APPLETON, WI - BRIGADOON

There is a legend (and a musical) of a mysterious and utopian village in Scotland that appears for only one day every hundred years. According to the tale, the people of the village are not allowed to leave the village, or the spell would be broken, and the village would disappear into the mists forever. I’ve run across just such a place. In the misty highlands of Wisconsin, on the shores of the Fox River, is a charming little everything-on-main-street village with one perfect example of everything you need from a city, and a populace that I’m convinced never leaves.
Along a three block stretch you’ll find a Starbucks (V. important), a rustic German Restaurant, a family run Italian restaurant, a swanky Japanese Restaurant/ Sushi Bar, a great steak house, a terrific performing arts center, a funky little diner, an expansive wine and liquor store, a Walgreen’s, and several bars, each perfect in its own way. Granted, my visit lasted a week and not the mythical one day, but to honest, it is likely my only visit for the next hundred years.

The Deja Vu Martini Bar (above) should not exist in such a small town. It’s dark, richly appointed, and well designed. It avoids the many traps that other so called 'Martini Bars' fall into, and does so with style. It avoids celebrating such abominations as the oxymoronic "chocolate martini", it plays great jazz and old school standards, there are no televisions, the artwork on the wall consists of paintings (and a few ads) from the 30's/40's, and they make a fine martini. What more could you ask for? We were here almost every night, our between-sip smiles hinting of a bewildered amusement.

Cleo’s Brown Beam, where ‘everyday is a holiday’ is an ideal dive bar. It’s primarily lit by Christmas lights, Halloween lanterns, and glowing fake candles , which stay up year round along with decorations for pretty much every holiday. The staff is exceedingly friendly and their featured drink is an old fashioned, which, while not my cup of tea, is very well made.

There are other bars who play character roles in Appleton; Houdini’s as the gritty dive bar, Speakeasy as the clubby cocktail lounge, the Wooden Nickel as a true sports bar, and Spats as the locals bar away from the ‘madness’ of downtown. I was v. pleasantly surprised by these great bars. I was well aware that they knew how drink in Wisconsin, but I never knew they had such a passion for definition and variety in their local haunts.