Where To Be A Little Bit Country In NYC

What does it mean to be country? There is no solid definition, but it seems to have something to do with whiskey, line dancing, and Dolly Parton. Even if you don’t think of those things when you hear “New York City,” there's an increasing number of places you can find them, and they fall on a spectrum that runs from Taylor Swift's Speak Now to listening to "High and Lonesome" on an old 45 dug out of your meemaw's attic. The next time you hear Cowboy Carter in a CVS, try one of these bars or restaurants, ranked from most to least country.

THE SPOTS

Gottscheer Hall

Gotscheer Hall was founded roughly 100 years ago by immigrants from Gottschee, a region of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. About once a month, they host a honky tonk night. It’s an odd dynamic, but it works. In the back of the retro Ridgewood beer hall, there’s an enormous ballroom, where bands come to perform country music for a big crowd of line dancers and two-steppers. Be sure to grab a ticket as soon as they’re released, and bring cash if you want to take advantage of the makeshift bar selling cheap shots of whiskey.

Skinny Dennis

For a night of Shiner Bocks, twangy pedal steel guitar, and at least one person wearing a very expensive cowboy outfit that they bought at a vintage store that day, there’s Skinny Dennis. The Williamsburg bar is one of the best spots in town for live music, and almost every night you’ll find local crooners singing the blues in a corner of the bar. Dust off your blue jeans, fight your way to the counter for a coffee drink, and pretend you’re in an Austin honky-tonk. You’re not that far off.

Jalopy Tavern

Jalopy Tavern is the bar connected to Jalopy Theatre , one of the city’s only dedicated Southern music venues. As the de facto hang for their acts, there are no boot-shaped gimmicks here, just a true appreciation for the music. Bluegrass, folk, or high-octane honky tonk bands squeeze into the narrow bar every night, shaking the guitars strapped to the ceiling. Take one shot of well whiskey with the bartender to start, and two more if you’re still feeling too shy to swing dance across the floor with the regulars.

Brooklyn Bowl

Don’t how to two-step or line dance? Not a problem. The folks from Stud Country will show you the fundamentals. The queer dance organization hosts workshops in Tribeca, as well as monthly ticketed events at Georgia Room and Brooklyn Bowl. If you want to drink while you get your lessons in, choose the latter. You can catch some quick instructions, then see how good you are at absorbing information while you navigate a dance floor under the light of a disco ball.

The Waylon

These days, every other NYC bar is trying to be something it’s not. A dive, for example, or a speakeasy . But The Waylon doesn’t feel like cosplay. It’s just a normal, somewhat divey tavern in Hell's Kitchen with a neon Lone Star sign, wagon wheels on the walls, and a big shelf of whiskey. Unlike a few of the places on this guide, you’ll actually hear country music here, sometimes even live. They also serve decent food, like fried pickles, chips and queso, and a fried chicken sandwich doused in Buffalo sauce.

Sunny's

Sunny’s is located at the very bottom of Red Hook, next to some railroad tracks that go nowhere. That already sounds like the setting of a country song. This tchotchke-filled bar opened in 1890 as a saloon for Longshoremen, and it still feels like a relic you’d find in a time capsule. Nothing here is actually country-themed, but they book a lot of country bands, and the location makes you feel like you’ve left the “big city” far behind.

Javelina

Ask a New Yorker for the city’s best queso and they’ll tell you to go to Yellow Rose (see below). But ask a Texan who’s been eating queso since they began ingesting solid food, and they’ll likely direct you to Javelina. For hot cheese and syrupy sweet margaritas, head to this Upper East Side Tex-Mex spot (or their Union Square location). Get the queso sampler, which comes with four types—we like the traditional yellow, and the Bob Armstrong with ground beef—and a steady stream of tortilla chips. The rest of the food is unremarkable, but the portions are large, as they should be—everything’s bigger in Texas.

Yellow Rose

For some of the city’s finest flour tortillas, head to Yellow Rose in the East Village. This Texan restaurant makes their own, and fills them with saucy carne guisada and beef barbacoa. We’re partial to the bean-and-cheese tacos, but as long as those blistered, pressed-to-order tortillas are involved, there is no wrong choice. They also do things like fajitas and skillet cornbread, and if you drop by on the weekend, you can eat a kolache in the little country-themed room with brick walls and stained glass lamps.

Cowgirl

If this place were in Nashville that would make sense. But why is it in the West Village? And who is it for? No one knows. Still, the kitschy cowgirl-themed restaurant is a perfectly fine experience, and occasionally even a good time. The elote is mostly mayo, but at least Cowgirl dares to be different. Stop by and enjoy some solid Frito pie while you sit beneath an antler chandelier and listen to a soundtrack that’s inexplicably disco.

Dolly’s Swing & Dive

Dolly’s isn’t a country bar per se. “But it was named after Dolly Parton,” you might be thinking. And that’s where you’re wrong. The name is actually a nod to a co-founder. But the little nouveau dive on the Williamsburg waterfront does have a jukebox, an antique wooden register, and a bathroom plastered with Dolly Parton records. If you pop in for a Tecate-and-tequila boilermaker, it’ll scratch a certain country itch.