Photos and links

Those who visit this site directly will note the new page in the top bar [sorry for the pun....not really]. I have started taking photos of the outside of EC bars and posting them to Flickr.

This first batch is those bars generally north of the Eau Claire River and east of the Chippewa River along with the bars which are north of Madison/Cameron Streets. Water Street will be a separate project, as will those on Hastings and in the south part of town.

I may or maynot add out of town bar photos, depending on how the spirit moves me.

Griese’s 400 Club

This is one of several “downtown” Altoona bars. It has a classic interior which has been cleaned up. The bartender did not know how to make the favored drink, but took direction well.

I loved that there was a group of ladies sitting playing a card game in the late afternoon. It seems like a nice, friendly neighborhood place.

Fox Run Tavern

Out in the Town of Seymour, on the way to Tower Ridge is a cute little bar. I drove by it last winter when I went snowshoeing out there, and decided to come back in better weather.

It is clearly a neighborhood bar. There was a crowd of regulars who were quite convivial and all seemed to know each other. It was a fairly homogeneous crowd, age-wise [Eau Claire is by definition homogeneous racially!]. Mostly 40+, and mostly couples.

The Long Islands were good, and reasonably priced. Only three tap beers, and the Leinie’s was the original (Red), not my favorite, Honey Weiss.

There is a great deck part of which is covered and part is not. It overlooks a softball field for the bar, plus horseshoe courts. There were signs up about a Tavern Horseshoe League. It is also clear that they do catering and events there. It would be a nice location for a party, or an informal wedding reception.

I’ll probably go back.

Wecome Matt

On Route 37, on the way out of town to Mondovi, it the Welcome Matt. (I assume that the two “T” has to do with the name of the owner.

It is clearly a Packers hang out, and the amount of promotional material is almost overwhelming. (In general people here go way overboard with the Packers. My brother the Packers fan, has a couple of items, a shirt, and the souvenir single share of stock hanging on the wall. It is tasteful.) Other than the Packers stuff, the inside is quite nice. There are very large beer glass-fronted coolers, into which the bartender regularly reached.

They have a couple of draft beers (Leine’s Red, but not Honey Weiss), and the drinks are reasonably priced.

Low Down Saloon

It sits on US-12 as you head towards Elk Mound, on the corner of a country road. It looks like a house plopped down at the edge of a field. I thought the name was interesting, and headed in the sheltered entrance. That was my first surprise, the stairs went down not up! Now the name made sense!

The bar is in the basement of the house. I actually looks like a rec room bar which has been expanded. The basement window sills are about 5 feet above the floor! There is a pool table which is in an addition to one side which has skylights to let in some natural light.

I was there after work on a weekday, and the crowd was clearly regulars. There is no draft beer, and even the set up behind the bar looks like an expanded “rec room.” At six o’clock, the bartender treated everyone to a drink. Very nice!

Reasonably priced drinks, and an interesting location.

Just out of town — Wander Inn

I’ve been away more than here lately. However, Saturday afternoon of the Belmont, I found myself out at the intersection of County T and County X. I guess it is technically in Chippewa County (and the Town of Wheaton, I think).

From the outside, it seems like a dumpy, country bar. However the interior has clearly been re-done recently. There is attractive pine paneling, nice tile floors, and a new counter top on the bar. There is a pool table, and a bunch of “slot machines.” At the time I went, the crowd was surprisingly young — all were under 50, and most under 40 (by my guess). The person next to me and the bartender were talking about working at Whiskey Dicks (which is diagonally across the city from here!).

It is a pleasant hangout, and clearly has a crowd of friendly regulars.

As an anecdote, one of the women at the bar was “all about” Big Brown in the Belmont. She did a couple of “Big Brown shots of Crown” one of which was with two others, and she called that “the triple Crown.” [I love the sense of humor.] She was sad (not heartbroken) when Big Brown lost.

Name change/New location

Fat Boys has closed for renovations. It has a new owner and should reopen soon as Diversions. It will be interesting to see what the differences are.

The City Council has an agenda item for April 7/8 to approve a Reserve Liquor License for Red Robin Restaurants on Golf Road. Since it is a Reserve License, I expect that it will pass.

When licenses are renewed in June, I’ll have to check the master list again to see what changes I need to record here!

Water Street: The Joynt, She-Nanigans/Lucky’s

I found myself on Water Street on a very frigid night. After my errands, I decided to visit a few watering holes.

First I wandered down to The Joynt. It is the only bar in town without any exterior sign announcing its presence. It is very clearly an established institution, and I did blog about its unique coasters.  However, you can’t beat the $0.75 drafts….even if the glasses are small. There was a regular crowd, and it seemed like it would get hopping.

Next I wandered the length of the street to Dooley’s for a quick draft. As a non-smoking bar, it is always a great place to stop.

Then it was back to the car. I was walking by She-Nanigans and decided to stop it. It was quite early and I was almost alone. I did notice that the place next door, Lucky’s was also open, and when I got inside, I could see that they were connected! Lucky’s has been under construction for a while, and I asked the bartender. He said that they are the “same place” and that Lucky’s plays different music (country, etc.). It is done in light colored rustic logs, and looks clean and bright. When I asked if the weather was keeping business down, he noted that the UWEC students return this weekend for classes to begin on Monday.

I had a quick drink at the Wigwam, and then home to bed.

Wigwam (again)

I have posted about the Wigwam Tavern before. They were on the original list, had a brief reference on St. Patrick’s Day, and the first photo. I did talk about their “branch for the summer,” the Sports Depot, in a summer time review. They are the nameless bar which was referred to with a good bartender and great fried onion rings in the post about what makes a good bar. However, I have not written about the bar itself.

From the photo, you can probably guess that it is a downtown bar. It is a free standing building, and Dave, the owner, lives upstairs. About the only drawback is that it is not smoke-free. Behind the bar is a great art-deco styled bar with mirrors and hand painted scenes of wigwams. It has a cove ceiling in true art deco style. The bar itself is curved and the linoleum top is worn in spots from years of service. Most of the bar stools have backs (a huge plus). There is a pool table, and game machines (darts among them), and there are booths.

Our favorite bartender (Todd) works every other Sunday, but lucky for us has been there the past two Sundays for our visits. He makes a killer LIIT, and is great to talk to. When we don’t understand some aspect of bar life, he can always explain it to us (like Shake-A-Day).

They have a great food menu, and the daily specials (bottom of the first page) are great. In good weather, there is a sandwich board out front on the sidewalk to remind you of today’s special. There are people who go there for the food…and don’t even have an alcoholic drink! (Guy next to me yesterday had two large glasses of milk with his meal!!!) Not shown on the menu is the Sunday morning special “Wamlet.” That is a three egg omelet with your choice of meat (bacon, sausage, ham), vegetables (mushrooms, onions, tomatoes — we even got olives once), and cheese. It is served with hashbrowns and toast. Great choice for breakfast.

The Wigwam is a favorite!

[Oh, and they have other good bartenders, too! It is just that Todd is our fav!]

Dooley’s, Clancy’s, Houligans

It was a snowy day, but there were errands to run. very late morning found us on Water Street, and we decided to go back to Dooley’s. It is very clearly an Irish-themed bar (witness the big Irish flag on the Fifth Avenue side of the building). It has an appeal as a smoke-free establishment also.

They do serve food, although we did not eat there this time — we had a luncheon engagement. But there was a party of 8 or so in the back corner there for lunch, and a group which was clearly a UWEC student and his parents who came and sat at a table as we were preparing to leave. At the same time, it is clearly a bar, and has an interesting mezzanine level (which is probably worth exploring some time). Good Long Islands, and Leine’s on tap!

Later in the day found us downtown, early for an event at Houligans [the next part of the post]. We slopped through the snow into Clancy’s. It is a typical smoky tavern with tropical paintings on the walls, and sports on all the TVs. They have good Long Islands, and several beers on tap. The occupants on either side of us were having an extended conversation about the NFL Playoff picture, and it was fairly quiet on a snowy early Saturday afternoon.

Then it was time for the party at Houligans. I have commented on Houligan’s before, but need to add more. They had several parties there that evening, some just for dinner and others in separate rooms. There was a pretty full bar in our room, but no draft. At one point I ordered a Honey Weiss for which the bartender headed to another room and came back with a draft. The Long Islands were “city-priced” at $7 each, but the drinking partner really liked them (I thought that they had too much sour and not enough cola).

The food for the party was great, and the staff did a great job of keeping the food warmers full. One of the women there told a funny story about having been at a bar to watch the Packer’s game last Thursday. [It was one of those NFL Network deals, so unless you have a dish you could not see it. Since many bars have dishes, they advertised heavily and drew large crowds.] It was a long, sad (for her), smoky night. The next day she washed her sweatshirt, sweater, and blouse. She did not wash her brassiere because, as she said, “I wear these for more than one day!”She then went to get dressed. Her husband said “You reek of smoke!” She realized that the smoke in the bar had penetrated to her brassiere! That is a smoky bar!!! Houligans appears to be smoke-free.