Every well-run bar tries to appeal to a certain ki...

Every well-run bar tries to appeal to a certain kind of clientele. You've got your college bars like Crown & Anchor or Hole In the Wall, your sports bars like Third Base or Champions, your beer snob bars like Flying Saucer or Hopfields, your hopeless alcoholic/dive bars like Poodle Dog or The 04, your fun hangout/just-one-more-pitcher bars like Bender or Barflys... bars come in many archetypes, and the best bars try to incarnate themselves in one of those forms.

Except for Black Sheep Lodge, I guess, because I go there all the time and yet I'm not really sure what type of bar it aspires to be. It's a good place to watch sports, from your everyday NFL games to UEFA championships, but it doesn't have a "sports bar" vibe to it. It's too far from campus to be a college bar. Its beer selection is good, but not quite Flying Saucer good. The patrons have too many teeth, too much money, and too much liver function to even dream of putting it in the Poodle Dog bucket. And while I have begun many evenings there, it's never been my final, blurry stop of the night.

It's just a plain good bar with some of everything. Good (actually really good) burgers, good specials, a good patio, dog-friendly... it has many virtues and few faults. I will say that the one time I was able to grab the Primo Parking Spot in front right next to the patio was one of the happiest parking moments I've ever had, because usually you have to park in the back behind the sex shop and tattoo parlor, or across Kinney Ave. I felt like a boss, and I didn't even mind when the inevitable dude on a motorcycle ground all conversation on the patio to a halt when he took off.

Anyway, it's a friendly, relaxed, solid addition to the South Lamar bar scene, if you can call it a "scene", and you can't go wrong with it. Check it out.