Bourbon Samurai like going to plays. He had heard of a production of Pericles that was being done in an old boat, which is cool if you know the play. He convinced me to come check it out with him. What we didn’t know was besides enjoying an evening of Shakespeare, we would find arguably the coolest bar in Manhattan.
The boat in question was The Frying Pan, a decommissioned lightship docked at the Chelsea pier. When one arrives at this particular dock, one finds the boat, ample seating at the dock, and an outdoor bar and grille. We arrived early for the show, so we each grabbed a drink and sat on the dock, watched the dusk and drank beer/whiskey. After the show, we returned to the dock/bar, and had a slew of other drinks, as the dock erupted into a full out party. We had found the spot for the summer.
We would return several times that and next summer. While the best time to hit the place up was around sunset, its evening scene is great, with lots of seating and dancing and sometimes live music. The drinks are pricey, but not maddeningly so (at least to New Yorkers). The food is surprisingly good, and I remember one great lunch there where Hubris, Bourbon, and I celebrated ending the ’06 season with fried fish and beer at lunch, debating whether we should steal a water taxi, and how far we could go before we were caught.
The craziest memory I have of the spot was 2 summers ago. A group of us had two tables near the beginning of the dock, including Jersey and Jersey’s half-brother, who was visiting from out of town. We looked down the dock towards the bar and noticed some commotion. After a moment, we realized that a fist fight had broken out. A large clearly drunk man was throwing punches at another slightly less drunk man who was defending himself. The first guy’s buddies tried to pull him off. They finally calm the guy down, and he starts to head down towards us back to dry land. He gets within spitting distance of us, and then turns around and charges back towards the bar. One of his friends stands in his way, and gets a shot to the face for his trouble. Once again, the guy had to be cooled down, and dragged off the dock. I am glad Jersey’s half brother got a story out of his trip to the big city.
This place with its chill vibe and beautiful view makes it one of my favorite all time bars. It’s a little pricey and a pain to get to, but for a chance to sit on a dock with a cold one and some decent food while hanging with the crew, you do what you gotta do.
