Last night Ned and I bailed on the Builders and the Butchers show at the Wonder, after I proved unable to contain my irritation at the band’s old-timey schtick. (Three times I’ve seen them! I’ve tried. I could see getting excited about them in a smaller venue, but I’ve only seen them in big rooms where it’s way too easy to stand in the back and think about how much I dislike their lyrics.) We wandered next door to the Secret Society Lounge, a tiny little bar tucked in next to the Secret Society Ballroom above Toro Bravo.
Open for about a month, the bar features some really well-mixed old-fashioned cocktails, including a few made with now-legal absinthe. The Chrysanthemum Cocktail, with Italian vermouth, benedictine, absinthe, and an orange garnish was floral and subtle, really very good, though thanks to its name, ordering the drink effectively functions as a sobriety test that I barely passed. They make their Sazerac with an absinthe rinse (I think I’ve only ever had them with Pernod before) and I really liked the woodsy flavor the absinthe lent to the drink, though Ned thought it tasted “mentholated.” He was happier with Moscow Mule–the pretty unfuckwithable combo of vodka, lime, and ginger beer is served over ice in a copper mug.
The bar is tiny, decorated in red, and feels very fancy and exclusive–an impression thankfully countered by extremely friendly bartenders and completely reasonable drink prices (I paid $6.50 for my Sazerac, a mere $2.50 than the tallboys of PBR I would later consume at the Wonder. Don’t mix those, BTW*.) There’s also a $7 panini menu with both vegetarian options (the “number thirty-three” has fennel, artichoke, and fontina) and meaty ones (coppa and mortadella).
Secret Society Lounge, 116 NE Russell, open Fri-Sat 5 pm-1 am, Sun-Thurs 5 pm-midnight. Closed today, because, you know. Explosions. Happy fourth of July!
(*Update this blog, please, it is a comfort.)
Updated!
And I’m a woman with a three-day weekend and some boozy intentions, so it’s only going to get more awesome in the coming days. Thanks for the shout-out!
Agreed on the B & B I’m sure they’re nice guys and all, I personally just don’t get it.
Also super psyched to hear of a place with real absinthe. I’d read it was now legal, but hadn’t yet found it here in town.
B&B isn’t that great but a band that does a better version of the “old timey music” is Run On Sentence—-they are awesome musicians!! Especially the lead singer—his acoustic songs are amazing (well, it was at Mississippi Studios a few months ago). Find their show and give them a try.
In my defense, let me add that the Sazerac was kind of a girlish pink color, and it came in fruity stemmed glassware, the type that does not permit one to take a sip without extending one’s pinky. I preferred the vessel for the Moscow Mule–a copper mug, around which one could really wrap one’s manly fist.
Let me also add that I, for one, like the B&Bs a lot, but the Wonder is too big for ’em. Didn’t they used to play without a PA?
So ya DON’T like old-timey music, but ya DO like old-fashioned cocktails…hmmm. In my book, they are as copacetic as isotopes and bombast.
“In my book, they are as copacetic as isotopes and bombast.”
That’s the most muddled paragraph I’ve ever seen. Do we misunderstand the word “copacetic”? Did we forget how to construct a simile? Is our grammar plain fucked? I can’t even begin to unravel that mess.