Best dive bar in town? Dan’s!

We’ve covered lots of bars, restaurants, and businesses in Walnut Creek, but we have yet to touch on one of the oldest, most popular institutions downtown. It’s a bar known for its themed nights and general debauchery in an otherwise fairly tame city.

When you go downtown, Dan’s is the place to be, especially if you are young, or older and single. They have everything from drink specials, to an outdoor patio, to pool tables, to live cover bands. They actually attract quite good musicians from around the area, and usually have one of the larger crowds at the bars on the weekends.

I’ve been there plenty of times, love to listen to live music and dance. They charge a cover on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights of $5 after 9 pm to cover the music. The place doesn’t really get busy until after 10 and last call is around 1:30. I haven’t been in a while, but I went with a friend about a month ago, and it is a great place to people-watch and listen to music. Careful though: if you are dancing out on the floor, a beer may get jostled and the floor can be sticky.

If you haven’t yet popped into Dan’s when you’re downtown, you have to give it a chance. All ages are there! It’s just around the corner from Skipolini’s and Ol, so you can make a full night out of it without even leaving the block. Let me know what you think.

This weekend is Pop Rocks and the Ripplers, and next weekend is a great line-up with Brodie Stewart Band, the Spazmatics (one of my favorites) and Mad Karma ready to rock in Halloween. Music starts at 10 and you can check out the events calendar. If you are not into music and like games, there is also Trivia Tuesday, along with some TVs for those sports fans.

MoMo’s happy hour has potential

As you know, I like to try all the new restaurants in Walnut Creek. Most recently, I went to MoMo’s in the old McCovey’s location.

The original MoMo’s is across from AT&T Park in San Francisco and is a hugely popular place to go, especially for Giants fans before and after ball games. This is the first time they’ve expanded since opening in 1998.

The happy hour is nice, and the food itself is reasonably priced (I haven’t done a full meal yet – just happy hour), but I’ve heard from two separate parties that they thought the food was bland. Others have raved, so I’ll have to go back and try a full meal.

They have a really cool entrance and an awesome fan under a blue ceiling. They offer homemade fries, pizzas, and oysters during happy hour. The pizzas are tasty and are a great size for the price, so I’d definitely recommend that. One thing that annoyed me was that there was no sound on during the games on TV because of the loud music!

Margaritas, mules and other cocktails are $7 during happy hour, and you can get local beer and wine at the bar as well. The oysters are $1, pizza and wings are $5, and you can get calamari, lamb sliders, and a half-pound burger all for less than $10. In the grand scheme of things in Walnut Creek, that’s a pretty good deal.

According to Diablo Magazine, the lettuce leaves appetizer and lamb burger are both really good. They also loved the smoked salmon flatbread with pesto and the more upscale petrale sole dish.

Either way, this is a cool new attraction in Walnut Creek that definitely deserves another trip back for a full meal. It’s an improvement over McCovey’s and adds to the list of trendy hangout spots in downtown.

Have you checked it out yet? What did you think?

ØL keepin’ Walnut Creek hip and hydrated

Have you ever been to ØL Beercafe and Bottleshop in downtown Walnut Creek?

Since opening in 2013, ØL has become a mainstay on the East Bay beer scene.

With its dark, cozy interior and constantly-changing kegs of unusual, often strangely-named beers, it’s a great place to grab a drink.

The bar rotates small kegs of beer as they run out, so unless you’re a regular, chances are you’ll never taste the same beer here twice!

If you haven’t already, check ØL out next time you go downtown. It has plenty of tables in a small, private space, as well as a full bottleshop, separate bar area and a couple of refrigerators with unique beers available for purchase (both to drink at the bar and for take-home). If you’re hungry, you can order in a pizza from Skipolini’s next door or get some charcuterie.

And, of course, the crown jewel of ØL is its beer, which is just fantastic. When my team and I met there last week, we tried a few different beers, with the best of the bunch being a Mike Hess Ficus Fig Saison and a Mahrs Bräu Hell.

In past experiences, I’ve tried everything from barleywine to heavy ambers to sours. ØL is a local watering hole in Walnut Creek that resembles a European beer cafe, in that there are no TV’s and it’s not too loud to have a conversation.

The focus is on the delicious drinks and socializing with good company. ØL is a perfect place to start or end your night!