You can’t find places like this in Kentucky

I’m amazed by a lot of things up here, but I’m creating this page to keep a running list of places I’ve stumbled upon that happen to be fantastic.

Kenny’s Castaways is a dive bar on Bleecker with a variety  of live music and an atmosphere that gives an aura of past greatness. As it turns out, Bruce Springsteen played his first NYC gig here.

LITM (Love Is the Message) is a small restaurant in Jersey City that displays local art work on a rotating basis. But really, it’s on this list because it has Cheesy Wednesday! They provide a list of about 7 beers that are paired with appropriate cheeses. You pay for the beer and get lots of free cheese, bread and grapes! (UPDATE: Cheesy Wednesday is gone. I haven’t been back, so I’ll give LITM the benefit of the doubt and leave it on this list anyway.)

Sing Sing is a Karaoke bar, which is a common thing in NYC, but this is by far the best. Why? Because you can rent a private room by the hour with a TV for the lyrics, 2 microphones and 2 song books. Add a couple pitchers of beer to that, and you and your friends will probably be there all night. It has two locations, on St. Marks and on Ave. A.

Sandwich Shops! Hoboken makes the best sandwiches I’ve ever eaten and I have to attribute that to the Italian heritage in this town. These are small family places that don’t have websites. My favorite is Frannie’s Italian Deli, but you can read about them here: http://www.hobokenx.com/12/15itali.htm.