A while back, we lamented the lack of a Canadian expat bar in New York, but leave it to the City That Has It All to finally come through via Ontario Bar, the new project from Andrew Benedict and Scott Frederick of Buttermilk, Boat, and Great Lakes. When Frederick was growing up in Michigan, he’d make beer runs across the border to Windsor, Ontario, where the drinking age was just 18. He discovered the joys of Herr’s ketchup-flavored potato chips, Molson on draft, and Moosehead and Labatt Blue in bottles, and he’s now serving them at Ontario Bar, along with ten varieties of Canadian whiskey (like the beers, which go for $4 a pop, they’re reasonably priced).
As you can see from the snapshots Frederick sent us, the bar is simply decorated — he plans to hang up a Trailer Park Boys poster and maybe install a Big Buck Hunter machine, but for now you’re looking at old booths salvaged from an upstate Shriners club, a tabletop Pac-Man/Galaga machine, and, of course, a jukebox stocked with Canadian tunes from Metric, Great Lakes Swimmers, Arcade Fire, and Neil Young (there will also be D.J.’s spinning indie rock). And so, while the poutine trend never quite happened, you now have a place to hail Canada from 5 p.m. till 4 a.m. daily.
Ontario Bar, 559 Grand St., nr. Lorimer St., Williamsburg, Brooklyn; 718-384-2835
