Pour One Out #3: San Pedro Inn
A weekly newsletter featuring Brooklyn bars to try on your way to where you're going. Written by your friend and fellow fan of nightcaps, Molly Wilcox.
“Life isn’t a cabaret. It’s a dive bar.” ~ Woody Paige
Photo via San Pedro Inn bartender Azalea Topaz’s Instagram.
Entertain me while I compare bars to bikes. Some people want to wear spandex while riding a $3,000 road bike, like a cocktail lounge. Some prefer a mud-covered mountain bike, like a hipster tap room where everyone is bearded, wearing Danners, and dripping in flannel. And, of course, any fur-lined bike found at Burning Man is equivalent to a tiki bar that’s trying a skosh too hard. And then there’s the dive bar, comparable to a beat up, single-speed beach cruiser found unlocked in the dirty streets of Brooklyn covered in faded stickers and missing a few spokes and maybe the seat itself. So, why do we love them so dearly?
Dive bars are covered in stickers like “Virginia is for Lovers” and “Keep warm, burn the rich.” There are old, beat up license plates in one corner and a herd of disco balls in the other next to bras hung on the wall that people have left behind. A happy meal beer-and-shot of whiskey for $5 in the middle of New York City? Sign me up. At your neighborhood dive bar, it’s likely that you’ll see a taxidermy deer head mounted on the wall next to an amateur framed portrait of Willie Nelson painted by one of the regulars. The average outfit is a Canadian tuxedo or a t-shirt that’s so old the armpits are developing holes from years of taking it on and off. The sticky floors and scary bathrooms are part of the charm. And if for some reason you want to get a shot at 11 in the morning, you won’t be judged.
Dive bars, like the aforementioned old, beat up single-speed cruiser bike, get you where you want to go, even if it’s not pretty.
Photo via San Pedro Inn Instagram
Bar Spotlight: San Pedro Inn
📍Location: 320 Van Brunt St. Brooklyn, NY. Red Hook, Brooklyn is a cozy, east side waterfront neighborhood probably best known for shipping containers, creatives, and Ikea. Although the G train is not exactly Brooklynites’ favorite or most convenient train, you can easily take the ferry, which is 4 stops from South Williamsburg or 3 from Dumbo, and the journey is filled with downright lovely views of Manhattan, Governor’s Island, and the Statue of Liberty. 🤳
📚 History: San Pedro Inn was conceived by creative director Gabriel Florenz from an art installation for the “Grand Ole Opera” at the nearby art space, Pioneer Works. So when the dive bar installation moved across the street to an empty bar in 2019, the just-opened space felt as if your grandma had popped songs on the same juke box and busted a move under the disco ball in 1979. As far as I know, not many bars are born from museums, and Florenz outdid himself with the worn-in feel. Which takes us to …
💫 Vibe: This place is a die hard locals spot. Bartenders give out high fives to friends on the other side of the bar, employees shoot the shit, and the bar owner holes up in a red, leather booth in the back corner to get work done.
🍸 Taste: If you haven’t heard of Francis Mallmann, he’s a rugged, romantic, Argentine celebrity chef who is most known for living off the grid and cooking food outdoors with fire. The best part about San Pedro Inn is that it’s not just a cozy, neighborhood dive bar and music venue, but it’s also a really freaking good Mexican restaurant. And while Mallmann is not the chef here, Argentinian chef and disciple of Mallmann, Norberto Piattoni, is. The tacos were juicy, the chips were chunky, and the guacamole creamy. Their al pastor taco is officially on my mostly unqualified and very opinionated “best taco in New York” list.
💸 Price: $12 spicy margaritas, $8 micheladas, 3 for $15 tacos or 1 for $6.
🚽 Bathroom: This bathroom is one for the books, my friends. It has a nice, diner-like aesthetic to it: a metal, corner sink, a decent enough toilet, and a noticeably bare wall compared to typical New York dive bars that are covered in hand-etched graffiti ranging from “Don’t trust Kevins” to “RIP George.” It all feels very normal … until you pull down your pants and sit on the toilet only to realize there’s a floor-length glass door that leads to a back courtyard where people could conceivably see you at any moment.
💿 Music for your journey: Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl) by Looking Glass, Dancing in the Moonlight by King Harvest, Piece of My Heart by Janis Joplin, Jamming by Bob Marley.
💭 Final Thoughts: This homey bar is worth the journey. But if the disco ball, tulip lights, tin ceiling, and carefully crafted decor isn’t enough to lure you over, if nothing else, go for the al pastor tacos.
Photo by Walter Wlodarczyk.
That's all for now folks. If you go to San Pedro Inn and like it, tell me more and send me selfies. If you hate it, forgive me and tell me why. Catch you next week my ~S A U C Y~ friends! ;)
[Pitch a bar I should review and give me feedback, follow my poorly executed Instagram, and share my unsolicited opinions with your friends!]