Recommend a good gastropub in NYC?

(Mods - sorry if this is the wrong board, please move if it belongs elsewhere)

Hi guys,

I'm off to visit a buddy in Manhattan next month and I'm looking for a good gastropub with a solid craft beer selection - especially local stuff I can't get here in Chicago. Any suggestions?

We'll be with our ladies so the food definitely needs to be a step or two above regular barfare.

Danke und Prost!

I haven't been there myself, but the Spotted Pig is reputed to be awesome.

Two other suggestions, neither really a brewpub per se, but they'll have good beers and great food nonetheless:

Fatty Crab - Southeast Asian place, get the Porkbelly with watermelon dish - it's awesome. Great place to order a lot of small plates and try stuff you might not normally have. The name is a bit deceiving, if anything they focus on pork.

Flex Mussels - I don't think they don't carry NY beers, but they have a solid selection of foreign and domestic brews overall and I think Moules Frites and beer is such a classic pairing and the mussels and Oysters here are ridiculous.

For local beer look for:
Anything by Sixpoint Craft Ales (they're located in Brooklny, but available in a lot of good NY beer bars), my favorites are the Brownstone, Righteous Rye, and Sweet Action (it's a blonde) and Bengali Tiger IPA
Anything by Captain Lawrence (they're located in Westchester)
Not sure how much Brooklyn Brewery beer makes it's way out to Chicago, but they're pretty solid as well - especially Local 1 (a triple) and Local 2 (a dubbel)
Bluepoint (out of Long Island) make some decent stuff although their Toasted Lager which is their biggest seller seems fairly ordinary to me
Kelso (also out of Brooklyn) is solid, but much harder to find

chrispykid said:

I haven't been there myself the Spotted Pig is reputed to be awesome.

Two other suggestions, neither really a brewpub per se, but they'll have good beers and great food nonetheless:

Fatty Crab - Southeast Asian place, get the Porkbelly with watermelon dish - it's awesome. Great place to order a lot of small plates and try stuff you might not normally have. The name is a bit deceiving, if anything they focus on pork.

Flex Mussels - I don't think they don't carry NY beers, but they have a solid selection of foreign and domestic brews overall and I think Moules Frites and beer is such a classic pairing and the mussels and Oysters here are ridiculous.

For local beer look for:
Anything by Sixpoint Craft Ales (they're located in Brooklny, but available in a lot of good NY beer bars), my favorites are the Brownstone, Righteous Rye, and Sweet Action (it's a blonde) and Bengali Tiger IPA
Anything by Captain Lawrence (they're located in Westchester)
Not sure how much Brooklyn Brewery beer makes it's way out to Chicago, but they're pretty solid as well - especially Local 1 (a triple) and Local 2 (a dubbel)
Bluepoint (out of Long Island) make some decent stuff although their Toasted Lager which is their biggest seller seems fairly ordinary to me
Kelso (also out of Brooklyn) is solid, but much harder to find

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Awesome, thanks! This is exactly what I'm looking for!

FWIW yes we do get some Brooklyn Brewery stuff in Chicago, and what I've had has been fantastic (most noteworthy a chocolate stout I found last week).

Prost!

For a straight up bar with 76 taps, hit Gingerman on 36 and Madison.

http://www.heartlandbrewery.com/Locations.php

This is a brewery that has a few restaurant locations in Manhattan.

Personally, I find Heartland to be the Applebees of brewpubs. Very corporate. One man's opinion though.

If you don't mind treking down to Greenwich Village, The Half Pint around Thompson and W 3rd is a great place for gourmet paninis and such. Good beer selection, reasonably priced, still a little off the radar (or it was a year ago) so it won't be completely packed. I had a grilled spinach wrap with pastrami, mushrooms, roasted red pepper aioli and goat cheese from the make your own sandwich menu.

MikeRLynch said:

Personally, I find Heartland to be the Applebees of brewpubs. Very corporate. One man's opinion though.

If you don't mind treking down to Greenwich Village, The Half Pint around Thompson and W 3rd is a great place for gourmet paninis and such. Good beer selection, reasonably priced, still a little off the radar (or it was a year ago) so it won't be completely packed. I had a grilled spinach wrap with pastrami, mushrooms, roasted red pepper aioli and goat cheese from the make your own sandwich menu.

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True but he wanted food better than bar food

Personally, I find Heartland to be the Applebees of brewpubs. Very corporate. One man's opinion though.

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Two men's opinions actually. The beer is ok there, Kelso does a lot of contract brewing for them since not all of their locations have a brewhouse. I do like their Oatmeal Stout. The food is pretty terrible, especially by New York standards.

chrispykid said:

Two men's opinions actually. The beer is ok there, Kelso does a lot of contract brewing for them since not all of their locations have a brewhouse. I do like their Oatmeal Stout. The food is pretty terrible, especially by New York standards.

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Agreed, i can get better food off a cart on the street. Actually, if you do end up going to Heartland, go to the one on Broadway, drink, then stumble over to the gyro cart on 53rd and 7th. Phenomenal. Particularly at 2 am

MikeRLynch said:

Agreed, i can get better food off a cart on the street. Actually, if you do end up going to Heartland, go to the one on Broadway, drink, then stumble over to the gyro cart on 53rd and 7th. Phenomenal. Particularly at 2 am

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I know that cart, there is always a huge line of people waiting for food, especially at 2am. I was out drinking one night and we ended up going to a club in the area (Iguana's) and stopped by the cart afterwards. Normally I would never eat anything from a street cart, especially at night but that place is an exception.

i know you were looking for food but The Blind Tiger on Bleecker is a beer bar that always has a great selection of brews on tap plus handpump casks & a gravity or two.

http://www.blindtigeralehouse.com/

+1 on seeking out SixPoint Craft Ales & Captain Lawrence Brewing, also would add Southern Tier brewing on that list.

I like the Heartland down by the Seaport actually. Plus, they have fried pickles, me and my wife's favorite "occasional" dish. lol