Scott Beale has a post on McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon that makes me misty, and thirsty.

Although the “oldest bar” title is disputed by the Seaport’s Bridge Cafe, among others, that takes little away from the “olde New York” ambience and hoary charm of the place. That it is so emblematic of the brickbat-and-bowery-boy era may be, I suspect, why Joseph Mitchell titled and led his excellent collection of fin-de-siecle Knickerbocker profiles after it.

By night it is often mobbed by tourists and fratty bingers; my advice is to go mid-afternoon during the off season. When I worked across the street, on the occassional Friday I would pop in for a one-and-one and a burger lunch. If you’re only a bit peckish, there’s also the the “cheese and crackers”: a good hunk of aged cheddar, a sleeve of Saltines, and some raw onion, it is a direct descendant of the British “ploughman’s lunch”.