tommyc_37 wrote:
Well bodhipooh you named a restaurant that happens to have a couple of beer taps (Skinners), so I guess I'm counting restaurants that happen to serve cocktails :) Although there are plenty of places I'd consider cocktail bars to varying degrees:

- Dullboy
- The Archer
- The Draper
- Third and Vine (wine bar/cocktail bar)
- South House (def more bar than restaurant, and the only thing they specialize in is cocktails - certainly not beer, by any means - terrible tap list)
- LITM - more cocktail bar than any other type of bar
- Union Republic (yes this one is restaurant first, cocktail bar second)

For beer bars, I'll revise my statement a bit ... I'm referring to American craft beer/microbrews. There are very few that offer anything unique. Barcade is one, and really the only "good" one.

Hopscotch ... I was there last Friday ... it IS actually a decent taplist, but oh my goodness the vibe in there has to be the worst out of any bar in JC. It felt like a Longhorn Steakhouse meets TGI Fridays, meets weird sports lounge. Good concept with all the taps, but really depressing vibe which to me, vibe is a huge part of the experience, so it really kills it for me.

Iron Monkey -- they do have a LOT of beer. But it's not curated that well; rather, they have a lot of really weird stuff that is generally bad. Secondly, and most importantly, they never clean their tap lines, which leads to beer that tastes awful very often. Thirdly, they burn through bartenders, and NONE of the bartenders I've ever had there know anything whatsoever about beer. I mean nothing. That in and of itself makes it not a proper beer bar. Like Hopscotch ... good concept, very poorly executed. Wish somebody would buy that place, keep a similar concept, but execute it with better beers, cleaner tap lines, and just hire a few people who know a thing or two about beer. It really can't be that hard.

Skinners - very few taps, and I've never seen anything that's recognized as above average beer, on tap there.

I'll add that aside from Barcade, White Star in Hamilton Park usually has a pretty good taplist, although not huge. I wouldn't consider it a "beer bar", but it's acceptable as a beer drinking bar, and the vibe in there is pretty great.

JCbiscuit wrote:
Quote:

SRhia wrote:
I thought the street fair had great turnout, as well as very interesting vendors - much better than the standard "street fairs" in manhattan.

however, it was so many people, it was hard walking through Newark (between the stalls, people just walking/browsing, and people lining up to get stuff, kids, strollers, dogs, etc). Perhaps the organizer would consider moving the event to wider streets next year?

Or even just lining the stalls on one side of the street, and stretching the festival up Newark for a few more blocks.

Was happy to see such a big turnout this year, but , paradoxically, the wall-to-wall humanity kept me from sticking around for too long.

Yvonne wrote:
You probably didn't get an extra cookie with your milk in class today so no problem. The billboards just went up. No?

foshizigity00 wrote:
the space on first street at erie, right across from torico??? I peaked in one morning when the back door was open, i could see a bar.. they just layed tiles down on the front stoop. anybody have any more information than that? (sorry if it's already been discussed, i didn't see it)

hero69 wrote:
I always wondered how cruz furniture stayed in business