The Very Best of the City and Suburbs!
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Nightlife |
DRINKING BARS ABICKS BAR This great little bar has been family owned and operated since 1910. They have a pool table, dart league, and a beautiful back bar. THE BALTIMORE They make a mean patty melt, they know how to party and the dancing and shot-downing that goes on in its speakeasy-style back room is bizarrely cathartic. The Baltimore (or “Baltimore Lunch,” as its sign suggests) is a place that operates on a token economy with its regulars, so be well behaved and show up with beautiful women if you want to be taken care of at the bar. BERKLEY FRONT
Known for the vast beer selection on tap and in bottles, the Front is also just about the best neighborhood watering hole in a 10 mile radius. The best beer selection in Detroit, a super nice staff and a yummy kitchen kickin’ out Euro-American faves into the night. BRONX BAR Either you know about the Bronx or you don’t. The cliquey crowd of musicians and artists all know each other inside and out, and they better, since you can barely see past your nose in the Bronx’s dim Tiffany-lamp lighting. The darkest bar in Detroit is also the coolest for a certain boho-hipster crowd. The décor is perfect, too: a nude Jean Harlow hangs behind the cash register eyeing Raquel Welch’s fur bikini from across the room; they could buy each other a drink using the name-dropping chalkboard system. The Pabst is always cold, the stools are always warm and the dual jukebox is the very best in town—Dolly Parton to Fugazi, Bob Dylan to the Go. BUZZ In summer, you will want to be on the roof; the rest of the time park your butt at the bar. Hopefully you’ll be taken care of by Adam, legendary local bar star turned co-owner in this entertaining enterprise. Pizza is a hit, already award winning and available by the slice or entire pie. You can get fancy coffee as well; we suggest mixing it with some type of alcohol.. CLIFF BELL’S This venue has the vintage look and feel of a joint that hasn't been open since the heyday of the city, which pretty much is the case. There is a stage, a pool table and a really big bar that has the right stuff and clientele (you can tell the first-time visitors because they'll be staring up at the big scooped out ceilings). In case you can pull yourself off your stool, they have a pool table and live entertainment (always nights, typically weekends usually jazz, but we’ve seen burlesque has been on the bill).. THE COMET BAR We don't know if the Comet is open, they haven't been answering thier phone the last few days. This place looks like it was designed by John Waters after a Christmas Day drinking binge—and that’s mostly a good thing. The Comet has recently been rediscovered by those trying to avoid yet another night at the Magic Stick. Karaoke gets pretty extreme here—but nothing like the days of Dee Dee and her iguana act. CUTTER’S Even if the family drags your butt down to Eastern Market at seven in the a.m., you’ll be glad to know there is a good bar open. Cutter’s, named for the meatcutters who founded it (and one of the reasons it has such a superior burger) is a welcome old friend in the midst of the flowers and fruits. DANNY'S IRISH PUB A hole in the wall, perfect for floppin’ on a stool and drowning your sorrows in beer. Not to be confused with the Windsor Danny’s, the den of sin where men are expoited by women who pay them to take off their clothing and dance.. THE DETROITER The bar our city was named after (well maybe it was the other way around). Anyways, it is a neighborhood sports bar, which means it is kind of like a crowd on Cheers. Except when the Detroiter was featured on national TV, it was on Dateline, regarding missing lawyers and the Mackinac Island boating mystery. The same people also own the Cock & Bull, which is an Irish sports bar by way of Tiffany. DOUBLE OLIVE You know you are always going to get a good drink by a knowledgeble nurse, a free pour and a glass heavy enough to heft. We heard there is dancing in the next room, but we have never made it off our stools. FREER BAR This place is a good local hangout. All types from the surrounding Southwest area spend their nights shooting pool, throwing darts and playing the jukebox. Hell, you play your cards right and you might even meet a girl. Or, if that's not your taste, walk yourself directly across Michigan Ave to the R & R Bar. Remember, Wednesday's is underwear night. GARDEN BOWL BAR You’re probably so sick and tired of the word “hipster” by now that you’re ready to wring someone’s neck. Well, put on the fingerprint-proof gloves and wring away because the Garden Bowl Bar has more hipsters than a Strokes/Franz Ferdinand double bill held in a thrift store on New York’s Lower East Side. Hipster bartenders, hipster DJs, hipster bowlers, hipster hairdos, hipster bands playing free shows. All your favorite MySpacers will be there! GENERAL GEORGE S. PATTON POST 11 Hiding behind the parking lot of a Salvation Army is our pick for the Best Bar in Detroit. It's the local post for the Polish-American Veterans. With about 10 seats, 2 video games and a bathroom, this is the kind of place you can sit and drink all day while listening to these old guys talk. Add to that a rental hall with a stage that hosts everything from birthday parties to bake sales and you got a winning combination. God Bless America. GUSOLINE ALLEY In an age of high-concept bars, we can attest to the fact that there was never a method to the madness that is Gus’s. The “hardest bar to find in Royal Oak” metamorphosed like a Chernobyl lake trout into the grotesquely beautiful creature it is today. Gus’s has won dozens of awards, locally and nationally, for everything from beer selection to restroom graffiti. The eclectic “screw top-40 jukebox” and seedy ambience is imitated all over the metro area, but much like all drunken poets yearn to be the next Bukowski, no one will ever really succeed. HARD LUCK LOUNGE Gusoline Alley meets Vegas on the east side of town. Happy hour seems to be a regular thing, from opening to close. It has that straight line shotgun shack shape, like New York and Orleans, a bar running most the length is both the focal point and the purpose. They keep it dark in here, which is the way cool places are supposed to be. There is a loungy chill type room attached and the rest rooms are pretty swanky (and if you use them, please don’t eat the big white mints). HONEST? JOHN’S BAR & GRILL We left more than a few brain cells at the original Honest? John’s over by Belle Isle, what he must have saved on rent there must have gone into building this fancy dig. The new HJ’s is more polished, we don’t even think we can call it a dive (the last one was a top 10 dive bar) but the attitude and camaraderie remain intact; although we do miss the long trough urinal in the men’s room with the “Gentlemen, don’t toss your butts” sign (it made them soggy and hard to light). HJ?even has food now. Owner John Thompson is known for his personality, at least one of them is pretty huge in the heart department, he is always coming up with wacky events for good social causes in the city, such as the Moonshot benefit for the less fortunate and the bunny barbeque on Easter. JUMBO’S Third Street is the new Cass. If that does not make any sense to you, you shouldn’t go to Jumbo’s. If it does, then Jumbo’s is the best bar in the Corridor, probably the entire city. Karaoke is only as good as a bar’s clientele, here it can be truly special. KOVAC'S BAR & GRILL In an area that was settled in the early 1900's by Hungarian, Polish and eastern European Gypsies, Kovac's Bar, located between Historic Fort Wayne and United States Steel, has been a gathering spot for almost 100 years. Many a steelworker, covered in suet and charcoal, has sat down to a bowl of homemade soup and cold frosty beer. Union, Union, Union. LINCOLN BAR Abraham Lincoln once said, "people who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like." He could not be more right than this bar named after him. From the names of all those who came before you carved deeply into the bar rail, to the collection of Lincoln portraits done on napkins, as far as dive bars go, this is the real deal. LJ’S LOUNGE Forget your favorite neighborhood dive bar where they’ve only got PBR on special once a week. LJ’s has what you need, ice cold and cheap as hell—two or three bucks for all imports and domestics every day—and with more personality to boot. Regulars include longtime Corktown residents, artists, writers, entrepreneurs and a wonderfully off-kilter cast of local boozers. Wednesdays feature classic funk and soul “Dee Jays” (as their sign promotes). Once a month, on Saturdays, LJ’s has what might be the city’s best/weirdest karaoke night. MOTOR CITY BREWING WORKS Unlike many microbreweries, MCBW feels like a drinking bar (rather than a place with a lot of drinking fratholes). Maybe it is because they have art shows, the occasional poet behind the handles, or could it be their location in the pituitary gland of the Corridor? NANCY WHISKEY Great drinking hole was recently sold but the name and vibe will remain the same. When Corktown’s finest are off duty you’ll find ’em here. Nancy’s is predominately a big local police and fireman hangout, but there’s always lots of citizens sudzing it silly as well. NORTHERN LIGHTS LOUNGE From the in-the-know mind of Michael Solaka, president of the New Center Council, comes Northern Lights Lounge. This laid back, dim, old-school bar has that retro-cool glow that somehow makes every-damn-body in the place look attractive. Which is good when you pull up to a stool and proceed to lubricate. Tasty eats a-plenty and the longest shuffleboard table we have ever seen. OLD MIAMI The custom welded ghetto gate/sculpture of a gun and guitar pretty much tell the whole story. This is the home of rock and roll and war veterans; the Old Miami is probably the closest thing they got to a parade since returning from Vietnam. It’s a fun bar, zero pretentions and serious drinks with a play hard crowd that is pretty accepting of everybody. You’ll often find them out back with the barbeque a blazing; it smells like victory. OYSTER BAR The name may be a bit misleading; but if they did serve shellfish here we wouldn't recommend eating them. Hell, we wouldn't even eat the oyster crackers! But one thing they are not shellfish on here is the drinks. Strong and cheap. So clam up, and shuck a few down. THE POST There is a Post that started it all. While it might not be as fancy as all of its progeny, it is the reason there is probably a Post Bar in your city. The Post has always been popular, and not just because it is so close to the Joe and Cobo, because it was happening when the Wings still played at Olympia. The reason is this is a fun place to drink, which is why you’ll find more Grosse Pointe girls here than any bar in the Pointes. Everybody goes to the Post, from big time celebrities to nobodies like you and we. History is made here on a nightly basis, in fact, if the walls could talk…well actually they do, as every square inch of the bar is covered in graffiti, and if for some strange reason you should end up on your back (which can be a good thing) you’ll notice even the ceiling is covered with autographs and words of wisdom. Because the Post was up and flowing before we were even legal drinking age, we aren’t sure if the graffiti made it a landmark, or if the legendary status is the reason everyone has left their impression. PULSE The who’s who and the what’s what of high-octane drink. You get the good, gooder, goodest in everything from tequilas to scotch—be on the lookout for rarities like the centenaire Marnier that is truly Grand. You can also get a Strohs, and they’ll mix it with lemonade, even if you aren’t a true blood Irish. But any bar is only as good as the people behind it. This is where Pulse really stands out, because you don’t build a “friendly/comfortable” rep without a crew. SALTY DOG “Arrrrr! Welcome, land lubbers, to the Salty Dog.” You’ve all seen the place; it’s that marooned ship on John R sitting like an ark waiting for the next great flood. The inside is just as authentic. The only thing that doesn’t make you feel lost at sea is the TV screen projector that always seems to be showing ‘80s teen flicks. The best part—the women that work here don’t wear pants! You heard that right, they don’t wear pants! SOHO On occasion gay guys don’t feel like dancing. Soho has good music but it’s more of a lounge than a club. Located in the heart of Ferndale, this is a great place to get away from it all and unwind. STONEHOUSE BAR & GRILL This is supposed to be Detroit’s oldest standing bar, but we usually aren’t standing long when we visit. The Stonehouse Bar & Grill caters to in-the-knowsters as well as the neighborhood. When the State Fair is in town, those neighbors are carnys and roustabouts so it gets crazy crowded. TOM’S TAVERN The jury is out on whether or not Tom’s Tavern is still open (certainly not regularly). It is by far the biggest dump in Detroit, but that has always been the charm. Like the Mystery Spot, the floor is on a severely slanted, which not only makes beer flow uphill, it feels like the first one is working from your first sip. Tom is no longer with us, (he died in the early ’90s, in his mid 90s) but his spirit roams this great rickety room. TOWN PUMP TAVERN Tucked away from the mayhem that is Foxtown is one of the crown jewels of Detroit drinking. The Pump is the king of the free pour; work here and you become a celebrity. Which is good because most who work here seem to be really cute girls. The Pump has been around a long, long time, but it was closed for quite a few years before owner Sean Harrington resuscitated the room in the ’90s and made it the spot we know and love. There’s usually a crowd, which is typically loud, good-looking and having fun. Some might prop the Ilitch family, but we think the Town Pump seems to be what resurrected downtown—one drink at a time. VICENTE’S Hemingway went to Cuba, Detroiters who passionately pursue rum can go to Vicente’s. The bar has a bit of tropical flair and the best mojitos and sangria in los Ciudad de Motor. VIVIO’S On the city side of the Eastern Market you’ll find what insiders know is always on the money for lunch (liquid or solid) or a hearty meal. Vivio’s is not trendy, which is why the truly trendy often end up in the well worn seats. This is the kind of place they modeled the chains after, a true friendly neighborhood joint, a constant despite whatever else is happening in the world. Open early enough to complete a really late Friday or start a very early Saturday. Absolutely the best Bloody Mary around (it comes with a Topor’s new dill pickle and a teeny weeny sidecar mug of beer) and is available in three levels of spiciness. THE WOODWARD BAR & GRILL This bar is history. Literally. For fifty-five years, the Woodward has made it into the books as the longest-operating gay bar in the world still in its original location. YE OLDE TAP ROOM The area’s original beer garden is always a sure bet. More beers than you could sample in a year and one of the only not-for-sissies, genuine, steel-tipped dartboards left in these newfangled times. Old-timey appeal (sawdust and dim lighting) with a new-school hipness (local rock stars and truly good live shows). © 2008 Guide to Detroit, LLC |