What happened to Anthony Mackie's NoBar? 'Falcon and the Winter Soldier' star was bartender at his own New York bar
Actor Anthony Mackie, who has become famous after his portrayal of Falcon in the 'Avengers' series believed that acting was something that he could be successful at, but it depended on strangers' opinions of him and his work. Running a bar on the other hand was something that he could succeed in as he kept in touch with people within his community and nurtured a relationship with the community. He was set to open a second NoBar in November 2013 where he had dreamed about serving milk punch. At the moment, however, his bar has been shut.
The specialty of this place was the offer that Mackie himself would be manning the bar and serving his customers with drinks. He had said in an interview at the time to Grub Street that he loved "the idea of community,” and added, "I love the idea of being able to go out and have a drink and meet people that live near you. And I feel like my first bar in Crown Heights and this bar are perfect examples of neighborhood bars.”
Speaking about the food, Mackie had said, "My executive chef is from Atlanta. We’re going to do all Creole, Cajun, Southern cuisine. We’re going to have a great étouffée and, literally, the best gumbo in the state of New York, hands down. We’re going to have hot sausage po’boys.” Just as he did at Nostrand Avenue, Mackie had also claimed that he would be serving Southern drinks at his new bar which would also include milk punch.
In fact, speaking about the milk punch, the actor had said, "I hate when I go to a New Orleans–style bar,” he said and added “and they’re like, ‘Oh, we have Bloody Marys.’ And I’m like, ‘Do you have milk punch?’ And they’re like, ‘What is that?’ I’m like, ‘You’re not a New Orleans bar.’ It’s just as New Orleans as Sazeracs and Bloody Marys.”
So why did the star want to open a bar? He explained, "I never thought of acting as my only goal or career. Acting is a business where your future is dictated to you by people you don’t even know. With the bar, I can have relationships with people who I’m doing business with. That’s the whole thing. It all has to do with me being a people person. I love hearing crazy shit. I always wanted to be a bartender but I knew that if I worked for someone else, I’d get fired."
Why did Mackie shut down NoBar?
There is no official reason as to why Mackie had shut his bar down. Instead, media reports at the time suggested that the actor had wanted to cut ties with New York City after a judge had found him guilty of having operated a motor vehicle while impaired by alcohol — a violation not a crime — after a two-day nonjury trial. The incident had occurred in 2013 when a cop had pulled Mackie over and had smelled alcohol in his breath. The cop had also mentioned that Mackie's eyes had been bloodshot at the time. The actor had claimed in court that his bloodshot eyes was a result of antihistamines that he had taken for cold. This incident had occurred at the time when the second bar was supposed to open. However, not only did the second bar not open, but the first one also shut down in 2015.
In 2015, it was reported that the actor had shut down his restaurant and reports suggested that he had only given his employees a week's notice. Reportedly, the employees at the restaurant were disgruntled after claiming he gave them only one week’s notice that he was shutting down. A source close to the actor had however said at the time that he had given prior notice much before.