#57: Alamo Drafthouse Ritz

The Bar

Alamo Ritz. 320 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 2/28/17 @ 8pm.

The Drink

The Dude. Vodka, Kahlua, cream, cherry. $9.

The classic White Russian is so indelibly associated with The Big Lebowski that the Alamo just went ahead and named it after the main character. It would do its eponym proud, since in typical Alamo fashion, their version is excellent, using real cream instead of the more typical half-and-half, and not forgetting to make it strong. Sometimes you'll get White Russians that are basically vodka lattes; not that I would complain about getting one of those, but this is a nice, well-crafted take on the iconic instrument of chill that rewards with a buzz but doesn't overwhelm with sweetness. In the background you can see its siblings waiting to be served; the only thing better than one White Russian is a round.

The Crew

Vince, Travis, Rome, Sonali, Davis, Aaron

Notes

I went back and forth about whether to include this venue, and I'm glad I did. I've seen plenty of films here and never thought that they had a separate bar, and although seeing a movie for the first round to get a drink and then doing the rest of Sixth sounded tempting, I'm trying not to cover places where you have to jump through hoops to get your drink. Turns out that you can just walk up to the main counter and order a round, which is what we did. If you haven't been to the Alamo before, they are the greatest movie chain in the world. Even if you have, the Ritz location is a unique place: it was the first theater in Austin to show movies with sound, and before the Alamo bought it in the mid-2000s it went through various incarnations as a comedy venue, club, music venue, porn theater, and bar. I remember playing some Area 51 here while drinking some incredibly strong Long Island ice teas in the early 2000s, and I can still taste them, But I'm glad it was renovated, because they show a lot of excellent smaller films here, as well as host specialty events like Master Pancake (one of the greatest regrets of my life is missing the Master Pancake Cage-a-Thon that Nic Cage himself showed up for). I'm not sure I would recommend just stopping in for a drink since there's not a great seating area in the lobby, but getting a drink with your movie is absolutely recommended.