Kettle of Fish has occupied the same Christopher Street basement since 1999, after owner Patrick Daley moved it from the original 1950s MacDougal Street location where Jack Kerouac and Bob Dylan once drank. Daley, a Wisconsin transplant, painted the basement green and gold, hung Packers banners from the ceiling, and made the bar New York's unofficial Green Bay headquarters. The room is dim, low-ceilinged, and full of mismatched couches.
It is the right bar for anyone who wants a $7 Spotted Cow, a couch instead of a stool, and to watch the Packers with people who actually care. It is the wrong bar for anyone looking for a cocktail programme or anything resembling polish. The New York Times described it in a 2019 profile as 'the closest thing Manhattan has to a Midwestern neighbourhood bar.'
Down a flight of stairs from Christopher Street. The room is divided into a front bar, a board-game corner, and a back pool room. Eater New York's West Village guide noted that the couches 'feel like a friend's basement, which is the point.' Walls are covered in Packers ephemera and decades of bar memorabilia.
Order Spotted Cow ($7), New Glarus Belgian Red ($9), or a Korbel brandy old-fashioned ($10) made in the Wisconsin style with brandy, soda, and a sugar cube. Skip the cocktails — the bar leans hard into beer and the brandy programme. On Packers Sundays the bar runs a Wisconsin food menu (bratwurst, cheese curds) brought in from outside.
Mostly West Village locals, NYU students, and a strong Wisconsin diaspora on game days. Time Out's bar guide notes the bar is at its most distinctive on Packers Sundays from September through January, when the basement is packed shoulder to shoulder by kickoff.
Kettle of Fish's own site; New York Times 2019 profile; Eater New York; Time Out New York; r/AskNYC; Google Maps reviews (n=900+).