Tripping on a good bar is one of the things I love best about NYC. Granted, I was guided here by a roving group of revelers almost a year ago, but every time I've found myself in the neighborhood, this little place was just packed.
Daddy-O is a happy conglomeration of 3 things you almost NEVER see together in a Manhattan Bar anymore:
- A long list of cocktails that are well-made and balanced, but not priced to the point where you'd have to call the barkeep a "mixologist". Cheers!
- A short menu packed with reasonably priced barfood that's tasty, filling, and skirts the line between gritty and precious. It's a cheeky kinda greasy that's easy to love, and the kitchen is wide open until 4 AM.
- A lit wall PACKED with brown liquor: If you're a whiskey whisperer, this little corner bar has got your back. Aforementioned cocktails include commendable quaffables that embrace bourbon, scotch, and dark rum.
Soft-Spoken Feisty Lady and I wandered in around dinnertime on a Friday evening, during a rare, blessed lull, so our experience with the service is probably not what you're going to typically encounter. Go early, or on an off-day, and you can expect a steady stream of libations and eats from laid-back-yet-attentive servers.
I've only heard about the legendary Garbage Plate of Rochester, but being that it shares the same basic dish-DNA as a plate lunch, it's a reference I've carried near my heart, and is on the list of roadfood goals (along with the original buffalo wings from Anchor Bar).
So when I glanced on an item called "The Plate" on Daddy-O's short menu, my Spidey-senses tingled. We were in the presence of a homage to the Garbage Plate! Granted, SSFL and I were supposed to be on our way elsewhere for dinner...
...but the power of The Plate could not be denied.
What is "Norm's beef hot sauce", we asked our server? He tried to explain it in more culinary appealing terms, but having tasted it, I can only remember my own jargon: Spicy, beanless chili, liquefied into a hot sauce form. This is the binder and lifeblood for The Plate.
Sold. SSFL and I aren't the types that can pass up hot sauce or hot dogs, much less a promised alliance of the two. They were even nice enough to split it into 2 little plates for us, since they knew we were sharing.
That's right--see that picture up top? That's HALF The Plate.
The bottom layer is macaroni salad (really light on the mayo) and golden-cubed home fries. Splayed on top is a grilled "red" Zweigle's nitrate-free hot dog split lengthwise, with natural casing (you have a choice between 2 red dogs, 2 white dogs, or 2 hamburger patties).
You can see the mustard and red onion on top, but what you can't see is Norm's beef hot sauce that was poured over the whole, pooling in a thin, incendiary layer at the bottom of this puppy pile. Some grilled bread is provided to help buttress your gullet and sop up the wonderpuddle of filth.
It goes against all ingrained logic and decency, but the mustard, hot sauce, onions, starch, and charred dog all merge together into something timeless and deeply, dirtily satisfying. And at $14 a pop, it’s a winner for those strong of gut, weak of wallet, and far, far away from Rochester.
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Daddy-O*
44 Bedford St.
At Leroy & Bedford
West Village
NYC, NY 10014
(212) 414-8884
Hours:
M-F: 11:30 a.m. - 4:00 a.m.
Sat-Sun: 11:00 a.m. - 4:00 a.m.
Fave: The Plate
Still want to try: Cheeseburger with Tater Tots, Sunday Special Meatball Hoagie, Bourbon Bread Pudding, at least a dozen more of their cocktails. (SSFL and I had a sup-ed up Mai Tai and the Herbacious Mojito, each $12, but generous, refreshing, and worth every penny!)
*Sure, there’s hate to be had amongst NYMag commenters and Serious Eats peeps... I trust those teams of palates for a lot of things. But not bars, or bar eats. Frankly, it’s too small a space to share with a bunch of spoiled, scene-hungry socialistas, or foodies that don’t drink, anyway.
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