All this month, we revealed to you -- one by one -- the winners of the 2007 OnMilwaukee.com readers' poll for the best bars in Metro Milwaukee. We know the wait has been excruciating, but now that all is revealed, here's a tally of all the winners (as well as our editors' picks), in one handy list. Cheers!
Best Bathrooms: Safe House
OnMilwaukee.com editors' pick: Hi Hat Garage
The Safe House's ladies' room is infamous for its mammoth naked photo of Burt Reynolds with a metal heart hinged over his unmentionable. Should a curious gal move the heart to see what's underneath, the lights flicker in the entire bar / restaurant, letting everyone know that she tried to sneak a peek. As for the mens' room, don't be fooled by the two doors. Behind one, there's a brick wall and the sign "Whoa!" The other door leads to the actual loo, where there are two stalls aptly labeled "FBI" and "CIA."
Best Brew Pub: Milwaukee Ale House
OnMilwaukee.com editors' choice: Water Street Brewery
With a range of tasty beers, two great outdoor, riverside seating options and a spacious, airy interior, the Ale House is popular with music fans, the after work crowd and beer connoisseurs alike. The locally-owned and operated Ale House was also among the earliest nightlife destinations to arrive as the Third Ward bar and restaurant scene started taking off in the 1990s.
Best Dance Club: The Mad Planet
OnMilwaukee.com editor's choice: The Mad Planet
With its eclectic crowd and offbeat motif, The Mad Planet, 533 E. Center St., is a unique Milwaukee hangout and a people watchers' wonderland -- and has been for close to two decades. With good quality sound and strong, affordable drinks, it's a great place to catch a live show, but The Planet's real claim to funky fame is the Friday night '80s dance party, known as the infamous Retro Fridays.
Best Happy Hour: The Nomad World Pub
OnMilwaukee.com editors' choice: The Nomad World Pub
Both the readers and the editors of OnMilwaukee.com can agree on this: The Nomad, 1401 E. Brady St., throws Milwaukee's best happy hour. It's not because they do any two-for-one specials, offer free food or anything else that seems to go hand in hand with the traditional happy hours in town. In fact, the only special Nomad offers is pretty untraditional: the "Prix fixe," which is a shot of Jameson, a can of Pabst and a cigarette for $5.
Best Irish Bar: County Clare
OnMilwaukee.com editors' choice: Paddy's Pub
County Clare, 1234 N. Astor St., is also a small inn and serves some great authentic food, including Irish root soup, shepherd's pie, and a mean corned beef and cabbage. With one corner home to a toast fireplace and couches and other open for regular live music, County Clare rarely feels cramped (except, of course, on St. Patrick's Day). They even offer a small room for private parties, and the bar's ideal location between Downtown and Brady Street means parking isn't that big of a challenge.
Best LGBT Bar: La Cage
OnMilwaukee.com editors' choice: Walker's Pint
La Cage is Milwaukee's oldest LGBT dance club, featuring two dance floors, four bars, mega video screens, drag shows, theme nights and new and retro extended-mix dance songs cranking all night long. Gay, straight or undefined, this club is a fun place to cut the rug while enjoying reasonably priced drinks.
Best Live Music: Milwaukee Ale House
OnMilwaukee.com editors' choice: Cactus Club
Ever since it opened a decade ago, the Ale House has not only supported local music by booking gigs to help introduce musicians to the happy hour crowd (as well as late night gigs, of course), it has also occasionally brought in national and international acts like Ireland's The Frames.
OnMilwaukee.com editors' choice: Zen Den
Hi Hat is trendy, but relaxed. It's hip, but understated and comfortable. That was enough for readers to select it over At Random, Centanni and the other runners up.
Best Bar For A Secret Rendezvous: At Random
OnMilwaukee.com editors' choice: Jamo's
At Random stole the show in this category and it's easy to understand why. There's nowhere in Milwaukee that's more dimly lit and serves up stronger specialty drinks. If you're trying to get away to somewhere where you won't be seen (perhaps even by a waitress), this is definitely the place.
Best Pickup Bar: Victor's
OnMilwaukee.com editors' choice: Flannery's
Bottom line: people in Milwaukee go to Victor's, 1230 N. Van Buren St. They've been going there -- young, old, hot, cold, dashing, desperate and everything in between -- for 44 years, and OnMilwaukee.com readers voted it the best pickup bar in Milwaukee.
Best Sports Bar: Hooligan's
OnMilwaukee.com editors' choice: The Highbury Pub
It's easy to see why so many Milwaukeeans picked Hoolie's: watching the big game at this East Side landmark is a slightly more refined experience that what you get at some of the area's more traditional sports bars. Downstairs, TVs line the bar, and upstairs the action centers mostly around one big TV (not the biggest of all time, but big enough).
Best Wine List: Pizza Man
OnMilwaukee.com editors' choice: Balzac
Once again, OnMilwaukee.com readers have voted Pizza Man, 1800 E. North Ave. as the winner of Milwaukee's best wine list. To be sure, the East Side pizzeria boasts a huge list, but the topic was "best" not "biggest," and we wonder what real wine connoisseurs would say when comparing Pizza Man to other local restaurants with dedicated sommeliers. That said, you can't go wrong ordering vino at the restaurant with Milwaukee's most phallic outdoor sign.
Best New Bar (opened in last year): Café Hollander
OnMilwaukee.com editors' choice: Burnhearts
Café Hollander features a split smoking and nonsmoking dining section, and a comfortable, attractive bar with a good selection of Belgian ales offered in brand-appropriate glasses. Brunch-time customers covet their Bloody Marys, as well.
Best Bar In Bay View: Palomino
OnMilwaukee.com editors' choice: Burnhearts
Palomino's menu is geared toward the punk rock cowboy, especially the kind with a hearty appetite. But this isn't your typical bar fare -- it's a little kitschy, it's a little rock and roll and it serves some of the best deep fried (and vegan-friendly) food in town. Come hungry, but save room for a few drinks.
OnMilwaukee.com editors' choice: The Nomad World Pub
The competition from The Nomad World Pub, Wolski's and Trocadero was tight, but Hi Hat won out with its casually cool atmosphere, excellent food and attentive bartenders.
Best Bar In Downtown/Third Ward: The Wicked Hop
OnMilwaukee.com editors' choice: Water Buffalo
The Wicked Hop might just be the perfect spot for a Downtown happy hour. In the warm months, there's plenty of outdoor seating under the huge metal awning and plenty of people-watching, yet, at 345 N. Broadway, it's off the trodden path of Water Street enough to still feel calm and relaxing after a long day at the office.
Best Marquette Bar: Murphy's Irish Pub
OnMilwaukee.com editors' choice: Jim Hegarty's Pub
Murphy's offers Big-Ass (32 oz.) beers on Wednesday, cheap pitchers on Sunday and drink specials just about every other night. It's a place to see, be seen and possibly hook up with a member of the opposite sex.
Best Bar On/Near North Avenue/UWM: Paddy's Pub
OnMilwaukee.com editors' choice: Von Trier
With its unique patio and homey interior, clean bathrooms, good vibes and rollicking music inside and outside, the Irish-themed Paddy's is a neighborhood favorite. Add in bowls of peanut M&Ms and you've got a recipe for success.
Best Bar in Riverwest: Nessun Dorma
OnMilwaukee.com editors' choice: Nessun Dorma
Nessun Dorma stocks an impressive selection of beer, wine and whiskey. It offers 80 different kinds of beer and lager, as well as a few dozen types of wine by the glass or bottle, including red, white, sparkling, sake and more.
Best Suburban Bar: Leff's Lucky Town
OnMilwaukee.com editors' choice: Village Pub, Shorewood
This simple saloon -- home to dozens of softball, kickball, volleyball and touch football teams as well as plasma TVs, decent bar food and the biggest urinal in the tri-county area -- draws steady business on just about every night of the week and gets jam-packed for special events like Opening Day, Tosa Fest and Hartfest.
Best Bar On/Near Water Street: Bar Louie
OnMilwaukee.com's editor's choice: The Lodge
Bar Louie Milwaukee, 1114 N. Water St., is the 20th location, nationwide, of the popular Chicago-based chain, and offers a variety of fairly-priced signature sandwiches, appetizers, deluxe burgers and entrees as well as everything that gives it its bar title -- handcrafted specialty cocktails, martinis and mojitos, and more than 20 domestics, imports and microbrews.
Best Bar in Walker's Point: The Social
OnMilwaukee.com's editor's choice: MOCT
Before south of Downtown was the new place to be, The Social made its home there. A Walker's Point veteran, The Social first opened at 434 N. 2nd St. in 2000. In 2004 owner Kevin Sloane relocated it to the hot little intersection of 1st Street and Pittsburgh Avenue, next door to Alterra Coffee Roasters.
