JcDevil wrote:
Quote:

bodhipooh wrote:

Well.... that was a short lived experiment. Brian has done great in JC all these years. I wonder what went wrong this time. The Gastropub was actually pretty good, and it seemed like a good fit for the neighborhood, certainly better than when it was York Street Tavern, which was also fun (and great for cheap, happy hour) but probably not the best of neighborhood fixtures. Kinda sad to see that space go bust.

Gastropub had good food, but the drinks were terrible, and when they reopened as The Draper, the drinks didn't improve. I suspect that they tried to operate a cocktail bar without the expert in mixology needed to actually stand out as such. Archer had Natalie Jacob, Dullboy had the guys from The Garrett...

bodhipooh wrote:

Well.... that was a short lived experiment. Brian has done great in JC all these years. I wonder what went wrong this time. The Gastropub was actually pretty good, and it seemed like a good fit for the neighborhood, certainly better than when it was York Street Tavern, which was also fun (and great for cheap, happy hour) but probably not the best of neighborhood fixtures. Kinda sad to see that space go bust.

StLRoma wrote:
Closed permanently for sure. I heard they have a buyer

Voyeur wrote:
Is The Draper for sale?

This extremely confusing Trulia listing suggests that you can buy the location and the liquor license for $550k. Then again, they also have it listed as a condo...

$550k also seems super cheap given some of the discussions on other threads about how much it costs to obtain a new one in this town and how much Guillo's wants for his...

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.

Abe_Froman wrote:

On the Yelp tip, William D. from Oyster Bay, Long Island, loved the Draper! lol...

http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-draper-jersey-city-3

Anyone make it to the red-carpet gala event?

http://www.chicpeajc.com/food/drinks/the-draper-jersey-city/

bodhipooh wrote:
I will have to check out The Draper but, based on your previous post, my expectations are tempered.

JcDevil wrote:
Quote:

tommyc_37 wrote:
The pics of The Draper look nice. Weird name (reminds me of Don Draper, how could it not). I know it is supposed to mean something else though.

You know, I feel that there is a bit of a saturation of "cocktail lounges" in downtown JC. Meanwhile only one real proper craft beer bar (Barcade). Somebody stands to make a lot of money if they open a nice looking chill space with 15-20 very solid tap lines. It kind of doesn't exist here (Barcade is great but not really "chill" unless off-peak hours).

HopsScotch (even though it's kitchy and the food is hit or miss) has an amazing taps list and an even more impressive bottle list.

Iron Monkey also has a serious tap list.

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.

JcDevil wrote:
Quote:

tommyc_37 wrote:
The pics of The Draper look nice. Weird name (reminds me of Don Draper, how could it not). I know it is supposed to mean something else though.

You know, I feel that there is a bit of a saturation of "cocktail lounges" in downtown JC. Meanwhile only one real proper craft beer bar (Barcade). Somebody stands to make a lot of money if they open a nice looking chill space with 15-20 very solid tap lines. It kind of doesn't exist here (Barcade is great but not really "chill" unless off-peak hours).

HopsScotch (even though it's kitchy and the food is hit or miss) has an amazing taps list and an even more impressive bottle list.

Iron Monkey also has a serious tap list.

tommyc_37 wrote:
The pics of The Draper look nice. Weird name (reminds me of Don Draper, how could it not). I know it is supposed to mean something else though.

You know, I feel that there is a bit of a saturation of "cocktail lounges" in downtown JC. Meanwhile only one real proper craft beer bar (Barcade). Somebody stands to make a lot of money if they open a nice looking chill space with 15-20 very solid tap lines. It kind of doesn't exist here (Barcade is great but not really "chill" unless off-peak hours).

135jc wrote:
Trying something new usually means higher prices. I never understood it. Personally I would visit a moderately priced place many times more than an expensive place

On_The_3rd wrote:
Quote:

jccocktailnerd wrote:
Has anyone been to the new Park & Sixth location / have any early feedback? Looks like they opened sometime last week...

Please tell us more, is there any inside info you'd like to share?

JCishome wrote:
Is THAT what happened, they changed the Washington Street location to The Draper? I walked by there the other day and was thoroughly confused, and even thought I was on the wrong street (yes, I am easily confused).