Saturday night specialists: Three places to make the sixth day count

Emo's, Paggi House and the Tiniest Bar in Texas

By Dina Guidubaldi
SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Thursday, February 19, 2009

Poor Saturday. Such a mixed up, messed up day. On the one hand it's the weekend; on the other, it's almost over. It's both the most fun day of the week and the harbinger of the least fun day of the week. Saturday probably sits beneath a disco ball in a dark, empty room reading T.S. Eliot's 'Four Quartets': 'In my beginning is my end.' Saturday can probably be heard muttering the first line of 'A Tale of Two Cities' over and over again. Saturday's got a lot of work to do and a lot of smiles to fake.

Paggi House

200 Lee Barton Road. 473-3700, www.paggihouse.com.

Open 5 to 11 p.m. Saturdays.

I often go out to eat and worry that I'll find myself at some yuppie establishment, with a smattering of little expensive plates of unsatisfying food on the table in front of me, sipping a pricey glass of something too sweet and looking at my watch while my friends talk about Web design or baby clothes or ski trips. And while I came dangerously close to this at Paggi House, fortunately my friends were lovely and the atmosphere even (sorry) lovelier.

With a terrace overlooking downtown, Paggi House sports outdoor couches and heat lamps, paper doilies and dance music, views of the stars and roars of the trains and a fairy-tale glimpse of the skyline. Monday through Saturday, happy hour lasts from 5 to 7 p.m., with half-price wines and a menu of picturesque appetizers such as beef carpaccio and fried quail haunches. Coffee is served in individual French presses, and despite their professionalism, the waitstaff is nice enough to let you bum their cigarettes.

Tiniest Bar in Texas

817 W. Fifth St. 391-6222, www.tiniestbarintexas.com.

Open 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. Saturdays.

With its extended patio (haphazardly tented in winter, so it feels like a claustrophobic carnival) and covered porch, I doubt that the Tiniest Bar is actually the tiniest bar after all, but I don't really mind. Places misrepresent themselves all the time—Whole Foods often serves things which are cut into pieces, there's a Central Market pretty far south, the Library isn't actually a library, and Casino el Camino has nothing to do with gambling or ugly cars. So if the Tiniest Bar in Texas wants to call itself the Land That Never Was or the Set of the "Tonight Show" or Canada, I don't really care. I'll happily go there and wile away the evening with a couple of Fireman's #4s or a cheap bloody Mary anyway.

On Saturdays, happy hour lasts from 5 to 7 p.m., and margaritas at the outside bar are $3. Bands and DJs play somewhat erratically; check the schedule. Metaphysical, awe-inspiring bonus: If you look up, you'll see at least three condos looming over you and realize that what's really tiny is you.

Emo's

603 Red River St. 505-8541, www.emosaustin.com.

Open until 2 a.m. on Saturdays.

It's clichéd to write about Emo's as one of Austin's quintessential bars, but then there's that whole thing about clichés being based on truth. Thus, we can't honestly discuss Saturday night venues without praising Emo's black-clad crowd, its bands so loud you need toilet paper in your ears and the heavy mist of sweat and beer that surrounds the stage. Emo's can get away with anything—the bartenders being surly, the canned beer being overpriced, the crowd being hostile, the floor being sticky. Emo's doesn't have to be clean or friendly or cheap. It just has to keep booking great bands and it can do almost anything it wants. From obscure folk to metal to punk to indie rock, Emo's has such a ridiculous variety of music that I'm guessing everyone in town has been there at least once, and so this entry can stay short.