I’ve had an idea for a bar for a while. Not that I ever want to get into the business.
But why not offer ONE choice for food every evening. Simple stuff like chili, hearty soup, spaghetti, stew. Stuff that a very limited kitchen could focus on, make a lot of it and make it good.
And then make it cheep. Say a dollar a bowl. Limited kitchen overhead, and you make money on the liquor. Make a little profit on the food.
I think this would work great for a locals place. Want a beer or three and some simple grub? You know where to go.
My sister tends bar and they used to do Cheese Fridays and set out plates of cheese cubes and crackers. But because they didn’t have a kitchen, therefore were not a restaurant, they had to quit doing it. They weren’t even allowed to purchase cheese trays from a deli and serve that way.
And I don’t think they every had snacks on the bar, tho I wouldn’t swear to it. I’ve only been there a few times and since I don’t drink, I sat away from the bar itself.
I wouldn’t eat free munchies at a bar ! When I went to college one of my teachers told the class a test was done on free candy at a restaurant . The candy
was at the checkout counter and tested at a lab , urine was found on the candy wrappers ! :eek: I stopped eating free munchies after I heard this . This could be why some bars stopped having free munchies .
In the study I read about, what they found came from the restroom, but it wasn’t urine…
But yeah, many of the bars I frequent have chips or nuts or popcorn. I don’t generally partake unless I’m offered a fresh bowl. (Hmm, that last sentence could be read more than one way.)
Every time I’m in a bar. Our favorite watering hole gives you a fresh bowl of house-made snack mix every time you sit down. They used to include house-made ketchup chips, but that went away with the last round of budgeting.
Along this line, I recall a report in the Chicago media about fecal contamination of ice cubes in restaurants. It was found in the small dives, right up to the ritzy downtown establishments.
I used to sometimes go to this dive bar that was near campus between classes a few years back…they had extremely cheap food all day that wasn’t half bad. For instance, cheeseburgers for $1.50, a big plate of fried mushrooms for $2, little beef kebabs for 1, .50 jumbo shrimp, etc. A big St Louis style pizza (matzo crust) was $8, I think. Nothing fancy, but made a good inexpensive lunch or dinner with a beer. If they had actually had decent bartenders/shelf, I might have gone even more frequently. I remember once trying to explain for like five minutes how to make an old-fashioned.
YUCKY ! When I was a health aide I had to clean my clients nails and OMG I could not believe the amount of shit that was under their nails ! :eek:
I wore rubber gloves when I did this . I never went to bars , I don’t drink but I ate at restaurants that had a bar and they had bowls of nuts etc that were for
everyone to eat . I always wash my hands after shaking a person’s hand now.
I went up to a new neighbor to introduce myself and her nails were so long they curled over and she put out her hand and I was like OH SHIT ! I could only
think of shit and I washed my hands really good after shaking her hand.
I think the proliferation of Happy Hour laws along with MADD mentality taking a strong hold in american culture, has had a lot to do with the reduction of free food stuffs being offered at bars.
You’re suggesting what was once called, back before Prohibition, when saloons were male-only turf, the “free lunch.” For the price of a five-cent draft beer you could help yourself to the (salty and gut-filling) free food.
But you know something, pal? There AIN’T NO FREE LUNCH any more.
Fancy hotel bars in Manhattan still serve up dishes of salty snacks: mixed nuts, pretzels, small crackers. I’ve had them at the King Cole Bar at the St. Regis and the Bemelmans Bar at the Carlyle, for example.
I have also paid $20 and more for a Martini at those places, so they better fucking well pony up a nosh.
More likely people had their hands up their butts and didn’t wash them very good before going back to work . Or they turned the water off without a paper towel and opened the door with their bare hands. When I was training to be a
health aide it was drilled into your brain how importance it was NOT to use your bare hands to turn off the water after washing them and not open a public rest door with your bare hands . I don’t understand why the health department doesn’t require grocery stores and restaurants to have this posted in the bathroom.
My buddy has a brewery here in WA (Flycaster for any locals that want to check it out) and they have pretzels that they coat with their own seasoning mix. Goes great with beer.
I’m pleasantly surprised that bar snacks are alive and well. I’m not sure now if they’ve gone out of fashion in my area, or if I’m just not going to the right places.
So do you not use your bare hands to touch anything, or do you think that everything somehow becomes magically germ-free once you’ve crossed the plane of the bathroom door?
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen this as a regular thing, but some places might put out free stuff for events. Or else they have bags of chips behind the bar, which I’ve never asked for but have assumed that they costed money.
Side question: some sources have mentioned that designated drivers drink for free. I can’t recall any specific occasions, but I believe ordering a Coke in a bar will cost you. Others’ experiences?
No, but it’s a place that’s statistically more likely to be gross.
Brass doorknobs are antimicrobial.
