Best Bar for a Cocktail with Your French Toast

Down the Street

All too often, brunch requires a long wait. Not so at this hidden gem in Cottage Grove, which delivers the weekend repast in a super-casual setting featuring reclaimed wood walls and stylish, comfortable bar seating as well as large, ice house–like doors the bar swings open on nice days. And, hey, if you want a pomegranate sangria or a bellini with your French toast, this is a bar, after all.

Best Bar for Your Two- and Four-Legged Children

Cottonwood

Young parents still enjoy the occasional drink, and the folks here get that. The expansive bar boasts above-average pub grub, a huge selection of everything from cocktails to craft beer, and plenty of room for the little ones to roam while Mom and Dad relax—even if only for a second. The sprawling patio is equally perfect for pet parents.

Best Bar for the Anti-Oenophile

Plonk! Beer & Wine Bistro

The name—a slang term for bad vino—really encapsulates this place. Yes, staffers could be snooty about their wine, given the expansive selection and their vast knowledge, but they aren’t. Instead, they help guide neophytes in the right direction, teaching them about new, exotic varietals like pinot noir! Of course, if you are a connoisseur, you’ll appreciate that this unassuming spot has one of the best wine selections in the city. For the rest of us, it offers all the essentials of a true neighborhood bar: cold beer, good food and a pleasant patio.

Best Bar That’s a Wine Dive

Sassafras

This hole-in-the-wall is little more than a corrugated tin shack, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a pretty nice glass of wine or a craft beer while you’re there. A little sister to Big Star Bar and Grand Prize, it offers all of the standards—a patio, plenty of TVs, a pool table, a killer steak night (Monday), and seasonal crawfish boils—plus a jukebox stocked with local bands (The Suffers, UGK).

Best Bar for Playing Sand Volleyball

Wakefield Crowbar

There are those among us who like to drink and exercise at the same time, and they should consider this pub a more convenient alternative to hashing. It offers everything you’d expect from a neighborhood hangout: quality grub, loads of drinking options … and fenced-in sand volleyball courts. If you prefer the role of spectator, take in a match while sipping a brew.

Save