Now, I am the definition of a teetotaler: I almost always decline invitations to hang out at bars… since I simply don’t like the taste of alcohol. But I figured I could use a change of pace, so I decided to head over to the Ginger Man after a tough day of vegan shoe shopping.
First off, if you’re a teetotaler like me, you almost always will feel a bit odd if you don’t get at least something to drink and nurse while everyone around you starts cultivating a delightful case of beer breath. So order some ginger ale or something. For people who actually do drink, they have a very large selection of all kinds of exotic and rare beers.
I did really enjoy the overall ambiance of the Ginger Man, which had a kind of old-time saloonish swagger to it, kind of like a speakeasy. There was a large semi-private seated area with couches towards the back, where my friends from school gathered for a casual birthday party. I liked that it was dimly lit, furnished with dark mahogany end tables and lampshaded light fixtures.
Best of all, there was a semi-vulgar quote on the top of the bar: “When you have money, it’s sex… if everything is simply jake then you’re frightened of death” by J.P. Donleavy, the original Ginger Man himself. haha.
The one and only redeeming thing about the Ginger Man would be their yummy cinnamon sugar pretzels: baked on the premises, made to order and covered with loads of cinnamon sugar, it’s a great snack… especially because it’s the only vegan menu item.
Be sure to tell the server to coat the pretzel with oil and not butter, because that’s the default make of the pretzel (luckily my waitress was vegan before, so she knew this). Because they’ll be subbing butter with oil, the sugar falls off very easily, but that really doesn’t matter so long as you don’t rub it off yourself. Though at $3 a pop, and not very big at that… I’ll probably limit my soft pretzel intake to just one a visit.
Aside from having just one thing for me to devour… I was pretty happy about the attentive service and would probably come back here again… if I ever decided that beer is something I’d willingly swill (never going to happen). My server checked on me every now and again to see if I needed to replenish my drink, which was not too much as to be too bothersome, but enough to warrant a mention. Good job, Ginger Man waitress! If only I could remember her name…
side note: Thanks to Lisa, for letting me use her iPhone, as usual :)