Dear Mona

(It is no coincidence that this clip I found has a Bernese Mountain Dog in it. Still missing our beloved Toby.)

I get so many requests from friends, friends of friends and the occasional stranger on where to eat, party, brunch, etc. that I've decided to start documenting them here. The new column will be called, you guessed it, "Dear Mona." If you have a question on where to take your vegetarian boyfriend (not sure how you can date a vegetarian, but hey, to each his/her own) or your beef-eating mom, or where to throw down for a bachelorette weekend or a post-pink slip party, e-mail me: monasapple-at-gmail-dot-com. I will try and come up with something for everyone.

So, since you are the all-knowing night-lifer (even though I know there is a bent toward food), I’m asking for your input because I am drawing a blank and tired of the same places. I have a bunch of buddies meeting up tomorrow night to celebrate an engagement (college friends, so we’ll basically get drunk and make fun of him). I’m looking for a fun bar with space, solid food and in a neighborhood that’s easy to wander. However, there are some commuters from Jersey/Westchester (hate that) involved, meaning the LES and Alphabet City make limited sense. Any thoughts? -NYACPolo

Shoot...so what are we working with here... uptown places? West Village out too? I had a really fun night at this place in Hell's Kitchen - Bar 9. A friend had his birthday party there before a bunch of people went to Terminal 5 for a concert.

Johnny Utah's with its mechanical bull would be kind of hilarious for your crew. There are always drunk girls gettin' crazy to ride the bull, if you will.

There's also 1 2 3 Burger Shot Beer, which, as it sounds, serves $1 sliders, $2 shots and $3 beers. We pre-partied here before a trip to Medieval Times - it was awesome and it's close to Port Authority (I mean, relatively).

Dive 75 is cool - Upper West Side, between Columbus and Amsterdam.

I had a fun work happy hour at a place called Kennedy's on 57th. Their burgers are ridiculous and it felt like I was almost back in Ireland. Almost.

Of course there's always downtown. White Horse Tavern, Blind Tiger or The Rusty Knot - all with great food/beer selection and fun scenes.

And going where you asked not to - Mason Dixon in LES has great bar food and a good scene, not to mention another mechanical bull. Loreley and Zum Schneider are both beer gardens, i.e. perfect dude hangouts with great German food.

And lastly, in Chelsea, The Half King or The Frying Pan - if it's nice out (don't count on it) this cannot be beat.

Hope this helps? - M

Nice. You rock, I can definitely pull something from here. - NYACPolo