Castle Hill Avenue on the 6 Train Part 1 May 16, 2023

Hey Hey peeps, what's up!!! Thank you in advance for giving my page a view. For today's post I'm at the Castle Hill Station which is on the Pelham Line 6 train.

On my day off I undertook a long walk and engaged in some lunchtime brews and grub at the Havana Café on Castle Hill.

Since 2017, Havana Café on Castle Hill Avenue (1247 Castle Hill Avenue, Bronx NY 718-822-4800) brings a little slice of Cuba with a Bronx twist.

Havana Café has a nice feel to it. The seating area has banquettes that go across the length of the restaurant with a roughly 13 seat reverse L shaped bar. In terms of food and drinks, Havana Café has a full liquor bar with house cocktails (such as the Curvy Colada) as well as bottle, can and draft beers. The drinks accompany a full food menu. Brunch on Saturday and Sundays 12-4. Happy hour Monday to friday 3-7. On to what I had at the Havana Café.

For today's food and drink pairing, I ordered a delicious and solid steak sandwich with lettuce, tomatoes and caramelized onions with plantain chips and a bottle (or two 😉) of Puerto Rico's Medalla Light. 

Brewed by La Cervecera de Puerto Rico in Mayaguez, Medalla Light was inspired by Puerto Rican athletes. According to the Medalla Light website:

Inspired by the medals of the 1979 PanAmerican Games, Medalla Light was born as a celebration of our athletes’ triumphs.

With San Juan hosting the games for the first time, the 1979 PanAmerican Games marked Puerto Rico’s history forever. That year, our delegation won 21 medals that not only made an entire country proud, but also inspired the name of its beloved national beer.

Medalla Light is the result of nearly a century of experience in the art of brewing. Crafted with the highest standards of quality and the world’s finest ingredients, it has been recognized internationally in three continents, including the prestigious Monde Selection®.

Carefully selected hops and two-row barley come together to create a full-flavored, light lager; with a golden color, a clean aroma and a refined taste."

Medalla comes in at 4.2% ABV and is a very light but tasty lager with surprising body for a light beer.

And since I mentioned the Curvy Colada above, here is their flyer.

And with the weather hopefully getting warmer by the day, they have their piña colada machine up and running and the blenders whirring for their other frozen drinks. 

For my next post on places to visit on Castle Hill Avenue near the 6 train, I'll briefly profile some of the other nearby bars and restaurants. 

Any recommendations? Leave them in the comment box. 

Until Then May You Have Some Happy, Safe and Responsible Drinking,

 
SiscoVanilla

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161st Street Yankee Stadium on the 4/B/D Trains Part 2 April 27, 2023

What's up peeps!!! Welcome back to the SiscoVanilla Rides and Dines blogpage. In my last post I visited the classic Yankee Tavern at the 4/B/D 161st Street Yankee Stadium train station. 

For today's post I'm visiting one of the newer bars in the area of Yankee Stadium: The Bronx Drafthouse. 

The Bronx Drafthouse (885 Gerard Avenue, Bronx NY 929-265-9759) boasts on their website of having 30-craft beers on draft along with 20-craft beers in cans along with a full food menu

I was there after jury duty and was celebrating my friend Myron's birthday. The bar has both indoor and outdoor seating. The Bronx Drafthouse has a very vibrant vibe that is a mix of locals and baseball fans. I would say that the bar has a younger demographic that leads to its upbeat vibe. I also noticed some children sitting in the outdoor seating area but none inside. On to the food and drink. 

As per custom, I like to see if there are any beers that I haven't had. My eye focused on a fancy tap handle for the La Fin du Monde Belgian Tripel which is brewed by French Canadian brewery Unibroue. 

Unibroue has been brewing craft beers in Quebec since 1992 and their La Fin du Monde is a smooth beer that belies its potent 9% ABV. The Unibroue website describes their La Fin du Monde beer as follows:

"This rich and sophisticated golden tripel has earned several international titles thanks to its refined taste marked by notes of grains, fruit and spice, supported by a slight bitterness.

It is a tribute to Quebec, the land encountered by 16th-century French explorers who thought they’d reached the end of the world.

NOSE

Floral bouquet, fresh baguette, with aromas of honey, spices, coriander, malt and alcohol.

FLAVOR

Mildly hoppy palate with notes of grains, fruit and spice, followed by a smooth, dry finish. A perfect balance of sugar, acidity, bitterness, spices and alcohol."

I didn't find it too be strong. It wasn't a heavy beer on the palate but after two pints it was certainly an asskicker.😁 Had I known that the beer was best paired with seafood or sausage I would have ordered something appropriate. But I was still on the buffalo wings kick and ordered myself a plate of wings. 

I need to order something different for future posts. 😆 On a side note, keep in mind that the Bronx Drafthouse automatically adds an 18% gratuity to all orders regardless of the size of the group. 

For now this my last post on places to visit near Yankee Stadium. I have tickets for later  in the season, I'll find somewhere else to go during those games. 

Any recommendations? Leave them in the comment box. 

Until Then May You Have Some Happy, Safe and Responsible Drinking, 

SiscoVanilla

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161st Street Yankee Stadium on the 4/B/D Trains Part 1 April 16, 2023

Hello peeps!!! Happy 2023 Baseball Season!!! Life is good with America's Pastime being back with the arrival of some beautiful weather. Today's post focuses on the 161st Street Yankee Stadium stop on the 4 and the B and D trains line. 

Both the IRT Lexington Line and the IND Sixth Avenue Line converge at this busy stop. Not only is Yankee Stadium located here, but this is the court/legal district for the county of The Bronx. Since there are a plethora of places to eat and drink at this particular station, I'm going to break it down in a number of posts. 

The first location will focus on a classic tavern of 161st Street: The Yankee Tavern.

The Yankee Tavern (72 East 161st Street, Bronx NY 718-292-6130) has been serving the neighborhood since 1927 and in recent years has been going through a series of renovations. 

The Yankee Tavern is one of the many places near the stadium where fans go to pre-game and post-game during Yankee games and concerts that are held at Yankee Stadium. 

My first experience at the Yankee Tavern dates back to 1996 when I sat at the bar watching Game 3 of the World Series between the Yankees and the Atlanta Braves. I watched the epic homerun by Jim Leyritz (along with two other local customers and a solo bored  bartender) that changed the fortunes of the Yankees in that series and began the Yankees dynasty of the late 1990s and early 2000s. 

The bar is long with many seats and small tables across from them afford great views of the many flat screens showing the games. The tavern has a smaller room in the back that has at least 10 tables that is kid friendly. The entire tavern is adorned with baseball memorabilia. Now on to the food and drinks.

The Yankee Tavern has a full bar and has a wide food menu. The bar has 23-tap beers, roughly 10-cans/bottles and a number of hard seltzer selections. The prices are a bit high for a sports bar that is not in Manhattan or Brooklyn. But considering that the bar is located near the stadium, it is to be expected. I've eaten and drank there many times, so for this post I'm going to focus on the last time I was there with my son for the Yankees game against the Philadelphia Philles. 

For those of you who don't know me very well, I was a vegetarian for roughly almost five years until recently. I work for the United States Postal Service and found that I wasn't getting enough protein in my diet. Now I'm back to eating meat. One of the meals that I missed while as a vegetarian were buffalo wings. To celebrate the beginning of the Yankees season and my eating meat once again, I decided to order a plate of buffalo wings and paired it with a cold pint of the Yankee Tavern Lager. 

Man I really missed buffalo wings.😁 I really can't say who brews the Yankee Tavern Lager. As per working in the bar business when bars have their own beer such as the Yankee Taven Lager, they serve beer that brewers sell for that particular purpose. Often times the brewers sell excess beer stock and offer kegs to bars at a reduced rate to sell as their own brews. Sometimes bars also sell beers that they brew specifically with local brewers. Which one it is for the Yankee Tavern Lager I can't say. The beer is a smooth lager. Very light and crisp. 

My son ordered a chicken parm sandwich that was cheesy and not skimpy in the least. Eating at the Yankee Tavern eases the need to spend extra money to eat at the stadium. The Yankee Tavern is a solid place with an amazing energy that I highly recommend. And the Yankees defeated the Phillies!!!

I'm staying at 161st Street Yankee Stadium stop at one of the newer places to eat and drink in the neighborhood: The Bronx Drafthouse. 

Until Then May You Have Some Happy, Safe and Responsible Drinking, 

SiscoVanilla

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