Casual Free Food Friday

Redd's (Originally Headed For Full Circle Bar)

Okay, it’s time to wind the week down here at TWM and go out for the weekly Casual Free Food Friday trip of the week. While bopping around on Google, I found a bar in Brooklyn called the Full Circle Bar. On Thursdays they have free hot dogs and pretzels all night long. They also have free Skee-Ball on Thursdays, which I’ve heard of, but don’t really know much about it. Well, we’ll find out soon, it’s off to Brooklyn we go!

Okay, here we are at Lorimer Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

And now, time to find Grand Street and the Full Circle Bar.

And with the guidance from my old school GPS guide, we should be there momentarily.

Okay, I'm officially lost. I've been walking around for about a half an hour and finally gave in and asked someone where Grand Street is. Supposedly if I take a right and then walk a few blocks we'll run into it. I hope so, I'm getting hungry and thirsty out here!

Yes! Here we are, Grand Street.

Holy son of a fuck! Who would put a black cat in a window? All of a sudden I feel hexed!

Aaaahhhh!

Okay, this is the end of Grand Street. There's a highway crossing here. The address for Full Circle Bar is 318 Grand Street...

And the last address here is 402 Grand Street. Motherfucker. I've been using Hop Stop for directions, and they've fucked me more than once, I need to start consulting with Katrink! Well, I've got three choices: Try to cross the highway on foot, get on a subway and probably get lost again or search for a bar in this neighborhood. Fuck it, there's bars all over, time to improvise!

And just a few blocks away I've stumbled onto this place, Redd's. Let's check out the sign.

Free popcorn! To quote the Talking Heads, "I guess this must be the place!"

Wow, nice bar and all seats are open! I like afternoon drinking!

And here's Sam the bartender with a bottle of Budweiser. Sam told me Redd's has been on the block since 2002. He also told me he's got a blog and you can check it out here: Cooler Talk. It hasn't been updated in a while, but Sam said he's going to try to get it going again soon.

And check it out, free self-serve popcorn!

A Bud and a bag of popcorn and a relaxing bar. You can't really ask for anything more. Let's take a look around Redd's.

There's a long communal table opposite the bar. I like the brick walls in here.

There's a pool table in the back room.

And they've got a great jukebox in here with various bands and artists such as: Blondie, Johnny Cash, The Ramones, Bob Dylan and John Lee Hooker.

And when I got back to the bar there were a couple of people there: Bridget and James. James is a native New Yorker and owns the building next to the bar and Bridget is visiting from Nashville, Tenessee. Nice people!

Okay, after a couple hours, multiple beers and bags of popcorn, I was ready to call it a night and Sam poured us a couple shots for the road.

Cheers!

And as I hit the streets of Williamsburg, night has fallen. Have I ever mentioned that I love it when that happens? See you all tomorrow!

Redd's Tavern
511 Grand St. (Near Union Ave.)
Brooklyn, NY
718-218-9429

Further Reading: New York Magazine, Free Williamsburg and Time Out New York-#9.

Ooh, don't you wanna break her?
Ooh, don't you wanna take her home?

Surprise link, click on it...I dare you!

Lost and Found

This somewhat Howdy-Dooyish looking fellow was down in the subway playing a weird instrument that was kind of excruciating to the eardrums. It sounded like a squadron of amplified bees flying into a zither. I gave him a couple bucks, but he wouldn't stop, so I left.

The good news about doing this blog in daytime hours is there's not much waiting for trains, like at night. As soon as I walked down, bang-zoom, here's the Q train!

The bad news is there's a lot of people on them. Oh well, it's only three stops, I can stand for that.

Well, it took a little longer than I thought, the train stopped twice for about five minutes each. Now I'm trying to get out of the train station and it's taking forever! One twist and turn after another! It's like that scene from Spinal Tap!

Finally I'm outside! Hello, Cleveland...I mean, Brooklyn. Okay, those that know me, know I don't have a clue when it comes to directions, I can't read maps and I don't know Brooklyn that well. I wandered around, asked for directions from at least six different people, all directing me in opposite directions and got hopelessly lost! One guy in a deli even told me it was two blocks away. I went there and there was no Lafayette Ave. So I went back and told him there's no Lafayette Ave. where he told me and his reply was to say I probably wasn't looking hard enough! Mother of sweet fuck! I may never leave Manhattan again!

Finally after wandering around for what seemed like an eternity, I stumbled upon my destination: Mullanes! I'm not sure what kind of a bar it is and at this point, I don't care. They have a free buffet from 5 to 7 PM and I need a beer right now! I'll post photos of the place in the next post.