Over the next few weeks, I'm going back to some bars I've reviewed in the past – some good, some bad, some with potential – and seeing where they stand today. I last hit McRaney's Tavern (as a reviewer) in 2007, not long after new owners had taken over what had been Fairbanks Tavern, vastly expanding the beer selection while preserving most of the hazy authenticity. Arriving: No doubt about it – McRaney's is a smoking bar. One friend told me that she wouldn't walk through the door at night without dropping a Claritin in the afternoon. The basic layout is a small room up front, a bigger room in the back and a narrowing in the middle for the long L-shaped bar. There's pool tables (free 4-8 p.m., Monday - Saturday) and darts and a patio out back if you need to get a little semi-fresh air. Scoping: The tavern may be vintage, but the crowd age mostly tops out around 32 or 33. You might have to suffer through one or two ironically-awful hipster haircuts, but as long as you can keep up your end of the conversation at the bar, you'll fit in fine. In ten minutes, we discussed the ins and outs of sci-fi conventions, Paula Deen, and long-haul trucking. Drinking: No hard liquor here, but McRaney's compensates with a deep line-up of twenty-ounce beers on tap, including seasonal microbrews. Shipyard's Pumpkinhead Ale ($5) was a paler wheat beer than I expected. Without the cinnamon and clove, it wouldn't have much flavor at all. Fortunately for me, it was Saturday when pints of Guinness are only $2.50 between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. Cheap Guinness? On the weekend? These are evil geniuses. Happy hour runs 4-7 p.m., Monday through Saturday with $2.50 domestic drafts (Yuengling included), $2 Pabst Blue Ribbon tallboys and $3.75 for import and microbrew drafts. If you want to taste this and that, you can even assemble your own draft beer flight. Bottled beers are stocked deep too. “I've tasted them all,” said my bartender. “Because it's part of my job, that means I'm not an alcoholic, right?” Personally, I've developed a taste for Brooklyn Brewery's East India Pale Ale ($4.50). The selection of wines by the glass isn't as deep as the beers, but most run in the $5-6 range. Chewing: Remember how you can smoke in McRaney's? By Florida law, that really cuts into the menu. McRaney's keeps it simple with chips and salsa ($2.75), chips and spinach dip ($3.50) and stuff a bartender can drop in the deep fryer. “We use peanut oil,” that same not-an-alcoholic bartender mentioned. The menu can call them boneless chicken wings (12 for $6.50), but every four-year-old knows they're really chicken nuggets. Made with unprocessed white meat, the “wings” are skinless with a crisp, thin batter. Unlike some places that charge you fifty cents for celery and fifty cents more for dressing, my dozen (and a few extra) came with two dressing tubs and veggies included. Fish and chips ($6.75) come to the bar steaming hot and crisp. The three cod filets are each slightly smaller than a playing card and have surprisingly good flavor and texture for coming into the kitchen frozen and pre-battered. The fries and slaw are adequate, but for the second time I've eaten fish in a bar, the tartar sauce tastes like potato salad without potatoes. Didn't it used to taste like mayo and pickle relish? Two corn dogs and French fries is a $5 bargain of starch and mechanically-separated (I'm guessing) beef. It's just like a trip to the county fair, but without the aroma of cow plop and unwashed carny. Going: The bar mirrors that caught my eye in '07 are still there, both over the urinals and behind you. A man shouldn't have to look himself in the eye while he's TBC. Departing: A couple years ago, McRaney's Tavern hit me as a pleasantly-funky place to get a quality beer and, if necessary, some cheap and perfectly adequate food to float on top of it. Still seems about right.
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