Play skee ball, eat grilled cheese, drink

Palindromes are so much fun, it's kind of stupid that they didn't actually make the word for "palindrome" one. For a restaurant infinitely more intriguing than emordnilap: Pat's Tap.

Turning a former dive into a nifty SoMi gastropub by peeling away layers of grime and more or less gutting the rest, Pat's serves craft brews and food amidst a playful backdrop of vintage mechanical skee ball machines and pool, which'd actually be a nice place to cool down after a heated game of skee.

Après skee eats include a grilled cheese with Taleggio, fig, arugula, and apple, a wasabi and bean sprout duck burger, bangers and mash, a Buffalo chicken terrine, and braised beef shoulder/bearnaise "steak frites", not to be confused with steak frights, which is what has vegetarians waking up in the middle of the night. Drinkwise, their full bar's highlighted by a sexy array of whiskey, but the focus is decidedly on beer, with taps like Brau Bros Moo Joos & Harriet Saison, and more than 55 cans like Cucapa, Capital Supper Club, and Brewer's Cave -- one of the few that can't be explored by miners.

Pat's also has a slickly paved, dog-friendly patio, though anyone who wants to hang out outside after September is totally backwards. And not like, in a cool, interesting way.