Earl's Beer & Cheese

Hole in the wall spot on the upper upper east side of NYC...salads, sandwedges, cheese plates and boutique beer..OK, that works for me..expect a small but nicely put together list of stuff from places like KCBC, Finback, Transmitter, Burlington Beer Co...drafts, cans and a few bottles. Funky, quirky, unique kinda decor and general vibe. A few long tables and very small bar up front...narrow mid section, leads to more communal longer tables and I think a few booths... Well worth a visit if you are in the area or heading north as I was...the other reviews talk about the place getting crowded (it wouldn't take many people to do), but it was quiet and cozy upon my Monday night visit...Kale salad was darn tasty

 

The epitome of a simple beer bar. 6 taps (all NY, PA and. RI beer when I was in),6 cans, and a great cheese-themed small menu to go with the beers. Keeps it simple and extremely tasty. Great food, great beer. Small interior can get cramped when busy.

Small but maximizes their space. Really love this place, keep up the good work.

 

 

 

Four rotating taps of high quality draft beer and a solid bottle/can selection. The guy who put together the menu worked for David Chang (Momofuku empire) and you can tell based upon the creative sandwich/taco/menu choices that worked really well with the beer.

The service was quick and the bartender was pleasant and knowledgeable. Would definitely return.

Atmosphere: a cool little hole in the wall place with good character. very small and got pretty busy around dinner on a Wednesday.

Quality: good quality food and some good quality beers but nothing perfect

Service: good quick service. one guy on the register was quite attentive and nice. food came out pretty quickly.

Selection: only for beers on tap and a few standard cans. beers from allagash, breckenridge, ballast point and one other while i was there. so good beers but low quantity

Food: very cool menu. some classic grilled cheese some experimental ones. quite good. other various cheese and beer cheese items

Overall: the prices where new york prices but it was definitely my type of place. glad i got to visit it

I finally got to experience this little tiny beer spot. After a stroll through the museums in Museum Mile, I took my wife over to the wrong side of the tracks on Park Avenue past 96th street to find Earl's.

What a hole-in-the-wall this is! Already packed at 4pm on a Saturday, but we found a spot and it gradually emptied out. There is one communal table plus one area by the window and another by the wall, and the bar. Seriously small.

Order at the bar both food and drink. Four beers on tap only, disappointing: Uinta Wyld Fire, Rogue Red 5%, Southern Tier IPA, White Birch Hookset. Not too exciting...

My Hookset was flat and not very good, and the ST IPA was alright but not great. Dirty lines?

The food- amazing! Beer cheese spread, grilled chese sandwiches... the brie sandwich not so great, will order the cheddar next time.

Beers are served in hipsterish, thick-old mugs, to go with the decor and clientele, I guess... Hipster irony all over, including retro disco 80's music.

Would come back for the food and the good times, but not for the beer unless it gets more exciting.

Really? No, no, seriously. Come on, there’s no beer up there, everyone knows that. Well, if you say so. An easy run for me from the FDR, the rest of ‘em can subweigh in on the best way to get here otherwise, not my deal. Parked off Park in the snow, shoehorning into a sweet spot on a taxi cab’s nose, having given up on the valet after (like) 20 minutes of sitting out front like a dope a-waitin’. Oh, East ‘arlem…

Okay, so this may very well be the smallest place ever; a shoebox for a pair of kid’s shoes. In the rear corner to the right, a 3 seat “L” shaped, slat wood bowling lane with arrows topped bar. Just forward there, a single table of the same, seating 5 on each side on shared benchings. We were easily able to procure half of said table and as such, became major players in the house real estatewise. A small bar counter for 3 below the tall vertical front window trio that I’m sure open either in or out, and another bar counter with stooling for 6 on the not so far wall. So it’s a teeny space with a bar, a table, slight counter space, and a kitchen to the rear of the rear (where the goods happen).

Slat wood floorings, white pressed tin ceiling and crown molding, with drop cylinder lamps in 2 rows, and a single colored glass lamp over the bar. Olive painted walls with a large woodlands scene of deer & duckery on the one wall, and patterned wallpaper on the opposite wall running to the rear over slat wood lowers of pale green. Framed print of a pig with a top hat (stylin’), framed newspaper adage, a vintage jackpot bowling print, steer horns and antlers of the ‘disturbing Bethy” variety, and mounted deer heads to the side and rear. Dense sparkly colored holiday lighting running the awning out front.

Cans shelved on the wall next to the bar, with glassware on a wood multi shelf rack above them. Just forward there, tap selections on individual horizontal blackboard pieces and a separate vertical board listing a few wines by the glass. Shirts for sale above the beer boards and some pompom hats, too. Mounted big mouth fish with the wine board, and another with nasty nasty teeth shelved atop the glassware. Strung colored lighting wrapping the beer boards around, and below the shelving.

Vertical 4 x 6 blackboard behind the bar listing food selections. It’s a pretty easy menu… grilled cheese times 3, cheese board, pot pie, taco, mac & cheese, world’s fanciest waffle, things rotating in and out. I started with the spicy tomato soup. Savory, had a little kick to it, in a word, amazing, and would have been so, even if it didn’t have scallions (king of all onions) in it, which it did, and as such, the hyperawesome kicked in. Came with ‘Oh, hello crunchy bread for the dipping dunking’, and then sadly the bread, she was gone. Wish I had more, and then my mac & cheese (rigatoni, rosemary, chicken, creamy goodness) showed up with another chunk of bread. And the world is young and beautiful again. Love. Ben had an Earl’s Taco (spicy pulled pork, cabbage, radish & cilantro on a scallion pancake shell). It was really large, “and it rocked”, sites Ben. Witz had a grilled cheese sandwich (NY state Cheddar, pork belly, kimchee, and a fried egg on slightly buttered sourdough). He offered up the “cheers, cheers”.

Baby stainless steel box tower with nondescript handles on the end pouring 4 beers (Greenport Harbor Anti-Freeze Old Ale, Southern Tier IPA, Left Hand Wake Up Dead Imperial Stout & Oak Aged Widdershins Barleywine), and 8 cans available (Schaefer, Sixpoint Sweet Action & Diesel, Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale, Old Chub & Ten Fidy, 21st Amendment Bitter American & Allied Win the War!). Given the other tap choices of an old ale, an imperial stout and a barleywine, I opted to keep the day from growing real short by drinking the Southern tier IPA.

Emily is running the room, she may stay. Food and drink; you order at the bar, she will bring things to you. It works. They’re playing a good deal of Van Morrison. I dig, but Randy would not. Started light, but filled in right behind us. Seating is a hot commodity here. I’m putting mine up on Craig’s List to see what I can get for it. Beer was fresh, they seem to move things pretty well. And the eats were killer. That food menu needs another lookin’ in on. Cool house, all in all.

Earl's is a tiny place on the UES specializing in beer and cheese based foods (grilled cheese, cheese plates, soups etc.). There is one large communal picnic style table and a few stools against the wall and window. It probably holds about 20-25 people. Get there early or off times to be guaranteed a seat as there isn't much standing room. The decor is pretty basic, with a bit of a country vibe.

They have four beers on tap. When I was there they had Smuttynose Imperial Stout, Boulder's English Hopped Ale, A Porter which they were out of and a lager that I cannot remember. With only four beers they have a high amount of turnover. It is always an interesting selection but not one to blow a beer geek out of the water. The beers were all fresh tasting.

Service wise you basically order from the bar. Since it can't get too crowded it is pretty easy to get a beer.

The food here is limited but is good and interesting. The grilled cheese with pork belly and kimchi is particularly good

Earl's is a beer place in a bit of a beer desert so it is a good choice if you are in the area.