Rock with me: Billy Hurricane's is open (Bedlam too!)

Billy Hurricane's and its space mate, Idle Hands, opened this week at 25 Avenue B. Grub Street's Daniel Maurer swung by for a preview:

Signs advertising a 96-ounce “Das Boot” (à la Heidelberg), scorpion bowls, and “huge-ass beers to go” (meaning growlers) say it all. But this isn’t strictly a place for getting daiquiri-tarded: If popcorn doesn’t do, you can order wings, tater tots, an Andouille burger, a chicken po boy, a BLT, and the occasional beignet special (the menu will expand soon). And if your friends have dragged you here and you just can’t handle gimmicks like the “Wheel of Fortune” of drink specials, you can always retreat downstairs to the quieter bourbon bar, Idle Hands. Take a look at both.

No word whether the bartenders are attractive, sexy, fun and loud.

Also, Grub Street checked out Bedlam on Avenue C... You can read that here. To be honest, I was walking by the place last night and thought I'd see what was what. It was closed for a private party. Or so I was told.

New Port Authority plan could wipe out a dozen Midtown properties (including two good bars)

From the Post:

An $8.75 billion plan to build another train tunnel between New Jersey and Manhattan may wipe out a dozen Manhattan properties that can be seized through eminent domain, the Port Authority said.

And what could be lost?

That means Sunglass Hut, Payless Shoes, Duane Reade, Foot Action and several other businesses -- including 40-year-old neighborhood favorites Blarney Rock pub and Hickey's bar -- are in the way.

PA Executive Director Chris Ward added that the agency is hoping to work with the businesses to relocate them and is "in fact going beyond" in negotiations with shop owners.

But Blarney Rock owner Tom Dwyer -- who has been in his 33rd Street location since he and his immigrant dad opened the pub in 1969 -- is worried he will not find an alternate location he can afford close to Madison Square Garden.

"This is devastating," said Dwyer, who hopes to pass on the business to his daughter. "We worked hard all these years, just to have our place turned into a fan plant. It doesn't seem right."

Jeremiah wrote about Hickey's (and Peep World!) last January.