If you had the wherewithal to open your own drinking hole, what would it be like? Mine would include:
[ul]A copper bar top.
[li]No goddamn TVs!! Watch your stupid ballgames at home.[/li][li]An extensive collection of single-malts. All scotches would be served neat unless specifically requested otherwise.[/li][li]Guinness on draft, with bartenders properly trained in drawing a pint of Guinness.[/li][li]A women’s bathroom with 2x as many stalls as the men’s. Gals, I’m on your side here. Besides, it’s good for business; women waiting in line at the bathroom are not buying booze.[/li][li]Real dartboards (not electronic).[/li][li]Free popcorn all night![/li][li]An Imported Beer club. Try all 100 of my imported beers and get a free t-shirt! You know you want to.[/li][/ul]
And since every bar needs a name, mine would be The Parlor. I might even use the British spelling, to impart the proper sense of hoity-toity fustiness. Yeah.
I have two ideas for a pub, but the one I really like is sort of a cross between an English pub and a WWII Officer’s Club.
Starting with the traditional pub layout (or starting with a quanset hut fitted out like a traditional pub), I would add aviation memorabilia including practice bombs, ‘nose art’, the odd airplane part, and of course, the Robin Hood toby from 12 O’Clock High. Traditional English beers would be served, and there would be fish’n’chips, bangers and mash, and other ‘pub grub’. Naturally, there would be a dart board. I’d have a little area where people could read or just sit and relax by the fire. There would be a jukebox with 45s instead of CDs that would play 1940s-era music (Glenn Miller, et al).
I haven’t thought of a name for it, but it would be situated on an airport.
If I weren’t at work, I could go into huge amount detail with this, but it’ll suffice to say, it’ll be a dive, large, and sports will be shown but it will not be a sports bar. Lots of local microbrews. I don’t think I’ll even carry Bud or stuff like that. Nor Rolling Rock (shudder).
As long as your selection of liqour includes Irish whisky, especially the Knappogue Castle malts and Red Breast (along with Jameson and Black Bush for daily consumption) you can count on me as a regular. Just put a table in the back corner with just enough light to read by, and some Sue Foley and Louis Armstrong on the 'box (or, in fact, most anything that isn’t hip-hop, rap, or “old school R&B”) and I’ll be there every single night.
Hey, you aren’t looking for a bartender, are you? I’ll work the slow nights.
A huge display case full of cakes and pastries, tiramasus and custards.
The drinks would be a wide selection of martinis, with some mixed drinks and wines available. There would also be lots of different coffees and coffee drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic.
A piano in the corner, to be played softly, so as not to intrude on the mood.
Opening your own bar is going to take a shitload of money, you are going to have to work your ass off, and chances are pretty good that, no matter how what you do, it will go bust anyway.
I used to frequent a pub much like the OP’s in San Bernardino called The Pig’s Ear. I was a member of the 25, 50, 75, 100 and Hogshead clubs, with T-shirts for each level. They only thing they didn’t have was free popcorn all night.
If I was opening a bar, it would have all of the above, plus:
- trained waitstaff and bartenders. My people would know beer, not just serve it.
- a couple of pool tables in the back.
- a good kitchen that can do pub grub with style.
Personally, I’ve gotten sick of pool tables in bars; they’re usually a centerpiece for obnoxious behavior. I prefer to play pool in pool halls and do my drinking and lounging in bars.
That being said, may favorite “real” bar in Pasadena’s Old Town (really, the only one that isn’t primarily a restaurant or pool hall) is The 35er, and it just wouldn’t have the same esthetic without the crappy bar tables in the back and the basement.
My bar would only serve, like, 10 drinks that weren’t beer or wine. Martinis, manhattans, whiskey sours and the like. You want a sex on the beach, a slippery nipple, a woo woo? Sorry, you’re SOL.
And with hard work and money, it can still be a reality.
We’re one short year away from opening ours - we’ve secured the property and are renovating. It’ll be English/Irish-y in nature, with cozy booths and small tables, a long bar, darts, a foosball table and a skittles table, and bar games. We’ll have a big-screen, but not TOO big, TV mounted but won’t be doing anything special in terms of sports, other than having it set to ESPN or whatever channel isn’t doing the Westminster Dog Show.
And yes, Guinness on draught, and I know how to pull one properly.
How hard is it to open a restaurant, really? I know it’s not exactly like a bar but I’ve been curious about this lately. My friend and I have a great idea for a restaurant and we think it might actually be quite successful-it’s an Indian restaurant and there isn’t one in the area except 1 40 miles away + a strong South Asian & college community. We were thinking of charging standard Indian restaurant prices but providing a way more interesting atmosphere and a diverse menu.
My parents were really discouraging about it, though. It would only be a sidebusiness for us since we would both have jobs-just sort of a pet project. My dad claimed that the only succesful restaurants with good profits are where you’re saving money by hanging around running it and that wouldn’t be the case for us. We were going to design it, get the capital, set it up and hire people to do that stuff for us. Since the lecture from my father on razor-thin margins of profit and the amount of work it takes I figure I might as well dump my money into a condo and lease it out.
Opening and operating a restaurant is a tremendous amount of work. I’ve been involved with opening (and closing) a couple and there is just so many details to get right. You can’t do it as a side project. If you want to do it right, and have it succeed, it will take up every available minute.
I’m of two minds - one would be the quintessential dive. Concrete floor with a drain in the center to make clean up a snap. Beer on tap and in bottles (no liquor). Pool tables. A very funky jukebox. Neon beer signs. Most importantly - Very, very large bouncers.
on the other hand
Art deco decor with banquettes in red leather. Dim lighting, a little dance floor in the center next to a small stage. Lots of witty conversation. Urbane, cool, sophisticated.
Hmm, thanks. I figured it might be something like that. I think my parents will fly out to California and strangle me if I give up law to open a restaurant so perhaps this might be for way later on down the road.
Mine would be full of memorabilia from Democratic presidential campaigns. The TVs would be tuned to C-SPAN or various other respectable news outlets (maybe FoxNews occasionally, with taunting encouraged.) Election nights, the place would go wild… except that I think you’re not allowed to serve alcohol on Election Day, right? I’m not sure, actually. If that’s the case, then we’d serve non-alcoholic stuff until the polls close or that whole night, whichever one is appropriate.
The beer would be focused on high quality stuff. Lots of English and Belgian imports, and we’d encourage microbrews. Oak paneling all around, too. And we’d serve liquor, too, of course.
Republicans would be welcome, too. Their money is green, too, you know—but if they got too rowdy in opposition to the decor and the theme, we’d kick 'em out. I mean, we’d welcome the opposition, as long as they’d keep it civil.
I’ve had this idea for a long time, but I’m far from flush enough even to open a lemonade stand, much less a bar. I don’t have a name for it, but I’m sure I could come up with one. I just really like this idea. If such a place existed, I’d drink there!
When I was in University I was getting tired of all the bars in my town getting fancier and fancier. I dreamt of something more simple and honest.
The “manjuice”:
A hole in the ground you enter by climbing down a ladder or simply jumping down. There’d be three drinks: beer, vodka and coffee - all served in the same pint glass. You’d hear the same beat up punk tape on autoreverse all the time everyday.
The “automatenraum” (vending machine room):
You get drinks, food, and cigarettes from vending machines that take up all the room along the walls, the music comes from a jukebox. There’s bartenders behind a counter, but they’re just there to give you change.
Being older and wiser now, I’d open a nice pub.
“Ye Olde One Legged Monkey”
Nothing special - Czech beer on tap, some food, a live band on fridays and a dj on saturdays. I’d have the “Ramones Monday” when I would only play Ramones songs.
This would actually be a good candidate for its own thread, but having worked in the food service industry for four years in various positions (everything from fry guy at a ugh Applebee’s to grillman and barback/substitute bartender at a four star) I have say that your Da and plnnr are on the money on how hard it is and how much attention you have to devote to it. Maybe I’ll start a thread on it and get input from other cooks, waitrons, managers, et cetera.
Oh, and both SoCal and the Bay area are oversaturated with restaurants as it is. Between the cost of labor (you have to pay full minimum wage in CA), the price of food, and the general competitiveness, it’s extremely difficult to make a go of it. Not to say it isn’t done, but you really need to know what you’re doing and keep on top of all details. I’m not trying to be snarky, but running a restaurant is a lot more than having a catchy theme or decor and having a good menu.
Personally, I’d rather risk a bar. Higher margins, fewer personel, less infrastructure, no perishables to buy every day. Have the wine guy and the liquor salesmen come by every few days, make sure that your kegs are being properly stocked, and keep employees from sneaking a hand in the till. Oh, and dodge lawsuits from people who get drunk and do stupid things to themselves and each other. :rolleyes:
It is dimly lit.
It is something of a dive.
It has no televisions and no gaming machines.
It concentrates on boutique and imported beers.
It offers a cheap but tasty menu of pub food.
Nah, not in California. I’m moving there for a year b/c I signed up for the CA bar on a lark but I might be moving elsewhere after that. The location of said restaurant was elsewhere. Isn’t California like 80% Indian around parts? I figure it would be pretty hard to open one up there.
