The Townie Bar Challenge: 2DOGSPUB
2DOGSPUB
1705 South First Avenue
Iowa City
It has been a long time since Bobblehead and I paid a visit to a local townie bar, so on Wednesday we enjoyed a late lunch at 2DOGSPUB.
2DOGS is located in the little strip mall on South First Avenue. It is in the former Rick’s location. Rick’s was a nice bar, too, and the layout at 2DOGS is much the same. However, 2DOGS is much classier and has a dedication to serving top notch craft beer. It is no Red’s or Blackstone, but it is a very nice joint.
Our lunch on Wednesday was my third or fourth visit since the change. (Rick’s closed last October or November and 2DOGS opened a couple weeks later.) Everyone else mentions the major aesthetic changes, including the switch to hardwood flooring. They all seem to think carpet is not ideal for a bar, and I tend to agree. However, the choice of flooring is not the first thing I notice when I walk into a bar. Nonetheless, it is definitely a positive change.
Another positive change is the focus on beer. From what I remember, Rick’s had a decent selection of the usual suspects, but it would have never had Moose Drool on tap. A frothy pint of Moose Drool — which was extremely cold for some reason — was what I ordered. Bobblehead opted for a Schlafly Unfiltered Wheat.
Our waitress — who was pretty old by Iowa City standards — gave us a couple minutes to look over the food menu. 2DOGS offers a couple standard vegetarian options as well as a black bean patty for its custom burgers. That is another positive change: creativity. Rick’s, as I remember, offered straight-forward bar grub. 2DOGS has the same, but it added a nice dose of creativity; customers can create their own unique burgers. 2DOGS even crowd sources a burger of the month: customers submit their burger creations and the winner is available on the menu for a whole month. Eventually I settled on the veggie melt, which I had never had before.
By the way, the side of coleslaw I ordered was excellent.
It was after two in the afternoon and the place was completely dead. On a trip to the men’s room, I noticed our waitress and a cook were standing outside the back entrance smoking cigarettes. The TVs were all tuned to Olympic coverage and Bobblehead and I chatted, sipped our beers, and enjoyed a little water polo before watching the end of the Brazil-Argentina men’s basketball game. Eventually, some regulars arrived and bellied up to the bar. All the stools were being warmed by the time we left.
Overall: 2DOGS is a solid little bar. It has a couple arcades in the front, a jukebox (I think) near the bar, and a shuffleboard in the back. On tap are seasonals and selections from New Belgium, Schlafly, Summit, Sam Adams, Toppling Goliath, and Empyrean from Lincoln, Nebraska.
The Quiet Man’s grade: B.
