Dive Bar Jukebox with Cheetie Kumar
Brought to You By Four Walls Irish American Whiskey
Today’s LAST CALL Dive Bar Jukebox is free to all readers thanks to the generous support of Four Walls Irish American Whiskey.
“To the room that brings us together. To the place that the gang calls home. To the four walls that hold our good times in, and keep our troubles out. To the bar.”
—Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, and Rob McElhenney
Four Walls Irish American Whiskey
With St. Patrick’s Day this Sunday, it’s a safe bet that many revelers have already gotten a head start celebrating the holiday all weekend long at their local Irish bar. And whether you’re gathering with friends at your favorite tavern or want to raise a glass at home, St. Patrick’s Day is the perfect occasion to seek out a bottle of Four Walls Irish American Whiskey.
Glenn Howerton, Rob McElhenney, and Charlie Day—the team behind It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, now the longest-running live-action sitcom in television history—created Four Walls as a tribute to the bar, a sacred, community-driven space whose four walls hold our good times in, and keep our troubles out.
Four Walls Whiskey is a smooth, no nonsense, utility whiskey whose versatility is at home on any occasion, whether as a shot, sipped neat your favorite corner bar, or in a Friday night Highball or after-dinner Irish Coffee.
Four Walls is a mix of triple-distilled grain and malt Irish whiskeys from the Great Northern Distillery in Dundalk Co. Louth in Ireland blended with just a touch of bold American rye from Cedar Ridge Distillery. “The Better Brown” is bottled in Ireland before making its way to your local bar, restaurant, or liquor store.
And if you’re wondering if the world needs another celebrity spirit brand, the guys have some thoughts on the topic.
Four Walls Irish American Whiskey is 40% ABV with a suggested retail price of $29.99. You can find it on backbar shelves and stores in New York, Pennsylvania, California, Florida, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and D.C., with more states to follow in the coming months. It is available to purchase and ship to 40+ states via fourwallswhiskey.com.
”Sorry, We’re Closed”
To celebrate their love of bars, especially those no longer with us, McElhenney, Howerton, and Day enlisted Clint Lanier, the author of Bucket List Bars: Historic Saloons, Pubs and Dives of America, to write about some of his favorite “unsung heroes of America,” in an ongoing Four Walls series called “Sorry, We’re Closed,” highlighting neighborhood bars that have shaped culture.
Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day comes a dispatch on "Remembering Derry Hegarty’s Irish Pub,” sharing the story of the beloved Milwaukee, Wisconsin bar Irish immigrant Derry Hegarty opened in 1972 and ran until his death in 2011.
“As in all places like this, the crowd was mixed but friendly. Lawyers sat next to bikers sitting next to college kids. The people were warm and quick to smile or laugh, with Derry keeping them entertained with his quick wit and wry sense of humor. Drinking dark beers with an order of fish and chips, or having a whiskey on the rocks, it was easy to pass away an afternoon at Derry’s pub.”
If you have a favorite Irish bar near you, be sure to visit it beyond St. Patrick’s Day to help ensure that they’ll remain a part of the community for years to come.
Dive Bar Jukebox
Welcome to Dive Bar Jukebox, where bartenders, writers, chefs, musicians, and a cast of cool characters answer the question: If we were hanging out together at a bar and I put ten credits on the jukebox, what songs would you punch in and why? Their responses reveal thoughts on their favorite dive bars along with a hand-picked, annotated playlist for your weekend listening pleasure.
Please join me in welcoming today’s very special guest…
Cheetie Kumar
Cheetie Kumar, an India- and Bronx-raised chef and musician who now calls Raleigh, North Carolina, home has earned two James Beard Foundation Award nominations (and five semifinalist nods) for “Best Chef: Southeast.”
After spending life on the road touring with their bands The Cherry Valence and Birds of Avalon, Kumar and her husband and business partner Paul Siler settled in Raleigh where they opened the second iteration of the music venue Kings in 2010 followed by the cocktail bar Neptunes Parlour, and Kumar’s debut restaurant, Garland, where she blended the flavors of South Asia with the bounty of the local North Carolina agriculture.
Kumar’s approach remains focused on cultivating businesses through a global approach to local ingredients that takes inspiration from farms, music, and art. Her new restaurant Ajja, which opened last summer in Raleigh’s Five Points neighborhood, builds on the legacy of Garland (which closed in the summer of 2022 after more than a decade in business) with a multi-cultural point of view through the cooking techniques, spices, and flavors of the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and beyond.
Named one of Esquire’s 50 Best New Restaurants in America and a 2024 James Beard Foundation Award nominee for “Best New Restaurant,” Ajja features a menu of vegetarian-friendly dishes like Warm Moroccan Hummus with marinated sweet peppers, tahini yogurt, sumac onions, savory corn flake, chili oil, sultanas, and poppy seed and Collard-Eggplant Dolma with walnut, halloumi, wild rice, date, herbs, and roasted garlic shatta. From the grill you’ll find sizzling platters of Spare Ribs glazed with a mix of peach, amba, and tamarind along with Lamb Seekh made with grilled lamb shoulder, labneh, acorn squash purée, pistachios, and mint. And you’ll want to double-down their house-baked “tear ‘n’ eat” bread. Beverage director Lindsay Ogdan has you covered with drinks like Mary Had a Little Dram (lamb fat-washed mezcal, allspice dram, hot honey, lime), a Sakura Old-Fashioned (bourbon, cherry blossom bitters, smoked salt), and an after-dinner Vish-Ish (Amaro Nonino, Cynar, black tea, pistachio orgeat, lemon, egg white).
Kumar is active in food advocacy and serves on the board of the Independent Restaurant Coalition, the Southern Foodways Alliance, as well as the World Central Kitchen’s Chef Corps, a global network of culinary leaders who champion World Central Kitchen’s work providing fresh meals following crises.
On her twin passions of cooking and music, Kumar had this to say in a 2017 interview with Food & Wine:
"The most significant connection for me between playing music and cooking professionally is the honing of one's creative process. Using limitations—recording only on tape or using Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt's Oblique Strategies cards for a restricted path or using seasonal and local ingredients, for example—force some parameters that can really be a springboard for focusing creativity."
Read on as Kumar shares her thoughts on some of her favorite dive bars, her go-to karaoke song, and her usual drink order along with a curated playlist that summons to the table Prince, Donna Summer, and Devo as well as David Bowie, Talking Heads, and Thee Oh Sees.
Talking Dives with Cheetie Kumar
What is your favorite dive bar and why do you love it?