The Rome Zone 3: Bar Lamar, Green Light Social, The Dogwood, J Black’s, The Brew Exchange

Me, Aaron, and Travis. 

My favorite night so far. It was the middle of the week on West 6^th, so the bartenders were bored and talkative. 

Bar Lamar

$6 512 Cascabel Cream Stout.  

Bar Lamar is in Whole Foods on 6^th, way in the back. Mostly a wine bar, but they have bottles and drafts, and I think you can also buy a beer in the regular store and drink it at the bar.  I wasn’t feeling the vibe here. It would be like plopping down in the beer aisle of HEB. We were drinking beers a few feet away from people buying pasta and bulk artisanal soap.  

Random dude drinking wine, staring off at either Bowie BBQ or the fish market. He walked in front of my photo and I didn't care enough to take a second one.

Green Light Social

This is where I decided to abandon my plan to drink whiskey cocktails whenever possible. When Aaron asked for “the drink that most represents the bar,” we ended up with a story about Kraft litigation and a “root beer float” shot. It tasted good, something like Jameson and Baileys. Since we didn’t want to leave the bar after 5 minutes, we each got sipping beers, Hops and Grain Zoe for me. 

My memory started to get a little dim around the edges.  I wanted to get some food…

The Dogwood

But I ended up getting an Austin Eastciders instead. A solid drink, though Aaron and Travis’s Jameson Mules were also good. It’s an outside bar. 

J Black’s

Finally, food. I got some cheap, meaty, delicious Buffalo wings and a $3 Miller Light. This is the place I want to go back to.  Lots of specials, and again, those wings. Getting food sobered me up pretty quickly. 

Trying to make pictures with my arm jutting out my thing. We'll see how that works out.

The Brew Exchange

Had a tiny Gatorade and vodka shot that they had on tap.  Thankfully, it was far more Gatorade than vodka. The bartender gave me 2 “Dihydrogen monoxides.” I chugged the first one and slowly drank the second one. We were there for a long time. 

The bartender was a Chatty Cathy. She’s from out of state, she doesn’t drink (only sometimes but not to get drunk), she used to sleep walk, and she sleeps so heavily that people think there’s something wrong with her. And no two humans can experience the same exact event.

Summary

The bartenders all seemed to know each other. The guy from Green Light Social went through The Dogwood and took a shot with us at The Brew Exchange.  The guy from the Dogwood picked up some food from J Black’s, and the guy from J Black’s delivered some wings to the lady at The Brew Exchange. Aaron is good at drawing out conversations from servers, bartenders, brewers, basically anyone TABC certified.

Some people always keep their work face on. Polite, friendly. The most offensive thing they'll say is that they are not a Longhorns fan. Others, especially on a slow night, relax a little bit. Their tone shifts, and they start talking to you to pass the time since you’re the only people in the bar, and it's either this or stare at their phone.