Elmwood Lounge
The official name of the place is the Elmwood Restaurant Lounge and Bar, but you recognize it as the Elmwood Lounge, flickering in red curly letters across the front of the building. It’s been around for quite some time, gaining a kind of street credibility that keeps it thriving, even though it’s quiet most nights. And, perhaps most notoriously, it’s the home to Lance Diamond and his 24-Karat Band, Buffalo’s beloved sequined lounge singer. Lance is still quite a draw on Friday and Saturday nights, crooning both standards and his own hits.
The Elmwood Lounge is oozing with 1970s cheese – track lighting, arched mirrors, gold-plated everything, and plenty of pleather on the chairs and barstools. The bar itself curves across the room, adorned by miniature American flags, racks of snack chips and a Quick Draw machine.
Is it kitsch or isn’t it? It’s impossible to figure out if the Lounge maintains this quirky demeanor on purpose, with a little wink to the hipsters that are flooding to Le Metro across the street, or if it is unapologetically holding on to a more glorious past life. Does it matter, though? The drinks are cheap and everyone talks to each other.
Beer hovers around two bucks, cocktails around three. There’s a lot of after-work crowd, and some obvious die-hard regulars. It’s a little too far down Elmwood to get the college crowd, and a little too far up Elmwood to get Chippewa spillover. Dress is very casual – if you got a free t-shirt at an employee picnic, it’s probably ok to wear here. For as glamorous as the décor is, there are several hints that most of the time, this is, well, a lounge. Besides the Quick Draw machine, there’s a lotto ticket dispenser, and a big blurry TV that usually has a ball game on. Soft rock radio is piped in when no one is using the jukebox or performing. On the other side of the bar is a restaurant serving mostly standard pub and diner fare, but dressed up a little. In terms of drinks, don’t order anything fancy – they’d make it for you, but this is a place that does classic cocktails and beer the best.
The jukebox is a good mix of old crooners, early-90s hits and rock—exactly what you want to hear in a place like this, the kinds of songs to mumble along to while you drink. There’s also a CD of Lance’s hits in there, including one called “Lance Party.” It’s these kinds of details that set the Elmwood Lounge apart from other dark, old pubs. This is the kind of place you could be a regular, where you really wish the bartender knew your name. Come enough, and they probably will. The staff is friendly and relaxed, veterans who understand who wants to talk, and who doesn’t.
And that kind of attitude is remarkable in a place like this, a place that could easily market its camp value, history, and location and charge a little more or act a little snottier. At the quiet moments, though, it’s just like your no-name neighborhood bar, dressed up in an evening gown.
It’s a good place to take a date, because most nights, you’ll actually be able to hear each other, and it’s also a good place to come by yourself and soak for awhile. Tuesday nights are open mic nights. Open mic nights usually mean two things: an opportunity for wannabe singer/songwriters to try out their stuff, and an opportunity for others to hit on said wannabes.
A place like this is definitively Buffalo – reminiscent of a better time, a more thriving, golden era, but now maybe a little frayed around the edges, unsure of its identity. Nonetheless, it continues to give us just what we need –cheap beer, classic entertainment. That’s what a great bar should do: offer a distraction when, maybe, we need it the most.
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