I was heading home, minding my own business, when I tripped on an uneven piece of sidewalk, and ended up at the Stumble Inn.  But this was no ordinary piece of cement; it was a magical sidewalk that transported me to a bizarre Twilight Zone where I was trapped in a straight-to-DVD National Lampoon’s movie and couldn’t get out.  There were greasy nachos, $1 beers, and a party playlist to rival the frattiest frat house.  I went to use the restroom in the basement, and the Women’s Room door was propped open, and I saw two girls without their tops on, adjusting each other’s bras for maximum cleavage.  In the Men’s Room someone had spilled chili all over the floor and toilet seat.  At least I hope it was chili… Back upstairs, my friends were challenged at beer pong by a wicked cheating French team.  But in the end, the good guys won, and I can only imagine that the pompous pair was so ashamed that they took the next flight back to Charles De Gaulle.  Upon exiting, the outside world was drab and drizzly in comparison, and I went into a deep depression.  If one dark night you go walking on 76^th Street, and you stumble on a slanted sidewalk, you too might be lucky enough to visit this Brigadoon of the Upper East Side.

Monday- $1 Domestic drafts, $8 pitchers
Tuesday- $4 You-Call-It,  drinks, beers and shots
Wednesday- $3 Soco lime and lemon drop shots
Thursday- $12 buckets of beer, ½ off bombs
*Happy Hour: Monday through Saturday- ½ off whole bar. 11:30-7

Mothers, lock up your children, the cougars are on the loose!  When I entered the underground bar at Hill Country, little did I know I was walking into a den of lascivious ladies 40+, bedazzled in beads and boas, and rocking out to a live-band playing their favorite 90’s classics.   We listened to Counting Crows covers and picklebacked all night.  Get your mind out of the gutter; a pickleback is the shot of Jameson followed by a shot of pickle juice…zing!  The perfect thing to get your old lady in the mood…

The restaurant at Hill Country also has a Man vs Food-esque Challenge, where one has to consume 3 pounds of meat (including moist brisket, lean brisket, beef shoulder, prime rib), a medium hot side, a medium cold side, a 32 oz. drink and a cupcake, all in less than an hour.  If you finish, you get it for free and your picture on the wall, and if not you have to pay $85.  A ReBlog is definitely in order if I can find an Olympic meat-eater who wants to go for the beef.  Volunteers?

Remember when “Snow Day” used to mean- hot cocoa, sledding and snow-ball fights? Now that we’re all growed up we know the real meaning- start drinking earlier.  Last week’s blizzard was the perfect chance to hit up happy hours that normally you’d “flake” out on. I had the margarita, knowing well that the tequila would keep me toasty in the wet/bitter/cold that was last Wednesday.  It was great for $2, although a little sickeningly sweet by the bottom.  The appetizers were deep-fried delights; I tried the frickles (fried pickles with horseradish sauce) and onion straws (pictured above), which were both about $4 at the half-off bar price.  Brother Jimmy’s also has a load of other deals, including all-you-can-eat bbq, ladies night, and Southern ID discounts depending on which night you saddle up!  Hit it up today, or wait for the next snow day (tomorrow?)

One of ITJS’s New Year’s resolutions was to get some Lower East Side action up on the ol’ blog in 2010, so here’s another one for the books.  I popped into Iggy’s for a night cap, because of an alluring chalkboard outside with Midwest-low prices scribbled upon it.  The bar definitely put the ‘deep end’ in dive, and had some really great drink specials. After a car-bomb or three, I subtlety tried to ask the bartender about the different nightly drink specials (didn’t want to blow my cover as the celebrity blogger that I am, and tarnish the objectivity of this post) and he took the time to write them all down on post-it notes for me, which was nice.  And THEN he gave us shots of Jameson on the house (could he…have recognized me?)  I transcribe the post-its below:

Happy Hour
Monday- Friday 2-9 (8 on Friday)
$2 PBR, $3 Draft, $4 well drinks, $5 PBR and shot
Saturday and Sunday 2-8
$2 PBR, $4 Draft and Well, $7 Jumbo Bloody

Daily Drink Specials
Monday- $10 for 2 car-bombs, $2 PBR, $5 PBR and shot
Tuesday- $3 Sauza/ Cuervo shot, $7 Corona and shot
Wednesday- $3 Jack
Thursday-Saturday- $3 PBR, $3 Shot special, $4 Draft
Sunday- $2 PBR, $3 Coors, $4 Draft special

This past Saturday was absolutely frigid.  I left my chick at home, and endured weather of -79.6 degrees, fighting off leopard seals along the way all in the name of “Peter Night” at Antarctica.  Translation: I got unlimited free drinks until 1:00 AM.  I started off around 8 o’clock with a Michelob Light, for which I received a lot of grief from my friends.  So I stepped it up to whiskey and Coke that arrived in a pint-sized glass and was my downfall.  All I know is I woke up wearing my shoes, and using a pizza box for a pillow.  Check out the name night calendars at Antarctica and No Idea Bar, and if you don’t see your name any time soon, you can always request it. For all you Dileeps out there, you better get ready because your name night is coming up this February 23!  If you’re lucky, Morgan Freeman might even narrate your night for you!

Beer chugging contests, skanky hoes, projectile vomiting.  Oh, the memories….  People say you can’t go back to college.  But they’d be WRONG.  You totally can!  Just stop by the Doghouse Saloon for crazy drink specials any night of the week.  I went with some friends on a blistery Tuesday evening, to find an empty bar just begging for debauchery.  The specials were this:  $1 PBR, $3 Stoli drinks and $5 Jager bombs.  Because of an unfortunate gin and red bull experience, I had to abstain from the Jager bombs, but in the spirit of bombing things, I asked the bartender how much for an Irish Car Bomb, and he said “I don’t know…$6?”  Whaaat??  You can’t even get just the Guinness for $6.  And this is only the beginning of the awesomeness of this bar.  You can buy pitchers and play a friendly game of beer pong or flip cup at the table out in front.  There is a pool table and skeeball upstairs.  There are baskets of potato chips and pretzels everywhere. AND they give away free hotdogs.  The part of my brain that tells me to never eat hotdogs had a battle with the part of my brain that tells me never to turn down free food, and lost big time.  I woke up at 8 am the next day reeking of Nattie ice, with the taste of processed meat and Baily’s curdling in my mouth, and dragged myself to work.  Did I have any regrets?  Maybe.  Would I make the same mistake again?  Absolutely! Isn’t that what College being an adult in NYC is all about?

Border Café
32 Church St.
Cambridge, MA

The Border Café is in Harvard Square (right by to the University), so you can eat Mexican food and simultaneously feel very studious and academic.  Upon being seated, you are brought chips and salsa.  They are freshly-made and warm and amazing.  I may even say that they were the best tortilla chips I’ve ever had (although that is a bold statement, and I’m not sure if I’m ready to make that kind of commitment).  Anyway, I ate so many of them that I wasn’t hungry by the time my main course came.  The order of guacamole was $3.95, and the margaritas were $5.50 each, and I marveled that the prices here were half or even a third what you would pay in NYC.  For my main course, I got fish tacos for $7.50, which came rice and beans and pico de gallo.  The fish part of the tacos were fried nuggets, more of a Tex-Mex/ Cajun style than authentic Mexican food, but still good.  All that, and I still haven’t told you about my favorite part of the meal.  I’m a big water drinker, and usually need my glass refilled seven or eight times during a meal, especially if it’s spicy.  Border Café must have known that I was coming and gave us huge plastic cups of water, the size of pitchers, so I didn’t need to have it refilled at all!  This place is border-line paradise!

Regina Pizzeria
11 ½ Thacher St.
Boston, MA

The North End is the Little Italy of Boston, although more authentic and less theme-park-y that our Little Italy here in NYC.  Regina’s is famous for having the best pizza in Boston, but more importantly, it is much much cheaper than the other fancy restaurants in the area where entrees go for around $25.  Between four people, we split a large tomato, basil and mozzarella pizza and a small artichoke and olive pizza, which came to $9 a person including tip.  The servers and kitchen-staff all had Authentic Boston accents, and were yelling random Boston things really loud the whole time, like “These Hahvahd chowdaheads at the bah ordahed two wicked pahk the cah pizzas!”  Regina’s is the real deal; it doesn’t trump all NYC pizza, but it does make Patsy’s look like a patsy.

Sam Adams Brewery
30 Germania Street
Boston, MA

The Sam Adams Brewery is in Jamaica Plains, which is like the Brooklyn of Boston (cute and neighborhood-y but slightly ghetto), and they give free tours six days a week.  We took the 11:45 AM Monday tour, and our guide didn’t hide the fact that she had already put a few beers away for breakfast.  Her eyes were glazed over a little, but she didn’t slur or spill beer on anyone, which was classy. After about 25 minutes of walking through the brewery and learning how beer was made (blah blah blah), we got to go in the tasting room and sample the beer.  Everyone was given a 7 oz. Sam Adams’ tasting glass, which we were able to take home.  And we tasted four beers: Boston lager, winter lager, blueberry witbier and brick red (which is never bottled and only served at select bars in Boston!)  Technically we were only supposed to have three glasses, but pitchers were being passed around freely, and I was able to have five or six glasses, which kept me feeling toasty in the bitter Boston weather.

Crikey!  I’ve already blogged about the wonders of Sunburnt Cow’s Sunday counter meal, but yesterday I took a trip down under for the first time to their weekend brunch.  You get a main course off a menu of brunch standards, including omelettes, bush benedict, hamburger, buttermilk banana pancakes, etc.  And you get unlimited Moomosas and MooMarys (those are mimosas and bloody marys, if you aren’t that punny), Fosters beer, screwdrivers and greyhounds (grapefruit juice and vodka).  They also brought us free shots at the end of our meal along with our bill.  Because it was crowded/popular, they asked us for the table after about an hour and a half, but we were welcome to stay and continue to drink for free at the bar (See: Above)

URGENT:  Sunburnt Cow also has an amazing $20 deal.  You can drink unlimited drinks for two hours any time night or day!

Open.  Bar.  The loveliest words when spoken together.

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