Bar L'Etranger

There's good news and there's bad news with Bar L'Etranger. The good news is that it's the best (and our far-and-away favorite) bar we've visited. The bad news is that Bar L'Etranger has already closed.

Boyfriend had been to this bar--which appears to be in the ghetto but is actually only a block or two from High Street--once before, so a couple weeks ago when we decided to grab drinks, he was eager to show it to me. We were there on a Thursday night to enjoy their half-price champagne bottle special (and this champagne was a far cry from Andre, believe you me), and while I didn't get to try the cocktails, Boyfriend all but swears by them.

The lounge-like bar was surprisingly empty, but despite the relative quiet, I was pretty much instantly sold. The lighting was low and the decor had a sort of antique-French-vintage-style-thing going on. There were two bars, one right when you walk into the door and the other in the second larger lounge room. The larger room had gorgeous vintage furniture arranged throughout--sofas, tables, chairs, even a loveseat swing hanging from the ceiling. There were also two perplexing palm tree-eqsue pillars in the middle of the room, and the ceiling was decorating with a weird fabric-and-robe sort of design that made me feel like I was on a pirate ship.

Boyfriend, having spent some time in France, went to order us a bottle of champagne while I staked us out a spot on a couch in the corner. The only other people in the room were a rambunctious group of older ladies and one very gay gentleman. The entire group was hilariously drunk in a very classy way, and one of the women turned to apologize to me if they were being too loud, and said it was her sixtieth birthday. She was easily the drunkest of the bunch (as the birthday girl, she really had the right to be) and explained that they'd spent the evening at a winery or something like that, and were now guzzling champagne at their favorite bar. She also gave me a glass of champagne to make up for how loud they were being (Friend: Made!), though in all honesty I didn't view them with any annoyance at all, but rather with a combination of amusement and genuine admiration. When I turn sixty, I hope my birthday party is that much of an episode of Sex and the City.

The best part was when the Sixty-Somethings ordered a pizza. To be delivered. From Domino's. To the bar. Wish I'd thought of that...

Bar L'Etranger also had an outdoor deck, which was absolutely gorgeous: all wood, enclosed by brick buildings on three sides. I was completely in love with this place, so both Boyfriend and I were mildly brokenhearted when one of the Sixty-Somethings told us the entire establishment was closing in two days. Boyfriend confirmed this with a bartender, and there was an additional heartbreak when we found out none of the furniture was even for sale.

There's a tiny glimmer of hope in the fact that Bar L'Etranger is apparently being re-vamped and re-opened as a gay and lesbian bar. If they keep the cocktail menu and the gorgeous atmosphere, I'll be more than happy to frequent L'Etranger's reincarnation, even if it means getting hit on by some girls and sharing Boyfriend with the occasional flirty gay man or two.