Dive Bar Jukebox with Gaby Scelzo
"Single, drinkin' doubles. Teardrops turnin' into bubbles."
Welcome to Dive Bar Jukebox, a LAST CALL paid subscriber exclusive 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. In the spirit of the season, today’s DBJ is free to all readers.
Please join me in welcoming today’s special guest…
Gaby Scelzo
I first met native New Yorker, Carroll Gardens neighbor, and fellow lifelong Knicks fan Gaby Scelzo in the fall of 2022 at one of her inaugural pop-up bake sales at The Six Bells in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. She offered three delicious homemade treats that Saturday afternoon—a Caramel Apple Cinnamon Bun, an Upside-Down Pumpkin Crumb Cake, and an Everything Bagel Scone—and I purchased one of each as they were all on the verge of selling out.
Since then, in addition to being a writer, Gaby has added full-time baker to her resume. Along with the sweet and savory treats she regularly turns out—like Almond Croissant Coffee Cake, Jambon Beurre Scones, Salty Chocolate Hazelnut Tart, and a festive Chocolate Peppermint Yule Log—she’s now an in-demand baker of “the cakes of people’s dreams.” Her Insta is filled with many of her creative confections, including a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough-Frosted Layer Cake; a S'mores Sheet Cake with chocolate cake, fudge frosting, cinnamon graham crumble, and a torched brown sugar marshmallow meringue; and a Funfetti Sheet Cake layered with funfetti cake, raspberry jam, and vanilla brown-butter cream cheese frosting. If you’re in NYC and need a bespoke cake for any occasion, Gaby should be in your Contacts.
She also writes a highly entertaining, opinionated, and always informative New York City restaurant advice column called on Substack, guiding readers on where to eat if someone else is picking up the check, date spots, where to celebrate a birthday, navigating alternate options eat when you can’t score that impossible resy, and other reader restaurant-related conundrums.
Read on for Gaby’s Dive Bar Jukebox debut, where she shares what the platonic ideal of a dive bar bathroom should look like, talks about the importance of duct tape, the reliability of a dive bar Vodka Soda, and drops an annotated self-described “country-esque” playlist that lands a groove somewhere between The Chicks and Morgan Wallen to Jonathan Richman and Fleetwood Mac.
Talking Dives with Gaby Scelzo
What is your favorite dive bar and why do you love it?