Food & Drink
XL Cover Story
100 Places to Sip 'n' Chat, Part I
Apple Bar to Little Woodrow's
SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Thursday, August 24, 2006
It seems such a practical thing to do: Collect the bar information amassed over the past five years and put it in one place. But we hadn't done it. Till now. Gather round, all ye barfans and aficionados. We have assembled a guide to 100 sip 'n' chat bars in Austin, split into two XL issues (the next one comes out Feb. 23). The material comes from columns and features written in my tenure as Bargirl, and with each future Bargirl excursion, we'll add to the Austin360.com version of this story, making for a fabulous alphabetical guide. XL already profiled 100 music venues in September, and you may note a few crossovers. We also hope to profile 50 dance clubs and 50 party-hardy spots soon. So however and wherever you like to drink, we'll have you covered.
1. APPLE BAR
120 W. Fifth St. 322-9291
I'd heard Apple Bar described as a New York City kind of place, and it was, in fact, small and cozy and big-city vertical (there's an upstairs and a downstairs) rather than wide-open-Texas horizontal. Big art hangs on the walls. The lights are dim. Little love seats and high stools are artfully placed. Bartenders concoct on both floors, and on weekend nights, servers will carry your drinks the 10 feet from the bar to the couch or stool you occupy. The result: sort of Austin, sort of New York.
2. THE AQUARIUM ON SIXTH
403 E. Sixth St. 499-8003
This college hangout certainly does have fish tanks, but much of the looking going on is between the young men and women who crowd it. A balcony provides a view of the sea of bodies and you can watch some wriggle towards the bar or bathroom, perhaps shake your head "no way" as two or three guys encourage you to jump down into their arms (it's not far, but definitely too far). Think Sixth Street, think fraternity, think sorority, think dollar beer night.
3. AUSSIE'S VOLLEY BAR AND GRILL
306 Barton Springs Road. 480-0952
Open since 1989, Aussie's comes with two full-sized regulation beach volleyball courts, full of soft sand. Stop by during a tournament — I once caught part of the two-woman team tourney "Queen of the Beach" — and watch tan amazonians dig, set and spike. Stop by during a regular league night and watch T-shirted, mixed-gender, six-player teams bump, set and sometimes fumble. Or play yourself. Food and drink specials happen most every night and change monthly (check www.aussiesbar.com).
4. BABY BLUE'S
8440 Burnet Road. 454-8608
This bar for the Sarovar Indian restaurant is neighborhoody. All the twentysomethings seemed to know each other; the bartender sat in on a hand of cards; a group of men played dominoes. No one was paying the big TV any mind. Most people seemed to prefer sitting at the bar, drinking Red Bulls and whatevers, Lone Star in cans, perhaps even a Tuaca. A woman ordered from the restaurant next door — you can get anything off Sarovar's menu. People were playing pool, throwing darts.
5. BACKSTAGE AT LA ZONA ROSA
612 W. Fourth St. 263-4823
How, how, how had I never made it to this bar? Several people had mentioned how cool this joint is — a couple of pool tables, the big semicircle booths, the little tables and chairs, the jukebox worthy of one of Austin's storied music venues. It's a music-lover's bar and feels like a rock club, except with drinks instead of bands, the kind of place where you know the Izod-and-khaki-shorts-wearing guy is being ironic. Who knew going to a music venue when there's no music could be so fun?
6. BARFLY'S
5420 Airport Blvd. 452-6455
Once the smokiest of bars, this joint above Burger Tex has built a smoking area outside, and the indoor haze has cleared. The corrugated metal walls, the barstools and the pool table are all now plainly visible, as is the fabulous jukebox, which changes up but should make even the most knowledgeable of Austin musicians happy. The crowd tends toward young and funky hip — knee-high socks and short skirts, for example — but also draws a local crowd. Oh yeah, and it has cheap drinks.
7. B.D. RILEY'S IRISH PUB
204 E. Sixth St. 494-1335
The city of Dublin's flush these days and B.D. Riley's is a prosperous-looking pub: banquettes covered in mod red patterns, track lighting that curves like train tracks, light fixtures in warm reds and oranges. The whole place was actually built in Ireland and shipped over. There are TVs and traditional Celtic music and whiskeys and Smithwick's beer and pub quizzes, and on one Sunday afternoon, some patrons' accents were as thick as the heads on the Guinness.
8. 'BOUT TIME
9601 N. Interstate 35. 832-5339
On the access road, just north of Rundberg Lane, is this moderately well-known gay bar. Inside is a long bar area, dartboards off to one side, a DJ booth to the other. People are friendly. And by people, I mean all kinds of people: gay men; lesbians; straight beer-drinking guys; the occasional het couple; transvestites; older people; blue-collar people. And by friendly, I mean if you sit at the bar, be prepared to engage in conversation much as you would at a small-town pie social.
9. BRENTWOOD TAVERN
6701 Burnet Road. 420-8118
Between the hours of 3 and 7 p.m., a pint of draft Lone Star will set you back only a buck-fifty — and it's just a buck on Sundays. If draft Lone Star doesn't float your boat, frozen margaritas set you back only $3 during happy hour and the other nine beers on draft, wines and wells are cheaper too. In some ways, the Brentwood Tavern feels like a north central version of Freddie's. Beer flows. Hefty burgers land on the table with a solid thump.
10. BROWN BAR
201 W. Eighth St. 480-8330
Here, black is always the new black and the lithe waitstaff all have exquisitely arched eyebrows. You can order cigars, Wedding Cake Martinis and 16-year-old Scotch. Sit quietly at a table and you may well hear guys bragging about their Mercedes. And yet, something about the Brown Bar, with its moody lighting and yellow-topped bar that glows from within, is very appealing. The bruised black-and-brown color scheme, the heavy velvet drapes evoked a very urban feeling.
11. BULL MCCABE'S
714 Red River St. 478-4022
Bull McCabe, a character in John B. Keane's play, 'The Field,' was fierce, rough-hewn and hardworking. Bull McCabe's, opened in 1999 by a pair of brothers with serious Dublin accents, eschews froufrou and shillelaghs for well-drawn pints of Guinness (or Murphy's or Harp or Smithwick's) and shot glasses containing regulars' tabs. Rugby players and men in soccer jerseys sometimes stop by and patrons' accents tend to Kerry and Dublin as well as Houston and Austin.
12. CAIN & ABEL'S BAR & GRILL
2313 Rio Grande St. 476-3201
It's beer-tastic. With football games on the TV monitors, pool, an outdoor patio, and big wooden booths, Cain & Abel's is often full of UT students. The pub grub is plentiful and the portions large. Sidle up to the bar on a weekend and you may well hear folks ordering drinks such as a red-headed slut or shots of Jagermeister. One night I saw a sign outside the door that read 'Beer good.' Underneath, someone had scrawled, 'School bad.' My English-teacher self thought, 'Verb needed.'
13. CASINO EL CAMINO
517 E. Sixth St. 469-9330
Punk rock. Really, that's all you need to know about this bar — that it's got a Joey Ramone soul. Well, that and the fact that it makes a fabulous, fat burger. Casino is worth going to Sixth Street for. The large patio is friendly, the pool tables are fine places to humiliate yourself, and if you're considering getting a tattoo or unusual piercing, the people-watching can be downright inspirational. But the biggest draw is the gi-normous burgers Casino serves. They are huge, delectable monsters.
14. CEDAR DOOR
201 Brazos St. 473-3712
Frequently relocated, the building and decks have settled at Second and Brazos streets. It's been rejiggered and refigured and rewired and rebuilt. But the tables are the same, a lot of the patrons are the same, and the Mexican martinis are the same. The bar itself is lovely and inviting, with holiday lights and suitably unstable bar stools, but the enormous deck is the real draw. Even on drizzling nights, people sit outside, huddled under the umbrellas sipping the famous Mexican martinis.
15. CEDAR STREET COURTYARD
208 W. Fourth St. 495-9669
Several years ago, I went on a really bad date to Cedar Street Courtyard and only recently managed to find my way back there. The staff was incredibly friendly and easygoing, the martini menu extensive, and the courtyard full of music. Cedar Street (not to be confused with Cedar Door) is that bar between Saba and Malaga where the live music plays in the courtyard seven days a week. The courtyard seats about 60 people, but holds as many as 500. The inside bars have a solid jazz/lounge texture.
16. THE CLOAK ROOM
1300 Colorado St. 472-9808
The below-street-grade bar across from the Capitol and full of politicos is something of a very dark cavern, or maybe more of a crevice. The tables are small and cozy, the TVs tuned to news and golf, and the jukebox plays Johnny Cash or Otis Redding. Men in suspenders and pressed chinos with rumpled hair, customers ribbing each other, the bartenders ribbing the customers, beer and hard liquor running up tabs. No one was smoking cigars, but someone should have been.
17. CLUB DE VILLE
900 Red River St. 457-0900
This place is cool. On the limestone-walled patio, you can sometimes see bands play. The large, comfy patio is an excellent place to hang out. Inside, the place has attitude like a basement band: Candles burn redly on tables, vague red lights roll across the bar, the walls are covered in dim gold padding. Plus the bar is dark, seriously dark, dark enough to make a black dog disappear 3 feet in front of you. And in that kind of dark — well, baby, who's to know you're not really a rock star?
18. CORK & CO.
308 Congress Ave. 474-2675
This combination wine shop/wine bar has newly arrived on Congress Avenue. Clean, well-lighted, with a warm and effusive staff, Cork & Co. offers innumerable varieties of wine by the glass, and then offers the bottle as well (more than 100 bottles to choose from). Nine wine flights provide opportunity to compare flavors, and the flights can be accompanied by chocolates and cheese plates. And the intimate space feels almost like an upscale ice cream store — filled with treats for grown-ups.
19. COYOTE UGLY SALOON
501 E. Sixth St. 236-8459
Admit it: You've seen the movie. So you know how this goes. Bartenders (all women) shake and rattle and roll on the bar, and they invite female patrons to do the same (no, ahem, 'roosters' on the block). Women gyrate into and with each other. Bras from female patrons hang behind the bar. Body shots between the patrons and the bartenders would make a small-town girl blush. But it's also an efficient business: Most importantly, our drinks were handed to us efficiently and politely.
20. CROWN & ANCHOR
2911 San Jacinto Blvd. 322-9168
A staple of many graduate and age-appropriate undergraduate students at UT, the Crown & Anchor is but a short walking distance from campus and offers an impressive array of beer, including 32 on draft and about 100 in bottles. Happy-hour specials run from 11 to 7 every day (pitchers cost between $6.25 and $12); the pub grub, darts and pool lure many in. As does the big patio area with long tables and plastic chairs — where 75 or so folks can nestle. It's as low-key a place as you'll find.
21. CUBA LIBRE
409 Colorado St. 472-2822
This chic place not only draws lovely customers, it helps them get that way. On Thursday nights, women can get a manicure and a martini for $10. And one can eat and drink every night — the kitchen stays open late and offers tapas and full meals. The bar itself is long and sleek; a small front area is open to the street, so guests may watch the world walk by. Cuba Libre also serves a comprehensive list of rums. If you want to know rum, sail to Cuba Libre.
22. DART BOWL
5700 Grover Ave. 459-4181
Technically, this should be my local. It's as close a place to my house as I can find to buy a bourbon. Technically, however, it's a bowling alley, not a bar. But there's bourbon and hangover food, which is better than I can say for some bars. About 19 tables with primary-colored plastic chairs provide seating, along with a half-dozen booths. One of the walls is from the original Dart Bowl. It's covered in graffiti and well-wishes, which is about as much reading as a hungover girl might could do.
23. DAVE AND BUSTER'S
MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) at
Research Blvd. 346-8015
It's hard not to have fun while playing Skee-Ball. For the 10 of you who may not know D&B, I should explain that it's a full entertainment kinda joint. Part restaurant, part arcade, part family entertainment, part corporate resource, D&B also has a full bar for drinking to escape any of the above: 32 televisions, 8 beers on tap (Guinness included) and a plethora of games to play post-martini. Plus, at happy hour, all liquor drinks are half off.
24. DEEP EDDY CABARET
2315 Lake Austin Blvd. 472-0961
Once among the most famous of the smoky dives, it now has 100 percent visibility. Deep Eddy won my heart with the impressive array of stuff to look at behind the bar — the Elvis photo particularly endeared the joint to me. You can watch sports with the guys on a Saturday afternoon, watch as they refill pitchers of cheap cold beer, and gossip about players. Or you can wander to the jukebox, flip idly through the music and revel in the tiny bit of guilt for being in a great dive on a sunny day.
25. THE DOG & DUCK PUB
406 W. 17th St. 479-0598
It's the tried-and-true, the ever-ready, the friendly neighborhood pub. The Dog & Duck has beers by the dozen (38 on tap, about 28 in bottles), darts, a pool table, wooden benches and tons of outdoor seating: A deck sits out front, a plethora of benches resides out back and tables are nestled over to the side of the bar. Because the tables are long, big groups can be accommodated, provided they get there early enough. The hard-liquor license is long gone, so you'd best be prepared to drink beer.
26. DOÑA EMILIA'S
101 San Jacinto Blvd. 478-2520
It says something that my largely teetotaling, largely early-to-bed, very good friend stayed up with us at the Atrium (the upstairs bar at Doña Emilia's), drinking caipirinhas until the bar closed. Caipirinhas, the Brazilian drinks made with cachaça, muddled limes and I'd swear some kind of demonfire, are fabulous, dangerous things. The Atrium is a white square, bar in the center, and accommodates about 100. Patrons can order from the same full menu offered in the main restaurant.
27. DONN'S DEPOT
1600 W. Fifth St. 478-0336
The building was transported, via train tracks, from the town of McNeil to Fifth and West Lynn streets about 30 years ago. It used to be an actual depot. Now, it's a bar. There's the dance floor, the piano room and the sitting area where people watch sports on a large-screen TV. An old railcar doubles as a wall for the bar. The women's bathroom is an actual caboose, a fabulous red shag caboose. Donn's is beloved not just for live music and its funkiness, but also because people of all ages come.
28. THE DRAUGHT HOUSE PUB
4112 Medical Parkway. 452-6258
A great bar for storytelling. It's the kind of place you head to with a handful of friends, pull up a beaten-up wooden chair, sit down at one of the wooden tables with more graffiti scratched across them than any high school desk, and exchange news of what's been going on in your life lately. And because the Draught House has an excellent and extensive list of beer to choose from, the longer you hang out there, and the more beers you try, the better your — and your friends' — stories get.
29. DRISKILL GRILL & BAR
604 Brazos St. 474-5911
Built in 1886, the hotel has a long history of big occasions: Lyndon Johnson watched numerous election returns at the hotel, for instance. The bar looked a little different back then. Over a span of four years in the mid-to-late '90s the building underwent a complete renovation. These days, you'll find light fixtures composed of guns, spurs and tiny lampshades, a copper-plated ceiling, longhorns on the wall and big leather couches and bar chairs with cow-print horsehair backs artfully placed about.
30. ED'S CUCARACHA
406 E. Sixth St. 785-4960
Located smack-dab in the middle of Sixth Street, behind the Jackalope, the bar's patches of brick are exposed and rough, the lights are glum, at least one booth seat has a seriously broken spring, the silent TV plays anime or 'The Simpsons' or something equally entertaining, and the crowd runs the gamut from tattooed rockabilly to random folks escaping the regular Sixth Street vibe to drink bloody marys, bourbons, or Shiner, Newcastle or Maredsous on tap in a funky, almost punky, bar.
31. EGO'S BAR
510 S. Congress Ave. 474-7091
It's funny how many people have told me stories of first dates at Ego's or hanging out at Ego's or getting a little raucous at Ego's when they first arrive in Austin. The crowd itself runs from self-aware thrift-store chic (all that live music and all those poetry slams Ego's hosts will do that to a crowd) to plain old dive bar denizens. The place opens at noon (happy hour is actually from noon to 8 p.m.); Ego's is just an old South Austin dive, in the best way.
32. ELEPHANT ROOM
315 Congress Ave. 473-2279
Just below street level on Congress Avenue, this room is famous for its jazz. The music sounded great: Apparently, I'd come on the perfect night when Brannen Temple played. Though every bandleader may not be as good as Temple, the Elephant Room does have nightly jazz and a happy hour from 4 to 8 p.m. Folks might want to check the bar's Web site to find out who's playing when — and remember that big bands can be loud (all those horns) and preclude conversation.
33. FADO
214 W. Fourth St. 457-0172
The name means "Once upon a time" in Gaelic. Twistily laid out, with lots of wood and glass dividers separating the bar into cozy snugs, it can make it hard to find friends who beat you to the place, but the divisions create excellent spaces for hanging out. On a good day you can catch a trad session (traditional Irish music) or a country band (not traditional Irish anything). World Cup games, World Cup qualifiers, rugby and some Gaelic football are broadcast. Proper Irish rashers (bacon) are served, along with sundry other Irish food.
34. FINN & PORTER
500 E. Fourth St. 493-4900
Upstairs: a lounging area replete with overstuffed club-style leather chairs; tables with upright chairs covered in green leather with a red cowhair stripe down the back (they're cool); plush red and green almost '70s-inspired carpet; a bar with a pair of televisions at either end; and, in the afternoon, toward the back of the bar, wonderful, wonderful light. Follow a winding staircase downstairs and you'll arrive at the sushi bar, more tables and chairs, floor-to-ceiling glass and the door to the patio.
35. FINO RESTAURANT
2905 San Gabriel St.; 474-2905
Sometimes a girl just needs a little paper-thin serrano ham with Manchego and a glass of white wine. Needs it. And when she wants it on a patio, Fino is the place to go. The outdoor patio is rare among Austin patios because of its modernist grace. Clean lines, understated elegance, shades that filter the sun when it's too hot, heaters that warm it when it's cool, and a thoughtful and knowledgeable staff: Fino is a place I intend to spend a few winter afternoons.
36. FIREHOUSE LOUNGE
605 Brazos St. 478-3473
The bar's motto is "everyone is a VIP" — it's swanky, but really comfortable and lacking in pretension. Swanky as in a large silhouette of the Austin skyline behind the bar. Swanky, too, in its long banquette; low, round seats lurking; and gorgeous mosaics beautifying. A few big egg-shaped chairs seat patrons in the main area; the tones are earthy, the bar stools very tall, the DJs trendy. It's small, it's cozy and, well, they've got fake flickering flames in the window above the entrance.
37. THE FOUNDATION
307 W. Fifth St. 472-4256
Notched square cement columns about 2 feet in diameter mark off two living room-esque areas, one with big leather chairs and coffee tables, the other with mod little orange chairs, coffee tables and rugs. The bar itself is round with small lights dropped from a Jetsons-style ring above it. Tiers of artfully spaced bottles of booze spiral. All of this can be seen from the upstairs balcony, where you can lean over the railing and gaze at vistas of well-buffed bodies.
38. FREDDIE'S PLACE
1703 S. First St., 445-9197
Could it be more happening? The South First Street venue with fabulous burgers and 20 kinds of cold beer and washer-pitching has been rock-'em, sock-'em busy every time I've been by. The outdoor patio is shaded by oak trees, the tables are of the picnic variety, and everything has that low-key South Austin feel — the colored lights strung from trees, the basket of fries so full I couldn't finish it even after an hour and a half of swim practice.
39. G&S LOUNGE
2420 S. First St. 707-8702
This is very much a grungy South Austin hangout bar. The ceilings are low. The flooring's cheap. Air hockey, Foosball, darts, pool (50 cents a game!), Ms. Pac-Man (ditto) — it's got pretty much everything your playful heart could desire. And cheap beer. Really cheap beer, as in $2 for most bottles, domestic and import. Boxes and boxes of beer are stored by the passageway between the main and back rooms, not far from a disorderly stack of TVs in the main room that looks like an angry art installation.
40. THE GINGER MAN
304 W. Fourth St. 473-8801
The Austin Ginger Man — part of a small Texas chain — is a pub: dark wood snugs, darts, pool, beer garden, the zillion beers from around the world. Actually, the Ginger Man is all about beer. There are about 80 on tap, about 100 in bottles, from countries such as Germany, Australia, Belgium, the United States, Great Britain and Ireland. You can buy cigars at the Ginger Man, but not liquor and only a few wines. You must drink beer. Good beer, at that.
41. GINNY'S LITTLE LONGHORN SALOON
5434 Burnet Road. 458-1813
A dive and honky-tonk, The Little Longhorn (known as Ginny's for owner Ginny Kalmbach) has been around for some 40 or 50 years. Before it was known as Ginny's, it was known simply as Dick's, because it's that kind of place. At Ginny's the regulars are just regular people, hanging out and passing the time of day, having a beer. It's the kind of place where the owner might fix some eggs at her house and bring them in for the early-morning customers.
42. HORSESHOE LOUNGE
2034 S. Lamar Blvd. 442-9111
When we walked into the 78704 institution early one Tuesday evening, several of the folks said hello, nice and friendly. We ordered Bud Light in a bottle, though the Lone Star was tempting and would have gone well with all the University of Texas décor. Bud Light was certainly in keeping with the Dale Earnhardt Jr. poster. Heck, Bud Light even goes with the Johnny Cash on the jukebox, as do Coors, Pearl, Miller, Michelob, and other fine beers available in bottles and cans.
43. HOTEL SAN JOSE
1316 S. Congress Ave. 444-7322
Aesthetically, this has to be one of the most pleasing bars in town; it's actually beautiful. Most of the seating is outdoors, on chairs or on thick wooden stumps around heavy wooden tables. Angles and straight lines and thick wood abound. Exotic plants and the bamboo trees separate the small swimming pool from the patio. And everywhere is the sound of water, both from the pool and the small koi pond near the front entrance. It's a place of Zenlike balance, relaxed and soothing.
44. HULA HUT
3826 Lake Austin Blvd. 476-4852
A day in the sun, a view of the lake, a margarita under a grass-thatched roof. Chuy's Hula Hut has been a West Austin hangout since 1993 and you'll likely find it full of people who like looking at Lake Austin and contemplating the menu of Mexican-Polynesian food while drinking a beer. Surfboards serve as decoration, and about 300 people can gather between the deck bar and the bar actually on a pier; it's as close to the water as a girl can get and still keep her martini dry.
45. IGUANA GRILL
2900 N. RM 620. 266-8439
Homemade with a hint of orange juice for flavor and golden color, the delectable Golden Iguana margaritas paired nicely with our calming, unbroken view of Lake Travis and its boats. Located two miles south of the Mansfield Dam, it offers umbrella-covered tables on its patio and each lets you see the water. The menu runs to acclaimed "Lake-Mex" cuisine, and the salsa's a favorite with many, but the bigger lure is that feel-far-far-from-Austin-and-your-regular-life deep breath of a lake view.
46. KENICHI
419 Colorado St. 320-8883
This upscale sushi restaurant has traditionally included a lively bar scene, with willowy bodies wandering through the tall steel tables. Despite its bargains on sushi and rolls during happy hour, early evening seems less popular than late night. Some bar patrons drink while waiting for tables; others show up just for a drink or perhaps a bit of a flirt. Forty or so sakes are served, and if you're lucky half that many attractive people may make eye contact with you.
47. LA LA'S LITTLE NUGGET
2207 Justin Lane. 453-2521
At dive bar La la's, it's always Christmas and a row of elves hangs above the bar (they're connected to the men's bathroom door; when the door opens, the elves drop a few inches lower, occasionally startling patrons).With pool tables, a jukebox full of Patsy Cline and Frank Sinatra, and a waitstaff that doesn't care whether you're there or not, it's where you'd go to shoot pool and drink bourbon after your wife left you. Or, alternately, if you're a hipster; they seem to pervade the place.
48. LAVACA STREET BAR
405 Lavaca St. 469-0106
Accidentally interfere with a shuffleboard game and folks will groan, but not shout; Lavaca is a friendly, low-key hangout where the drinks are sturdy and the attitude is relaxed. Pool, shuffleboard, Golden Tee, nine TVs and lots of stools at the bar help create the casual atmosphere Lavaca is known for — and which is in direct contrast to many of its swankier Warehouse District neighbors. $1 off most drinks during happy hour. The doors are open. Go on in.
49. LIGHT BAR
408 Congress Ave. 473-8544
This has all the trappings of an urban, hip, upscale place (including being named a notable bar by In Style magazine): a fabulous patio overlooking downtown, ever-changing mood lighting (red and blue most often, green for St. Patrick's, orange for Halloween, etc.), DJs, salsa nights, gorgeous tiling, upscale and inventive specialty drinks, cozy seating like split-up suede sectionals and velvet couches, dance music streaming on its Web site. As seems appropriate, the crowd tends to be cool.
50. LITTLE WOODROW'S
520 W. Sixth St. 477-2337
The sports bar across from Star Bar on the grown-ups' end of Sixth Street is the best kind of sports bar a nonsports girl could hope for. Sure, there are big TVs for watching the game, but there's also a deck with space to congregate, mingle, swan, flirt, tiptoe, sit, wave to the people over at Star Bar and otherwise occupy yourself in such a manner that you can ignore the traffic cruising down Sixth Street if that's what you want to do. The beer selection is extensive — more than 100 different kinds.
