Surviving on bar snacks in NYC

The first time we ever went to New York City was about seven years ago, and instead of just staying for three nights in a cool hotel, we stretched it out and stayed for 10 nights in a hostel. It wasn't the nicest hostel, and I can't say I would do that again, but it was great to be in the city for over a week. Why? Apart from a long list of cultural and intelligent answers, there's this: we got to become regulars in a New York bar.

The bar was The Blind Tiger in Greenwich Village and probably went there five times in our 10 days. First of all, the beer was excellent - I think that's why we went there in the first place. It had a reputation for having one of the best on-tap beer selections in the city. It's fair to say that we took the challenge of trying all of them seriously.

We sat up at the bar and met some really interesting people. A guy called Steele chatted with us one night. He was killing time, waiting for the train crowds to thin before heading home to New Jersey.

But the food. It seemed like each time we went in there, they had a different free snack. You don't really get that in Vancouver, so we went a bit crazy. A kick-ass cheese board one night, bagels and spreads the next day, and all the hotdogs you could eat another night. With what we saved on food, we probably could have stayed in NYC another night.

The Blind Tiger has since moved down the street and it looks like they've fancied up a little. Their website doesn't have any mention of the free snacks. But they are out there. Gridskipper has posted a map of free bar snacks in NYC here.