A Night out in Mactown!

The details are all a bit fuzzy, but thank goodness for Facebook and Foursquare! Last night, I went out with some new friends in "downtown" McAllen!

[Picture note: Me with my partners in crime last night! Blurry and drunk; beautiful] 

Our stops:
Shiraz Lounge: A sweet low key bar scene with live DJ and crazy lights (this seems to be the theme in every establishment along South 17th street, I come to learn). Drinks were pricier than I had imagined in South Texas.
The Vintage Room: We walked into this tiny store front spot with blaringly loud live music and test tube shots abounding. It was too much for us sober folk, so we left after a couple shots.
Dirty Bottle: A hilariously cheesy/"dirty" spot with poles and hot pants everywhere. This is where I got a lesson in dollar placement and how to shake one's tail feathers. Although most of this took place indoors, people were smoking cigs everywhere. My native South Texans said it was pretty normal. Places like that never got raided, so it didn't matter. So different than a majority of places in New York. They also had a sweet outdoor set up in back. What we thought was an alley turned out to be an outdoor cabana retreat with its own set of poles.

Brewski's Beer Bar: This was one of my favorite stops! Very typical New York scene with a few dozen beers on tap and a regular bar down one side. I'd had a few too many drinks at this point to remember which brews we actually tried. And none of us had ever seen them before, so we just cataloged them as the baby, the monk, and the fat tire. All very good, but I do wish I knew what the baby was. That was my favorite. It was light and had a hoppy flavor and the tap had a naked metal baby on it. Anyone?

[Picture note: Brewski's tap lineup!]

Our last stop of the night was The Patio on Guerra. You walked through the front door and were back outside again in a casual umbrella'ed space. There was live Spanish music playing and I traipsed my way through a few songs. Spectators seemed to enjoy Asian girl dancing.

I guess the rules of Texas are, establishments have to stop serving at 2am. So my night was cut short from the usual NY 4am cutoff and I was swept away by Khanster and his friends after a final round of Landsharks back at Shiraz. Needless to say, with an average of 1.5-2 drinks consumed per bar, I was incapacitated till late afternoon today.


Happy Christmas eve!