If you are looking for Trinity Pub on E. 84th Street in Manhattan, please go here. This site has no affiliation with this establishment.

The best pubs are known for three things: great drinks, great food, and great times. Pubs that get this “trinity” right can become the cornerstone of a neighborhood, the place where community comes together to rebound from a tough day or joins together to celebrate the triumph of the hometown team.

When I moved to NYC a decade ago, I wandered to a pub down the street from my apartment in Greenwich Village, the White Horse Tavern. Started in 1880, this fine establishment is the 2nd oldest tavern in the whole city. I sat at the bar and ordered a beer, quietly wondering how I was ever going to make friends in the stone-cold metropolis of New York City. I had been there for three weeks already and still hadn’t made a real friend, outside a handful of coworkers who were compelled to speak to me at the office. It was a stark departure from being raised in a small town in the Deep South, where everyone practically knew everyone. Then, a guy came up to the bar and plopped down beside me. He was part of a rowdy group sitting at a corner table. He made small talk in a familiar southern accent while waiting on their next round of beers. Turns out, they were a group of transplants from Georgia, many of whom had moved to New York after college to pursue careers in finance. Before I knew it, I was invited to join them. Over the next several years, I met up with those fellow Southerners at that same tavern week after week. We watched sports, drank lots of beer, and became good friends. More than anywhere else in the city, that pub felt like home to me, and still does.

Visiting pubs has become my weekend hobby. I like exploring the dimly lit, crowded pubs of New York, trying new beers and meeting new people. Here I blog about my favorite pubs in the five boroughs, places that are oddly homey and familiar in a city that is often the opposite.