tellhimfred.com

Well, I want one, really. A good, solid local that I can rely on. What am I talking about? Simple. Remember reading “Andy Capp” in the Sunday Globe (or whatever paper they have in the benighted hinterlands you hail from) and he’d stumble in from a night of boozing? Well, he was coming from his “local”. It’s an English (as in England) term, but being THF’s resident anglophile, I’m fine with using it. It’s your bar…your place, your pub, the place where there’s always a stool for you, maybe you have your own mug behind the bar?

I guess it’s another sign of aging. I don’t want to bar hop anymore, I just want a place reasonably near my house where I can pop in, and know that someone working there will be like “oh hey, dude! What’s up?” Our friend Loki has one of these places, though he lives up in Danvers (pronounced “Dan-vizzz”). He’s always texting me from this place - I’ve been there - it’s kickass - just a couple of pool tables, some wooden tables, a bar, and that’s it. They make their own beer, and have cold sandwiches. No art, no decorations - just a room with beer. I love it. I want one.

Unfortunately, I live in the South End. The idea of “a room with beer” is about as welcome as Achmadinajad. We got fantabulous restaurants, but precious few baaaahs.

Columbus Cafe almost makes it for me, but it’s so small that there’s almost never any place to sit. There’s nothing I like less than a crowded room where I can’t sit in peace and quaff down a foamy flagon and chat about something that amuses only me.

I can almost make it at the Huntington Ave Uno’s…but it’s fucking UNO’s. Yuck. How generic. I’d rather spend my dollars and my liver on a locally owned place.

So what’s up, Boston? Help me find a local. Tell me about the places you love to drink and why. I’m all ears.