[Farrell’s Bar & Grill is part 16 in a series of tidbits from the chapters of my book Bars, Taverns and Dives New Yorkers Love, published by the good folks at Rizzoli Publishing. You can order it online now at Powell’s, Amazon, Rizzoli, and Barnes & Noble.]
Walking into Farrell’s Bar is like walking into a clubhouse, at least when the regulars crowd the bar, most all of them men, many of them cops and fireman types with fiercely blue eyes. But it’s all right. Belly right up to the bar and don’t bother looking for a stool. There aren’t many at Farrell’s and they’re for the older guys anyway. Get up there and order the freshest 32 ounces of Budweiser you’ll have outside of St. Louis, served cold, in a Styrofoam behemoth of a cup called a container, to keep it cold. Listen to the guys at the bar bullshitting each other. Loosen up, Johnny. Have another container of suds. Talk to the bartender then talk to the guys. There you go. Easier than you thought.
It was easier than I thought. I ain’t exactly a cop or fireman type and they guys were plenty good to me.
Best Time to Visit: End of the workday, after 5:00, when the regulars are there and the bar is loaded with local Windsor Terrace guys. Bonus: Legendary owner and Bartender Hall of Famer Jimmy Houlihan works the bar Thursday and Friday evenings. He’s a good man and one of a kind, so go pay your respects.
Best Seat in the House: Seat? No, you stand at the bar at Farrell’s Bar & Grill. You go up to the bar like a man and you stand.
Drink: First: A 32-ounce container of Bud. Next: A 32-ounce container of Bud Light. Show some restraint.
Getting There: Take the subway. The F and G trains stop less than a block away, at 15th Street–Prospect Park.
Next up:
The wonderful, the LEGENDARY Sunny’s Bar of Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood, another chapter of my book Bars, Taverns and Dives New Yorkers Love, which you can order right here. Limited-edition signed prints of the bars are available here.