Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Maxwell's, RIP

Fire at Maxwell's Cafe

(Thank you to Bree R on flickr for letting me use his photo!)


I, Erin, would like to take a moment to mourn the passing of our favorite bar, Maxwell's. We had a fairly short and passionate love affair with Maxwell's, only discovering it late summer of 2007. I am hopeful that the bar will come back just as it was, with hopefully slightly less wobbly chairs.

As most of you know, Maxwell's was badly damanged in a fire last week. Check out the Star Tribune story here. It is quite a sight to see now, because all the water that was used to put out the fire froze immediately, so it gives it the look of a ghost bar. There are some awesome photos on flickr of the fire here.

Here are my top 10 reasons to love Maxwell's:

10. Who doesn't love a bar with the tagline: more taps than tables! It is true. I counted. 16 taps, 15 tables.

9. There is always a table of cops sitting there. Why, I am not sure... but it is entertaining.

8. Friendly staff who will not be annoyed if you sit there for 15 minutes waiting for their specials to start. They also did not appear to be annoyed when I went there for my 26th birthday with many friends. Ben also insisted on telling the server about 20 times that we had a "big group of people coming." I'm sure she thought we were huge losers because we sat there for at least an hour before anyone else showed up.

7. Specials EVERY night - and good ones too!

6. Easy parking.

5. Almost always an open table.

4. Ice in the urinal trough in the men's bathroom (or so I am told)

3. Very nice decor - lots of cool Minneapolis photos on the walls, exposed brick, and a pressed tin ceiling.
DSC09063

(the only photo I have that shows the wall and a photo.... and Ben.... and Justin)

2. Cheap late night appetizers that are tasty to boot!

1. And finally, my number 1 reason to love Maxwell's has to be the $3 Miller Lites as large as your head on Fridays after 9pm.
I love $3 huge beers

(It appears that I did not have a Miller Lite that night, which I find alarming. What was I thinking?!)
UPDATE: Apparently there is a Facebook group about rebuilding - check it out!