And yes, they had to be great bars with great stories.Īlso, in an attempt to be even remotely scientific about it, we called Jon Taffer of Bar Rescue fame to critique what we came up with as we went - for good (“that is a great one”) or ill (“picking a name like that would probably make someone an idiot”). Nothing generic, no bars named (only) after owners, or streets, or neighborhoods, however great the bars may be. The rules were simple: the names had to be completely unique. Bifectas!īut, again, what makes a great bar name? To find out, we polled our editors and writers, pored over data from our friends at the city guide app Foursquare, made a bunch of phone calls to bar owners around the country, and wound up with the list below. If “bifecta” was a word, we’d say they hit the bifecta. Then there are those places that manage to be both great bars and have great names. Likewise, you can have a completely utilitarian handle and still have a great bar that runs across the ages like a liquor-scented perpetual motion machine. You can have the greatest, most singular, most place-appropriate, wink-wink evocative singsong goddamn happy drunken tap-dancing reverie of a bar name ever, but if the bar sucks, it doesn’t matter.
