The City That Doesn't Sleep Meets Sporty Peachy: Manny's on Second Makes Its Whom You Know Debut Our Coverage Sponsored by Maine Woolens
Elise Holman, Star Bartender at Manny's on Second
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Meet Manny.
You need to know him, because Manny knows it's the most important time of the year.
If you read our header, you know it's the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
We may have mentioned we liked hockey before and were absolutely delighted to work with the NHL to kick off their season:
Unfortunately, it's not possible to cover all the games and work with all the teams. What is possible though is to pop yourself over to 1770 2nd avenue on the Upper East side because they've got great tv's (Samsung) with fantastic sound that corresponds with the hockey game, (bars that are disillusioned into thinking regular season baseball is more important than playoff hockey particularly when we are in New York and the Rangers were facing elimination don't do this) they've got fantastic food, and although Manny himself we imagine is not allowed due to health laws (the place is named after him), Elise has proven that she can pour a mean Guinness and serve up fine bar food so what else do you need? We were told by Nick the manager that they have 24 beers on tap and they change every day, with Angry Orchard being the only one constant.
The Guinness is as excellent as it gets in America.
The best way to drink Guinness is at the Guinness factory in Dublin (if you have lived in Ireland you know that Guinness tastes slightly different in America compared to the mother country) but we don't think Dublin's Guinness factory is showing the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and that's a longer trip than to the hockey games.
If you have been following hockey, you know that it's high time for the Rangers to elevate their level of play and they did precisely that last night. Henrik Lundqvist is always standout and he was a total peach to interview as you can see in the above link. (He will tell you his favorite movie...)
It's been so long since we featured a bar we forgot we had a column for bars and going out: The City That Doesn't Sleep, inspired by Sinatra of course. Why? There are too many ordinary bars. We have never been interested in ordinary. Peachy turned 21 in Ireland when she was in school there so they set a high standard for what bars should be like here. First we tried the burger. Bars should have excellent burgers and Manny's does. Quarter pounders need not apply. Manny's Half Pound Burger is hand made, grilled to order (we wanted medium, we got medium) and it automatically comes with lettuce, tomato, red onion on a brioche bun. Of course we wanted to try ours bespoke so we had mozzarella cheese, grilled onions and avocado with waffle fries. Elise was a total star and got everything right. She put the sauces on the side and we tried them; they were good. Elise has been working with the organization since 2002, previously at Blondie's and we liked her a lot.
Eating salads at some bars can be a horrifying experience with wilted lettuce and boring ingredients, but not at Manny's. The House Salad was super fresh and of quality vegetables from the mixed greens ranging from a vivid violet to a deep green, tomatoes (though we think there should be more of them), cucumbers, red onion and carrot strips. The ranch on the side was amazing.
The awesomely enthused Nick Kurtenbach (who even brought a friend with him that works with the NHL)
We were happy to see we didn't need to colonize the crowd into becoming hockey fans. Hockey fans were there and we were thrilled to see that there were just as many Chicago fans as Rangers fans. (We did not get pictures of the Rangers fans because Peachy was engaged in the aforementioned half pound.) If you are not a rabid hockey fan, first please check your pulse this time of year and second know that Manny's wants to make you happy as well so there was the NBA playoffs on and the NFL draft and probably a baseball game or two that we caught out of the corner of our eye. We think the NHL should have been on the biggest screen however, not the NFL draft or the NBA playoffs.
Chris and Jennifer Buckley, who knows Blackhawk haute couture is absolutely en vogue!
We realize we're going backwards here but we wanted to try foods that other bars get wrong like proper quality meat and nice salad first. Also note that we were thrilled to see that Manny's has clean bathrooms that are well-lit. It is extremely well-ventilated with the fans going on. The chicken quesadillas from the appetizer section hit the spot and we like that Blackhawk colors were used as garnishes as we ate them during Joel's game. Did you know that Joel Q. and Ulfie (Rangers Assistant Coach) played together in Hartford when Peachy was a Junior Whaler?
Do try the brownie a la mode-the perfect ending! Rangers play again - watch them while they're still alive on the quest for Lord Stanley's Cup at Manny's!
