Bar Life

In this, our, second installment of Bar Life we visited the Bucktown bar, Lemmings, where we joined suddenlystruttin fan/critic Noelle for her birthday party. Heading into the evening we were rather skeptical, what with the lines between Bucktown and Lincoln Park ever more blurring, thanks to the continual sprouting up of boutiques, coffee shops and terrible restaurants. In any case, the staff and I endured Lemmings and actually found ourselves having a fair amount of fun...

BAR: Lemmings

DRINK SPECIALS:
$2.75 16 oz. PBRs
I know it doesn't sound like much of a deal, but considering the prices of PBR at other bars (median range: $3.25) it's a deal.

WHAT ELSE WAS DRANK?
Lots of PBR, in addition the staff threw down some Irish Car Bombs with the bartender who was simply happy that somebody wanted to drink them as much as he did.

GENERAL ATMOSPHERE:
Startlingly jovial, maybe it was the holiday cheer or the fact that it was Friday, but people we're having fun in spades. Easily one of the best atmospheres -- The Burlington and The Cove, are up there as well -- of any new bar I've ventured to in the past four months, which probably is more telling of the bars I keep company with than anything else. No matter, Lemmings is vastly more upbeat than either Ronnys or The Underground. Minor points off for advertising "Free Wifi," though, to be fair, that's just good business practice, even if I interpret it as modestly uncouth.

CLIENTELE:
White like the South Pole, tons of 20-something professionals who had an air of satisfaction at their own ability to have locked down a middle-management job, a desk and an MBA they then hung on the wall. Boring, but not mean-spirited. The clientele lacked that je ne sai quois, that the staff and I find so endearing at bars. What? Not even a resident drunkard? For shame, Lemmings.

IN THE BATHROOM YOU'LL FIND...
Old, yet still functioning, plumbing and, at least, in the men's room one adventuresome fellow bringing his laptop into the bathroom while still yammering on a bluetooth headset. Nice!

I FORCED MYSELF TO...
Leave early. A number of staff members and I had a lot of heavy lifting to tend to at a rather early hour on Saturday. Sadly, my "better judgement" got the better of me and I left Lemmings before I could have, surely, I'll be back...