Delivery Please . . . To The Bar

I love a good night at a bar.  People relax, drink, meet others, do crazy stuff, play buck hunter, flirt with strangers, makeout in corners.  Whatever.  You do what you want. Its cool.

All bars are really different though.  I am not going to give you a written lecture on the difference between bars, dive bars, clubs, lounges, hot spot, celebrity drops, I don't even know.  I am making this stuff up.

Lets just talk about regular bars.  Sometimes dive-like, other times more pub like.  But you are wearing jeans and a t-shirt, and you want 5 beers, preferably from a pitcher, and you don't want to bar hop.  You want to stay at the bar and make it your home for the night.

We all have a bar like this.  It is the modern day drinking version of "The Max."  So, are you thinking of what bar this is to you?  Maybe you have a few to choose from? 

Ok.  Now.  Does this place serve food?  The place I have in mind does not serve food.  This reminds me of the episode of The Office when Michael Scott goes to a club in The Big Apple to meet Ryan.  When the cocktail waitress comes by, she asks Michael what he wants, and he orders a drink and some chicken fingers.  The waitress looks at him like he is a crazy person, and says "Um, we don't serve food here."

Some bars are bars.  They are for drinking.  And they do not have kitchens.  They need the space for you to stand with tons of other people drinking so they can make all of their money off drinking.  Other bars serve great bar food.  You are drinking your pitcher (because maybe you ordered a pitcher just for yourself) and you order mozzarella sticks, chicken fingers, pizza, wings, fries, the works!  Those bars can be so much fun.  There is something that does not feel as bad about drunk eating at the place you are already drinking as opposed to getting a hot dog on the way home when you plan on passing out.

But, there is a happy medium.  Maybe you don't want to spend money on bar food or excessively order because your drunk self thinks its a good idea.  But maybe no food is not a good idea.  Too often we skip dinner to go to happy hour, thinking dinner will work its way into the evening.  But three hours in, and you have not had anything to eat, and it is too late to save yourself.

Lots of bars in NYC let you bring food into the bar.  They don't serve the food - you bring it from home.  BYOF.  These bars don't want you to leave the bar, so why not let you bring dinner with you?  Go pick up some cheap pizza, go to a fun spacious dive bar, grab a table, and enjoy!  This BYOF is also great for birthday parties.  If you are having a party in one of these bars, you can bring chips, dip, plates, cake, gourmet pies, whatever you wish.  You can turn it into your own house party, but the mess stays at the bar.

Or, even better, a lot of these places actually have a whole book of menus and you can order delivery to the bar.  It is like having your own concierge at a hotel. 

Maybe you are thinking, if you plan on sitting in a bar with a few friends to have bud lights, and bring your own pizza, why bother going to the bar at all?  Why not just stay at home and do the same thing?  Lots of reasons.

1.  Maybe your home sucks.  Just saying.

2.  Maybe you want to be alone with your friends but you live with 4 other people.

3.  There is always a greater chance that something random and cool will happen at a bar then in your home.  If I go to a bar, there is a greater chance that I will overhear two people having a ridiculous conversation and watch one of them get thrown out, than in my home, where chances are the most random thing that will happen is that someone will buzz my door but it will just be a broker looking to get in.

4.  Bars can be fun.  More selection of alcohol than what you have in your home.  The tvs are bigger.

Don't get me wrong - I love a good night at home with some ordered in chicken fingers and a huge bottle of pinot grigio (hey I am a classy broad).  But the message here is - you don't have to think of a night at the bar as a $6 a beer, cab home, must get dinner first, type of night.  When you want to hang out with your friends, and no one feels like hosting for fear that one of the friends will just not leave when you finally want to go to bed, find a bar that lets you bring food, which is very likely for bars that never sell food (Like Hi-Fi in the East Village, No Idea Bar in Flatiron/Union Square, and OH SO MANY more) and make a night of it.  You can do all those things you love to do while drinking at home, but at a bar.  And don't forget the deck of cards!

Have a delicious day!

NYCMenuGirl