Bars that serve food: civilized! [classic article]

There’s a reason I’m a restaurant examiner… I like food. Food goes with conversation, fun, activities, and drink. I love that bars in places like Harford County must serve food. It’s a civilizing pairing with your cocktail or beer. It lets you smell the roses. I have been places that don’t serve food in their bars, like Nashville. They have a pathetic quality to them. Even the sad bar patronized in the Paul Newman movie, “The Verdict”, served pickled hard boiled eggs to patrons. I think the bar in “Archie Bunker’s Place” did the same.

A bar without food is a place that says, “Let’s all get sloshed, life sucks.” The food slows you down, enhances the drink. People are happier. The food in the bar doesn’t have to be fancy, but hopefully, it’s homemade. There’s a restaurant outside Milwaukee in Glendale, WI, that’s called, “The Lucky 7”. It LOOKS like just a bar, but they serve the best homemade cheese/beer soups, fresh breads, and more. My dad lived next door, but never went in. He didn’t know they served food and assumed it was a biker bar. He was elderly and didn’t think he’d fit in. When I went to clean up his apartment during his last days, I checked the place out… the food definitely made it civilized.