The big news in Barland this past year was the ado about – for lack of a better nickname – Carroll Street Corner, a cluster of bars at the intersection of Carroll and West 7th Street by Montgomery Plaza on the near West Side. With three bars all within drunk-tossing distance of one another – and another joint within empty beer bottle-tossing distance – you’re bound to have a little drama. OK, a lot. And that’s not even taking into account the restaurant-bars in “Monkey” Plaza (and I use that term lovingly). At the fulcrum of the soap opera was Matt McEntire, who owns the building that houses Poag Mahone’s Pub and the one that houses the restaurant-bar formerly known as the Bronx Zoo Restaurant and Sports Café. “Formerly known as” because McEntire and ex-Zoo owner Tommy Gallant could not agree to a new lease, one that would have increased Gallant’s rent by a couple thou. Whether or not the upped rent was warranted was an endless source of debate. Some folks claimed that McEntire was angling to open his own pub along the lines of his former endeavor (in Poag’s current location), The Shamrock Pub, and price Gallant out. Others claimed that McEntire merely was trying to keep the rent in line with the building’s increasing property value. The comments section of a post on local Fort Worth architecture blog Fort Worthology (www.fortworthology.com) got particularly nasty, with some posters referring to McEntire as “slime” and “a crook.” In rebuttal, one poster defended him, calling him “smart” and a “shrewd businessman.” Long story short: McEntire plans to remodel the Zoo space and do another Irish pub, bringing the total of new Carroll Street Corner clubs to, well, four, with the others being Poag’s, Lola’s Saloon (the joint within empty beer bottle-tossing distance, on West 6th), and the most recently (re-)opened 7th Haven.
The big news in all of Clubland, however, was the ado about the non-smoking ordinance. Come Jan. 1, smoking will not be allowed in bar/restaurants whose food sales account for 60 percent or more of their total take. Smoking everywhere else, including bar-bars, will still be permitted. Note: By “Jan. 1,” the cops mean one minute after midnight on New Year’s Eve. Sad, laughable even, but true. Can’t you just hear ’em now? “Freeze! Drop the square!” – Anthony Mariani
