Bardog Tavern opened its doors for the first time last night, and I was there with the camera. Basic info: It’s at 73 Monroe, between Front and Main, next to the Little Tea Shop. It’s a two-story bar: The upper level, which is the one you’re in when you enter at street level, is a long bar area with a few tables, about the size of Calhoun’s, and smoking is permitted. Downstairs is more of a dining area, larger, with a second bar, and is nonsmoking. Let’s have a look at the place. First of all, the really important stuff:
The beer taps, for those of you wondering what Bardog would carry on draft. Note the PBR tap; that’s the important one.
As you can see, they have a full bar with a large selection of booze to choose from.
Okay, here are a few pics to give you a feel for the layout of the place. Some of these may be a little fuzzy, because I was standing on my tiptoes holding the camera as high as possible to get crowd shots.
From the middle of the upstairs bar, looking toward the front door
The view from the front door looking toward the upstairs bar
The downstairs, nonsmoking dining area as viewed from the entrance.
Dang it my Comcast connection is slow this morning… let’s see if my neighbor “linksys” has his or her wireless router running… yup. Switching networks. Okay, now I can finish this post faster.
From the back of the downstairs area, near the bar, looking forward
The bar’s mascot
Me with Suzy, who is wearing a Bardog T-shirt.
My overall opinion of the place: Overall the outlook is very good. I can’t truly get a feel for the place until I come in there at 8:30 PM on a Wednesday or Thursday night for a beer, and see who the other regulars at the bar are. But, I think they’re off to a very good start. It has that neighborhood bar feel, completely unpretentious, feels like home. It’s also going to have great food – Aldo, the owner, used to be at Stella. I haven’t seen a regular menu yet, but last night I was served appetizers like salmon and swordfish.
Looking forward to drinking many a beer there. I’m also trying to figure out how to fit another bar into an already full rotation (and yet another one on top of that in two months, when the Silly Goose opens). Something’s gotta give.
Off to brunch at Calhoun’s. I hope the Arkansas game’s on TV, although I don’t exactly have high hopes for the Hogs beating Alabama today.