Most food servers forget to ask the most important question in the book: "Do you want sports, style or a view of the mountains with that order?"
What locals say
"Reilly's is a good bar. It used to be the Cheechako. It is an Irish-themed pub with a cozy atmosphere and nice mood lighting. It is a wood cabin so the orange light bouncing off of the logs is homey. The people are great too. There is a real sense of the Irish in the place."
-- Jonathan Harrell, local graduate student
What locals say
"Reilly's is a good bar. It used to be the Cheechako. It is an Irish-themed pub with a cozy atmosphere and nice mood lighting. It is a wood cabin so the orange light bouncing off of the logs is homey. The people are great too. There is a real sense of the Irish in the place."
-- Jonathan Harrell, local graduate student
They don't ask because atmosphere is a tough thing to come by; it's difficult to harness and impossible to replicate. Putting a tag like "sports bar" on a place says nothing about its lighting, mood, clientele and sensibility. About the only thing it tells us is what to expect on television.
Anchorage's longtime sports bar, the Peanut Farm (5227 Old Seward Highway) in Midtown, recently underwent a major expansion to its original building. It's hard to say whether the new structure is the old building's sidekick or the other way around. The new Peanut Farm looks almost lodgelike from the outside, with stone walls and giant posts and beams, but it quickly finds its inheritance. Eight enormous screens perch from the high ceiling around the bar and smaller ones fill the space in between.
The place looks almost too tidy and neat with about 30 tap handles with about five decent craft brews. The menu sticks to pub grub with country-style lunch specials thrown in, and the servers wear casual jerseys and trousers.
In contrast, the original Peanut Farm has a low ceiling, low lights and dark wood inside and out. Expect to bathe in smoky haze and music by Foreigner. The beer selection includes around 18 tap handles with about three good craft brews.
Not long ago, the big screens in the new building showed an endless array of men and women playing sports plus a single Ronco infomercial that wouldn't quit; in the old building, the customers talked in a low murmur while the blue light of sports, news and sitcoms glowed in the background.
Come summer, the Peanut Farm deck offers an atmosphere of its own, with tables and chairs along a quaint creek that meanders through wilderness and industrial zones alike.
The two decks at the Snow Goose Restaurant/Sleeping Lady Brewery (717 W. Third Ave.) have a completely different kind of allure. The popular summer hangout serves its own award-winning beers and promises some of the best views of the Alaska Range. Look for concerts, theater performances and acoustic shows too, all smoke-free.
The spacious, sometimes surreal Bernie's Bungalow Lounge (626 D St.) is arguably the coolest, most stylish bar in town, with its own expansive courtyard to boot. The art is bold, sometimes ribald and varied, just like the customers, with paintings and sculptures throughout. College students, artists, intellectuals, hipsters and barflies love the place.
"If you're looking for a trendy but relaxed setting, Bernie's is your place," said Jonathan Harrell, a local graduate student. "With the new Starlight Room, the bar has taken on a whole new energy. Its layout is very feng shui and in the summer, there are functioning water gardens out back. It is a gem."
A smaller bar from the same stylish vein, SubZero (612 F St.) pours Belgian beers and cocktails to customers who sit at little round tables and look out windows of bubbly water. A changing array of art hangs in the narrow bar, and Belgian beer dinner specials dazzle the senses.
SubZero's bigger sibling, Humpy's Great Alaskan Alehouse (610 W. Sixth Ave.), serves a huge selection of beer, wine, whiskey and other drinks (including about 50 draft brews) on the other side of the kitchen. Smoky and loud, Humpy's is a hot spot for live music or as a meeting place before other nightlife. Meals at a good price make the eatery popular anytime of day.
Down the street from Humpy's, Cafe Savannah (508 W. Sixth Ave.) proffers Spanish appetizers and meals with an ample wine list and local art by contemporary artists. Expect small portions of many things and casual but professional service.
Other downtown options include salsa, swing and other dancing at Club Soraya (333 W. Fourth Ave.), upscale jazz at Sullivan's Steakhouse (320 W. Fifth Ave.), DJs and pool at The Shed (535 W. Third Ave.), and drag shows, line dancing and all sorts of other events at Mad Myrna's (530 E. Fifth Ave.).
For music and atmosphere without the booze, head to Bitoz Cafe and Pizzeria (513 W. Fourth Ave.), where the dance floor gets rowdy and young people down energy drinks instead of Bud and listen to local bands instead of turntables. Another all-ages club, Club Millennium (420 W. Third Ave.), spins hip-hop, techno, reggae and other tunes for patrons 18 and older. The no-smoking, no-drinking, late-night party goes until 3 a.m.
If you want to hang out at an old-fashioned bar, try The Woodshed Lounge (535 W. Third Ave.), Rumrunners (Fourth Avenue and E Street), the Gaslight Lounge (721 W. Fourth Ave.) and the Pioneer Bar (739 W. Fourth Ave.). All offer their own flavors and sideshows, but Darwin's Theory (426 G St.) probably does the best job of melding sassy, salt-of-the-earth barkeeps with good old-fashioned mixed drinks and unprintable bar talk.
But most visitors hear about Chilkoot Charlie's (2435 Spenard Road), a Midtown bar and club with an eclectic and predictable scene. You might see an exotic DJ, bar fight and country two-step in the same night, though the pickup lines stay the same. Check outthe weekly Play magazine for the latest live music at Koot's and elsewhere, a selection that includes national acts and local ones alike.
In the same neighborhood, the Bear Tooth Theater Pub & Grill (1230 W. 27th Ave.) offers a fresher, better selection of beer and big-screen entertainment. The movies cost $3 and burritos $7. Look for live music once or twice a month too. Organic Oasis (2610 Spenard Road) resides in the same Spenard enclave and offers healthy meals, organic beer, acoustic music and a tonic for all hard-living souls. Farther east, Cafe Amsterdam (530 E. Benson Blvd.) in the Metro Mall serves hardy, European meals all day long, not to mention rare and delicious local and Belgian beers.
Also in Midtown, Blues Central/The Chef's Inn (825 W. Northern Lights Blvd.) gets cooking all year long, culminating with the blues festival in Kincaid Park every summer. Expect to get sweaty and smoky in the cozy little bar where the bluesy atmosphere is everything.
Freelance writer Dawnell Smith lives in Anchorage.
A few big summer festivals
• BLUES ON THE GREEN: The all-day music festival happens rain or shine, wind or chill, and keeps on grooving because of the hardiness of its fans, who put up tents and spend the day chillin', eating and marveling at the scenery. Johnny Winter headlines this year's event, but local bands such as Bearfoot, Rebel Blues and Soulman Sam always please the crowd. Tickets cost about $40, and the show goes on June 10, from 11 a.m. to midnight.
• GIRDWOOD FOREST FAIR: Likewise, the fair gets cooking no matter the weather, but the event features more bluegrass, pop and jazzy tunes than blues. The old standby festival, now in its 31st year, includes a meandering trail of arts and crafts booths that begins and ends either at the entrance or the beer zone, depending on your perspective. Head to the fair July 7 to 9 at Mile 2.2 Alyeska Highway. It costs nothing to get in, but bring cash for food, beer and crafts. For more information, go to www.girdwoodforestfair.com
• TALKEETNA BLUEGRASS AND MUSIC FESTIVAL: Then, of course, there's the big-daddy festival of them all the first week of August, the Talkeetna Bluegrass and Music Festival, which is held south of Talkeetna on the Parks Highway. The behemoth music spectacle gathers musicians and partyers of all kinds, all under the scrutiny of leather-clad bikers as security. Whether you survive a day or camp the whole weekend, you'll remember some of it and not worry about the rest.
