January 27, 2008
From TheKCGuy
Two Strikes
I recently headed out with a couple of cohorts in search of a pint of beer. We hadn't been to the Paddy O'Quigley's downtown, so we decided to slip in and check it out. I was a bit surprised to see how many tables had one of those huge, embarrassing towers of beer on them. They're not really yards, but have a dispenser on the bottom of them. I guess they're like the mutant spawn of a pitcher. Anyway, we found a suitable high-top table in the bar and started to settle in. At that point, a gentleman who I presume to be the manager, informed us that all the high-tops had been reserved, but he would be happy to find us someplace else. He walked a few paces toward the other room and half gestured us to head to an enormous booth table, which was completely covered with dirty dishes and glasses. I was stunned to be offered a dirty table, but I was even more stunned to see the size of the thing. It was at least 6 feet wide. I don't know how anyone could carry on a conversation across a table like that. None of us even pretended to be interested. We just kept walking past the table and right back out the door that we came in. Strike one.
From there, we headed down McGee, to hit The Brick. This was the third time I've tried to go there. It has been inexplicably closed the previous two times. We must have walked in during trivia night or something, because the place was completely silent. It was like one of those movie scenes where someone walks into a bar and the record screeeeches to a stop as everyone turns to see who has just made the embarrassing faux pas. After an eternal 15 second silence, a gentleman on stage said something like "Truman," and most of the bar let out an "Oh, Truman!". We turned a 180 and evacuated immediately. Strike two.
From there, we headed the short trip North to hit up Crosstown Station. Since none of us had ever been there, we wanted to test the waters. We walked in, got carded, and then got hit up for $7 each. Well, I guess we weren't in the mood for strike three, because instead of obeying our natural flight response, we quickly talked our way into the discount of 3 for $0 with the promise that we had no interest in the upcoming band. After a couple of beers, the band started up and we made our timely retreat. I highly recommend Crosstown Station, if for no other reason than you can actually comfortably get a beer in there sometimes.
