The Wake

Books and beer have never gone well together. I once tried to drink a few margaritas and study with my roommate on a Saturday night. As one drink led to five, thoughts of my homework floated blissfully away on a stratus of sobriety, and I ended up at a party with a keg cup in hand. Case and point: drinking and studying have never been a good combo, but there is a bar that is trying to break those rules—sort of. The Library has returned to Dinkytown with borders of books and kegs of beer living in harmony.

The Library opened about one month ago and its kitchen, serving up the usual appetizer, salad and sandwich-burger fare, opened on Monday, Jan. 23. Because no experience is complete without cuisine, I ordered a fiesta salad to go from their menu. (It had guacamole on it, and anything with guacamole is good.) Although my ordering experience was not perfect (the dressing was not on the side as asked and they had no plastic forks for the food or a bag to put it in), it was still decent considering they had opened only two days prior. The chicken was tender, the guac chunky and the cheese freshly grated. A warning for all the pansy, ‘I like it mild’ people out there: The red pepper dressing has the kick of a wild beast trying to protect its babies, so beware. The salad also came with these oversized tortilla chips that were flaky and fried, but didn’t taste like a tortilla chips, yet retained their scooping capabilities.

To complete my experience I had to go (on a school night no less) to the bar. My visit was basically good. I came straight from night class, and despite its Library name, I was the only one with a backpack. The bar was crowded for a Wednesday, probably due to the special for one-cent pints of Shiner Bock, which only lasted from 7 to 8 p.m. Large two-story windows made for some pleasurable people watching in the beginning of the night, but be cautious—the windows are not tinted and pointing and making faces at passersby could end in bruises and tears. Soon after sitting, an odd wave of pepper spray wafted through the front door leaving me hacking and the large, muscular doorman in tears. It was then that I decided that the upstairs needed exploring.

The second level had a second bar (Whew!) and it was setup loft-style, excellent for rate-your-future-mate games as one could stare down on the first-floor patrons without the embarrassing: They saw us staring, and played the look away-runaway routine. The rest of the night was enjoyed on a stool at the loft’s edge with my $1.50 taps of Miller Lite and great views of manly women tennis players on the jumbo tron-like thing in the middle of the ceiling, and, of course, views overlooking the lower level with the many good-looking players, I mean patrons, down below.

The Library is located on the corner of 4th Street SE and 14th Street.