Concerts are always better when you show up too buzzed to truly appreciate the music, but if your pre-show watering hole's not right near the venue, you risk missing some of the very songs you're getting too buzzed to truly appreciate. Providing a venue-proximate rendez-booze, JD McGillicuddy's
Within spitting distance of the Electric Factory, JDM's has transformed the old Whiskey Dix space into a neon-happy sports bar-staurant, with a two-tiered downstairs dining area and a 20-seat blonde wood-topped bar lorded over by a wraparound balcony complete with its own 12-seat bar, plus video bowling, which, given the reduced time between rolls, is actually more strenuous than bowling. Along with plentiful booze (Jäger on a "Colder Than Ice" tap!), an eight-draft system pours locals (Yards, Flying Fish, Victory, Dogfish Head) and not-so-locals (Hoegaarden, Beamish, Stella), while the 30+ bottles include Rogue Dead Guy, Stoudts APA, and a 750ml, 9.5% ABV Golden Monkey -- down a couple, and you could end up on the cover of Rogue. Grub includes apps like Thai chicken bites, "Disco Fries" doused in gravy (gravy = the new Andy Gibb), crab balls, and 10 wing styles, plus plank pizzas and 25 sandwiches (pulled pork, prime rib, roast beef au jus, hoagies...), but burgers are the bulwark, from the sautéed shrooms/onions "Cuddy", to the "Big T" (Colby Jack, onion petals, bacon), to the mahi mahi w/ "Cusabi" sauce -- wasabi mixed with cucumber to offset the hotness, in essence the same principle behind Ocasek-Porizkova wedding.
Currently in "soft open" phase, the bar's planning a grand opening weekend June 18-20 with a lineup of DJs and TBD local bands -- whose tunes you have no chance of not not-appreciating due to tardiness, because you're already there.
