The Ear Inn: History and Flavor

NYC's storied tavern offers a certain rugged charm and delicious dishes

Eating out is a cultural experience for me. It can be fun, but frankly, my preference is usually to eat at home. I’ve collected a shelf of cookbooks and many, many ingredients so I can almost always find something good to make. I like what I do, which is focused on keeping the food clean and healthy, and I’m perfectly happy even if it doesn’t turn out quite as planned.

Restaurants, as highly rated as they may be, don’t appeal to me like home cooking, where you control the ingredients. But this view won’t ever stop me from going to a restaurant or bar for a great experience. If someplace gets my curiosity up, especially when it’s a recommendation, I make plans to visit.

That’s what happened with the Ear Inn. I’d never heard of it, which surprised me because I knew of a lot of iconic places in the city. Think of Molly’s Pub and Restaurant Sheeben, the most authentic Irish Bar in New York City (co-owned by my dear friend Peter O’Connell and his partner John Ronaghan). It's just one of many colorful spots in this city that never sleeps.

I mentioned The Ear Inn to Phil as he’d come to NYC in the 1980s. It was a wild period of development in the culture and cuisine. We had Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, Star Wars, shoulder pads, Jane Fonda videos, and a surge of feminism. Fettuccine alfredo, Black Forest cake, Tex-Mex cuisine, “light” and “low fat” foods, TAB! soda, too, were to different degrees part of our lives while Julia Child was still a household name.

“Have you been to the Ear Inn?” I asked Phil.

“Yes, I think so. I don’t remember where or when, but I know of it. Isn’t that the one with the burned-out B on the sign out front?

“Wait, let me check online,” I said.

Sure enough, there it was, with part of the “B” burned out.

“Let’s go after the tour of the old subway station in NYC,” I said. “Then we can run over to the Ear Inn for lunch. And the cookbook store I want to see is around the corner.”

The day was cold, and we were happy to easily find the Ear Inn on Spring Street, a short subway ride or quick cab ride away.

The Ear Inn is a federal-style townhouse, founded in 1817. It’s one of the oldest bars in New York City. The building was first a home and then a tavern. James Brown, an African American man who was an aide to George Washington and fought in the Revolutionary War, was presumably the first resident of the building as it was constructed for him. That is according to the history on the Ear Inn website. In the 1920s, during Prohibition, the Ear Inn was a speakeasy where illegal alcohol flowed, and after that, it remained a great meeting spot near the Hudson River despite it having to endure a “dry” period.

By the 1970s, they began calling it the Ear Inn because the light over part of the first letter “B” was out, which Phil had remembered about the place. That’s how it became Ear.

Its lengthy and storied history helped the building become an official New York City Landmark in 1969. Since then, it has served great food and a great atmosphere, with maybe even a few ghostly encounters. If you believe the rumors, it’s haunted by a sailor named Mickey. (I didn’t see him, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t there.)

The Ear Inn had a robust menu and specials written on a blackboard near our table. I was hungry and wanted to order several dishes. Instead, I settled on the mac and cheese appetizer, which was a super splurge for me, and then the penne with grilled chicken, spinach, tomatoes, and cream sauce (cream sauce being another indulgence; I never have it or make it home). Phil ordered a veggie burger.

As we waited, we looked at the framed artwork on the wall, which featured pictures of old buildings and families, men on horseback, women in long dresses with aprons, and men in top hats. I looked around the place. The crowd was dressed for the day. For today, it was baseball caps and warm hats. The women were in long pants and sweaters. Times change. This bar, I think, remembers all its guests over time.

The kitchen was to my left, and I could see meals being cooked and prepared to serve. Our dishes came out piping hot, and they were delicious. I kept saying I wouldn’t eat all the mac and cheese, and before I knew it, there was almost nothing left to bring home. The same was true for everything we ordered.

On my way out, heading to the cookbook store, I saw a sign for live entertainment at The Ear Inn. “The EarRegulars Every Sunday 8 – 11.”

“We should come back for that,” I said.

“Sure, it will be fun,” Phil said.

And off we went to the cookbook store, which is another story.