Union Jack

This place used to be a  very good bar and restaurant called Jacquelines. The only signage was a big X on the side of the building. The entrance was a regular door near the back. But when you entered, you heard the classical piano and noticed the chandeliers glowing in the relative gloom. If you made your way through the tables to the bar in back (now the front), you might have  recognized a few local lawyers belly up to the bar. Sandwiches were served in skillets and were duplicated nowhere else. (never have been). A signature drink was a bloody mary with a dill spear. It was a fun place to bring unsuspecting people from out of town.
I hated that it turned into a regular bar, with windows and beer signs. But in retrospect-  it is no common bar. I am in awe of what the current owner has made of the place.

The Union Jack marks my second trip to bars in America (I've been to a few more in countries with more flexible ideas about drinking age) and I wish that it had been my first.

Being that I consider myself a cosmopolitan denizen of a city of two million (w00t  KC!), when I'm spending my scholastic year in Wisconsin, I don't seek the epicurean comforts of home. I want local color, bizarre snow-cased, northern Midwestern tradition.

The Union Jack of legend certainly satisfies the requirements. I've heard it described as a biker bar, mill worker bar or other tough blue collar worker bar. I though that such a proletariat lure would surely have drawn other Lawrentians out for a drink with the salt of the earth. (For those of you looking for an insight into Lawrence culture, these legends have never been corroborated by anyone actually heading out to bar in question. Until now.)

The Union Jack of reality seemed to me a "pretty chill joint." If your thing is more red velvet bar-stools and live jazz, I suggest a hipper joint on the avenue. The Union Jack is a coral reef of bar-a-phenalia collected over the establishments long, long history. Underneath, dark wood and old-fashioned tin ceilings that I never though I'd see in a bizarrely rectangular standalone structure in the so-called industrial flats of Appleton.

I was there around 3:30 on a wintry Wednesday afternoon (I was walking around in the snow and heard that whisky had heating properties, don't judge me) and it was had a fair crowd, clad in flannel, denim and facial hair. Not the bartender, however, she was cute. Furthermore, she seemed to know most everybody there at the bar and was rather interested in my and my partner's out-of-state ID's. Charm, I think is the word. So much charm, in fact, I might even describe the Wisconsin accent found in so much abundance there as charming.

So if you want a kooky little bar with lots of charm and what I'm told are fair prices (4 dollars for about a cup of Kessler's whiskey?), this is your place. If you're looking for something more urbane, you must be lost. Go back to Chicago.

Great location and look and feel. Tin ceiling and lots of old wood. Internet Jukebox. A few flat screens to watch games. Good prices. If you are going to serve Guinness please pour it right.