar. I can't wait for the sun to go down!
There's rugged and well-worn booths opposite the bar.
Lights built into ceiling fans hang overhead and illuminate the bar.
Love that vintage cash register behind the bar.
A longshot of the wooden bar, if only it could talk!
They have a great selection of tunes on the jukebox ranging from Devo to Syd Barrett to Patsy Cline to the Sex Pistols and everyone in between.
The New York Press voted them Best Brooklyn Bar back in 1996.
And they were featured in a "Best of New York" in New York magazine as well.
A Smithwick mirror hangs in the back of the bar.
And when I got back to my seat, Eric had arrived at the bar. Cheers! One More Folded Sunset was also there, but she's a little camera shy and opted to stay out of the photo.
And after several beers, night time has fallen on Brooklyn.
Time to head back to Manhattan. If I see that texting woman down there, she's going down on the tracks!
One business that’s booming in this shitty economy is the one dollar pizza place. You can hardly walk more than a couple blocks in Manhattan without walking by one. We did ketchup yesterday, so I thought I’d continue in this saucy post tradition by sampling one dollar slices in four very different locations and report about this experience today. And so, armed with four bucks, here we go. (The pizza ratings go from the worst at one slice to the best at four slices. Please note: this rating system is for one buck pizza places only, not your normal slice outlets or pizzeria’s.)
Armed with four bucks, it's off we go in search of four random dollar slices.
Olympia Finest DeliThe first stop is Olympia Finest Deli. I think it takes some balls to call yourself the "finest" deli in a city where there's a deli on every block, let's go in and see if they live up to this boast.
It's nice and clean in here, but I don't know if it's the finest deli in Manhattan, maybe in Olympia, but I've seen better in Manhattan. Let's go find the one dollar pizza in here.
And there it is, time to sample the first slice.
Playing on the name, I asked this gentleman if this was the finest one buck slice in town, he gave me a thumbs up.
If that truly is the finest deli in town, you'd think there'd be a place to sit, but there's not, but there's some tables not in use at the bar next door, so let's sample this slice over there.
Olympia Finest Deli Rating The slice: Very scary looking. The sauce and cheese were somewhat congealed and I almost threw up while eating the bite I took, it tasted like pure grease on cardboard. I threw the rest of it in the trash and feel sorry for the poor homeless person that has to make do with it for dinner. Overall pizza eating experience: There’s nowhere in the deli to eat the slice, which is fine by me, I’m never eating pizza there again. Pizza Rating—One Slice Olympia Finest Deli 761 Ave Of The Americas (Between 25th and 26th St.) 212-924-5074
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2 Brothers PizzaI believe 2 Brothers Pizza are the people that started this whole dollar pizza slice craze a couple of years ago, so I thought we should sample one of their slices.
I"ve never seen this before, usually there's always a line in here, maybe the economy is getting better after all!
Here's an aerial shot of one of their pies. Time to sample slice number two.
2 Brothers Pizza Rating The slice: The pizza itself isn’t horrible, it really isn’t anything. It has literally no taste to it. It’s like eating a hot slice of nothing. It’s the Seinfeld Slice. The crust is very limp, maybe they should add Viagra into the pizza dough. Overall pizza eating experience: The ambience in this place is equal parts sweatshop, pizzeria and parking garage. There’s almost always a line in here and when I pass by this song always plays in my mind. Pizza Rating: Two Seinfelds 2 Brothers Pizza 601 6th Ave. (Between 17th and 18th St.) 212-206-8656
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Gray’s PapayaIt was a sad day for me when I found out that Gray's Papaya in Greenwich Village had not only caved in to the dollar pizza game, they took it one cent lower and have a 99 cent slice. They should really just stick to what they're good at and that is great hot dogs, but let's go see what they have to offer in the way of cheap pizza.
The signage says that they're strictly hot dogs...
But this sad reflection while gazing at some weiners on the griddle says something else entirely.
And here's the pizzas on display at Gray's Papaya. I'd love to just have a hot dog and get out of here, but I'm a man on a mission.
Wow, this guy looks like he's serving me up my last supper, I don't feel too good about this!
Gray’s Papaya RatingThe slice: Another limp dick slice. It’s got a weird taste, kind of like they melted butter on it and it leaves a bad after taste in your mouth. Overall pizza eating experience: Eating a one dollar slice at a Gray’s Papaya instead of a hot dog just feels wrong, kind of like making out with your grandmother. If you come here, stick with the dogs, you can’t go wrong with them! Pizza Rating: One Slice Gray’s Papaya 402 Sixth Ave. (@8th St.) 212-260-3532
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Percy’s PizzaHere's Percy's Pizza on Bleecker Street. The NY Post recently ran a feature declaring this the best one buck slice in town, so I had to check it out.
Now this place looks like a pizzeria and there's a decent crowd in here, looks like other people saw that feature, let's go check it out.
On the right is Percy's pizza chef, Giacomo Lattaruli, with the gentleman who was working the counter. It's a friendly place in here.
They had sold out of the plain slices when I got there and Giacomo told me it would be a few minutes till more were ready from the oven. I decided to splurge and spent $1.50 for the pepperoni slice. It looks really good!
Percy’s PIzza Rating The slice: I like it better than the usual slices found at Ray’s type pizza joints. The dough is crisp and the cheese and sauce are spicy and tasty. The NY Post rated this as the best one dollar slice in New York and I wholeheartedly agree. I will come back for more! Overall pizza eating experience: It’s a narrow space, but the faux brick wall and polished wooden tables make it feel like a real pizzeria. Giacomo is a friendly guy and he puts the other one dollar pizza makers to shame! Pizza Rating: Four Slices Percy’s 190 Bleecker St. (near MacDougal)
When it comes to ketchup, I’ve always been a Heinz man. I’ve addressed this on my two other blogs, 365 Barsand MAD. I grew up with Heinz and I’m repulsed when I see Hunt’s ketchup at a restaurant and if it’s a lower form than Hunt’s, they probably spell it, “catsup.”
As much as I hate all other brands of ketchup, at least they look like ketchup and they’re a tomato-based product, no matter how vile they taste. A couple of weeks ago I saw something on EV Grieve (scroll to the bottom of the post) that caused my head to spin counter-clockwise and cave in and I’ve been obsessing over it ever since: Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing is starting a campaign to bill themselves as...“The New Ketchup.”
In a Wall Street Journal article, Jon Balousek the vice president of Clorox, yeah, Clorox owns Hidden Valley, said: “Hey, this is ketchup." Jon, I hate to debate the issue with you, but no, Hidden Valley is salad dressing, it’s not ketchup, but please, tell everyone in Delusionville, I send my greetings. Later in the article/press release it’s explained that this whole “campaign” was hatched after an executive watched his college-age daughter bathe her entire salmon in ranch dressing. First of all, let’s just pretend that Hidden Valley is ketchup (which it’s not), who in their right fucking mind puts ketchup on salmon? It’s obvious that this executive's daughter is either mentally ill or high on a buffet of mind-zapping drugs, or, most likely, both. She’s probably a shameless little slut too, but that’s neither here nor there, but I did want to throw that out there. So some some zombiefied, psychotically-deranged, drugged to the gills, skankity-wankity college crack whore pours a bottle of Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing all over her dinner and all of a sudden a mass marketing plan to change the face of ketchup as we know it is hatched? Somewhere Darrin Stephens is spinning in his grave!
I read where they want to position Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing in grocery stores in the ketchup section, to further the illusion that Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing has been magically transformed itself into ketchup. It’s time to call Hidden Valley out on their bullshit. I think it’s time for a little investigative journalism here at TWM!
I thought we'd head over to my grocery store, The Food Emporium, near Union Square. If they have Hidden Valley salad dressing placed in the ketchup section I'm going to ask the manager to do the right thing and move it.
I'm just going to ignore that fork in the road and keep on moving in a straight line down 14th Street to The Food Emporium.
Okay, here we are at The Food Emporium. Let's go inside...
And find the ketchup aisle.
Here's cans of tomato sauce, my investigative nose says we're getting close!
And I was right, here's the ketchup section. So far I don't see any Hidden Valley and it's nice to see Heinz is the dominant force in the section.
There's lots of different flavors and styles of Heinz ketchup these days...
But I prefer the good old basic pure Heinz ketchup! Pure, bold and beautiful!
They do have some inferior, cheapo ketchup products here. This is a discount ketchup called, "America's Choice." If this truly is "America's Choice," I'm moving to another country that has better taste in ketchup!
And of course they've got Hunt's, who has played second fiddle to Heinz its entire shelf life, but it's nice to see it greatly outnumbered by Heinz in the store! As it should be!
Happily I didn't see any Hidden Valley in with the ketchup, so I thought I'd come over to the salad dressing aisle to look for it where it belongs.
And there it is, the little salad dressing that wants to be a big, bad bottle of ketchup.
Hey look, there's no mention of, "The New Ketchup" on the label. Maybe this is just at the test-marketing stage. My hometown of Peoria is a test-market city, so I beg anyone that lives there to complain about the new ketchup idea and if you see this salad dressing in the ketchup section, please, move it back to where it belongs! This has been a public service announcement!
Further proof that the marketing people at Hidden Valley are lost in la-la land. These are tiny tubs of the ranch dressing that you can take, "on-the-go." What do they think people jog with this stuff?
I thought I'd discuss this whole matter with a professional, so I went to customer service and asked to speak to the manager, who's name is Arthur. I showed him a printout of the Wall Street Journal article and asked what he thought about a salad dressing trying to hijack the good name of ketchup and he just looked at me like I was nuts. And believe me, I know that look. He declined having his picture taken and said any photos would have to be approved by the corporate office. I didn't tell him about the photos I had already taken, and corporate office, if you're reading this, I hope you approve! I decided this day of investigative journalism was over, I was starved and went to the corner deli for a big salad.
I got the salad at the corner deli and went up to the cash register to pay and it was then I saw this in a plastic container off to the side of the register. Some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed!
DJ Gidget has started a new feature at her blog where I ask her three questions and she in turn, asks me three questions. You can find out when I lost the "Big V" and find out other information about the both of us here: Question me two times baby! And don't forget to tune in to "The Secret Weapon," the radio show where "Boris" picks out the tunes and Gidget spins them. It's on Woody Radio right now!
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Bonus Photo From Danny the Freelancer!
After seeing yesterday's Carnegie Hall violin that I got from the Christmas Cottage, Danny the Freelancer sent in this photo of a real violin and here's what he says about it: "When my Grandfather first came to America from Ireland all he had with him was a tiny suitcase and this 1917 John Juzek Violin handmade in Prague. His first job was playing in the Orchestra at the NY World's Fair in 1938." Very cool, thanks for sending in another great photo, Danny!
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Bonus Big Brother Art From Jaws!
Jaws the Cabbie sent in this art to try to get me to surrender to Big Brother. Thanks, but I'll never surrender, Jaws!
I’ve had two suggestions to go to O’Connor’s bar in Brooklyn in the last week. One was from onemorefoldedsunset and the other was from my former co-pilot from 365 Bars, Al Rizo, who is an expert at New York taverns. To prove I take suggestions and because I’ve wanted to check this classic Brooklyn dive bar for quite some time, we’re off to O’Connor’s! Never let it be said I don’t take requests!
And it's down into the subway we go to begin our journey to Brooklyn.
We're taking the Q train, which you always have to wait forever for it to arrive.
I'm always paranoid about someone pushing me on to the tracks down in the subway and always have a hand on a pole. It always amazes me to see someone standing so close to the tracks, texting away with earplugs in her ears and oblivious to everything that's going on around her.
And five minutes later, she still can't stop texting.
I'm so tempted to push her on to the tracks myself!
Finally the train arrives!
And she's still texting!
I should've pushed her on to the tracks when I had a chance!
Okay, through the miracle of the internet, we're here in Brooklyn and I'm done obsessing over the woman who couldn't stop texting. I still wish I'd have thrown her on the tracks though!
And here we are at O'Connor's. There's no sign and I walked by it once without realizing this was the bar. Let's check it out.
This is about as old school as it gets! It's one of those bars that feels like night time, even when it's the afternoon. Let's grab a stool at the bar.
Here's Chris the friendly bartender serving up a bottle of Budweiser. Chris told me that O'Connor's has been on this block since 1930.
As you can see, it's a well-stocked bar.
Here's the front window from my point of view at the bar. I can't wait for the sun to go down!
There's rugged and well-worn booths opposite the bar.
Lights built into ceiling fans hang overhead and illuminate the bar.
Love that vintage cash register behind the bar.
A longshot of the wooden bar, if only it could talk!
They have a great selection of tunes on the jukebox ranging from Devo to Syd Barrett to Patsy Cline to the Sex Pistols and everyone in between.
The New York Press voted them Best Brooklyn Bar back in 1996.
And they were featured in a "Best of New York" in New York magazine as well.
A Smithwick mirror hangs in the back of the bar.
And when I got back to my seat, Eric had arrived at the bar. Cheers! One More Folded Sunset was also there, but she's a little camera shy and opted to stay out of the photo.
And after several beers, night time has fallen on Brooklyn.
Time to head back to Manhattan. If I see that texting woman down there, she's going down on the tracks!
Brooklyn, 
