Yankee Tavern, Bronx, NY

Est. 1928. Says a lot.

Located one block off of River Ave where the elevated 4, D & B train run and where the outer wall of Yankee Stadium backs up to.

161st St is a face paced street with shops all along. The Yankee Tavern sits on the corner with entrances on both 161st and on Gerard Avenue.

A deli counter is at the 161st St entrance and is always busy. The Tavern serves some of best pastrami and corned beef in the Bronx. The bar is many deep before, during and after Yankee games. There is a little eating area in the rear of the bar.

The bar decore is a virtual museum of Yankee memorabilia, with murals of Yankee greats like Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, and most prominently Babe Ruth. In fact, the Babe was known for coming in and buying a round of drinks for the house.

A must stop for anyone going to a Yankees game at the stadium. I can't say how out of town guests are treated when wearing the opposing attire. I have only seen Mets fans inside before several of the Subway Series.

Max's Pub, Lynn, MA

The place is now closed down. Actually, it's a gay bar (under a different name). Now. Not then. Not when it was one of my favorite places. Not gay then. Just want to set the record straight.

I refused to admit that it is now a gay bar when I returned to the Boston area to visit friends. I thought they were just saying that so I wouldn't want to go into Lynn to drink.

This is the part where a writer writes; "Not that there is anything wrong with that".
Not on this blog. It's a fucking travesty if you ask me.

This place was in Olympic Square, near the radio station WFNX 101.7. We lived within walking distance of Max's. It quickly became a Friday night stop for unbelievable steak tips and Rolling Rock long necks. I tried for years to duplicate that damn steak tips recipe. (Update: I think I found it! I found a message board. A butcher from Lynn posted the local recipe. I tried it recently; UNBELIEVABLE.

We always had the same waitress, who was a nice as could be.
We always had the drunk guy in the motorized wheelchair zipping down the aisle, brushing our table and tipping our beers. We always caught the tipping beers and never seemed to mind.

A few Boston Garden and Fenway Park pictures on the walls. Not an outright sports bar. Always had the Red Sox game on the tube during the season.

They really had good food. And you wouldn't know it from looking at the outside, or looking at the inside.

It sucks, I have no photos of the place. There is little to no info on the internet.
Just another in a long line of great places to come and go.

Margaritaville, Ocho Rios Jamaica

I'm no fan of touristy bars. I try to avoid them like the plague. I'd rather belly up to a local dive and take in the customs. None of those places existed in Ocho Rios, as far as I could find. And if I did find one, would I want to belly up with the Ocho Rios locals? I spend hours dodging them at every turn.

Ocho Rios is a shit hole of town. After going through the gauntlet of every stoned local with their hand outstretched looking for a handout, a place of refuge was needed. And a manufactured hot spot with a bunch of other tourists was just what we ended up yearning for.

I did feel a little filthy walking into a chain bar. But it was a beautiful rustic structure on a scenic Caribbean beach. This is the largest restaurant ever constructed on the north coast of Jamaica. The high energy place is humming all hours of the day, and well into the night.

The decor is rustic West Indian with a 98 foot water slide from the rooftop into the pool.
There are three bars, including one inside the pool. The service was good. Defiantly a tourist crowd. Not sure if locals are allowed in or they just don't bother to come in.

Being the beach is public, the locals are allowed to wonder up and down and try to get your attention to sell you weed. Fortunately the ones in my party who were being solicited were my young children, and they had no money.

With the exception of the many beer carts on the streets in Ocho Rios selling ice cold Red Stripes, there weren't many other places to go. By all means, support your local vendors in Ocho Rios who sell Red Stripe.

Much of the energy in the bar seemed to come from pent up frustration from everyone locked on a cruise ship for two days. The bar is situated next to the port where the ships come in.

I would not go into a Margarttaville Cafe in the states. There are just too many other choices. But in Ocho Rios, it would be my first stop if I ever returned.