Primebar

Primebar, the (fairly) recent addition to Calhoun Square replacing poor Il Gatto, has a beer and drink list one would expect from a bar that refers to itself as "prime," so that bodes well for my returning for happy hours.  I tried a Lift Bridge Hop Dish (get it?) in large part because the name is adorable.  I don't even like hoppy beers and I still ordered it and enjoyed it far more than I expected.  After Hop Dish I had a tried-and-true Fulton Lonely Blonde, which never lets me down.  The mixed drinks looked interesting, but pricey, $11 for most.  I'll venture in that direction one of those days but rainy days feel like days that require beer or a heavy red, thus my picks. 

As I continue to be meat-free for Lent, my choices on the menu were somewhat limited.  The restaurant does offer a few veggie-friendly options, but my garden vegetable flatbread was pretty unimpressive next to my friend's asian turkey burger, which looked and smelled fantastic. I wish the vegetarian flatbrad option was a bit more inspired, a bit fancier.  There are so many cool things to do with flatbread, slapping on some zucchini and tomato sauce just seems lazy. I doused that flatbread with an unholy amount of Tabasco and cleaned my plate, but I'll definitely need to return when I can test drive the animal tots (house smoked pulled pork, cheese curds, grainy mustard, fried egg, local stout gravy) or duck confit flatbread (cranberry port wine sauce, duck confit, goat cheese, caramelized onion, arugula, cured lemon). 

The happy hour (3-7pm Mon-Fri and all day Sunday) menu of half-priced apps (including those animal tots, people) and select $2 drafts is worth a revisit, definitely. 

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