Jäger for Grownups

For me, Jägermeister is that drink. Everybody has one. A drink that evokes memories of the time before you could handle your alcohol. For me, Jägermeister is the record of an adolescent mood—a mood Mailer described as the Bends of Hell: “full of vomit, self-pity, paranoia, megalomania, merde, whimpers, excuses, turns of the neck, flips of the wrist, transports.” So when I first heard of Clubhouse Jäger, on 10th and Washington in the North Loop, I thought it seemed out of the way just to pursue bad memories. But after more than one friend’s urging, I made it—and found the best neighborhood pub north of Chicago’s Wicker Park.

Minneapolis native Julius Jaeger De Roma bought the building—which for years had been a two-story brick box of blight called Brandon 923 Club—and painstakingly restored it at great expense. His business partner, Rick Blanco, had opened and run bars in Boston and Miami before going into the real estate business, and Jaeger De Roma convinced Blanco to help run Jaeger. Now Blanco can be found behind the bar, sometimes in one of his grandpa’s goofy old sweaters. He clearly loves being back on the wrong side.

The renovation included pulling down ugly foam tiles to reveal the charming tin ceiling and refurbishing the gorgeous stained-glass window panels above the front windows. Looking around the place with pride, Blanco says, “Now you can see the old Gluek’s ‘G’ from the days when it was an original Gluek’s saloon. For over a hundred years, this building has been a bar.”

Jäger is one long room with a couple of booths, a few cabaret tables, a fireplace, and European references scattered throughout the space—a Pomeranian national flag, some Greek wood detailing in the back, even a motorized disco ball hanging from the ceiling. Evidently, Jaeger De Roma, a frustrated architect who designed nearly everything in the place, including the cabinetry behind the bar, is Swedish, German, and Greek, and, it seems, hasn’t taken a side.

Blanco promises, “There’s always going to be something going on.” And there’s a modest stage to that end—whether for a jazz trio, a DJ, or the occasional acoustic rock band. Jäger already boasts the best smoking patio in Minneapolis—an enclosed three-season porch with two old-fashioned cork dartboards. Bianco and Jaeger de Roma don’t serve a full menu, just fancy cheese and crackers and other bar snacks. They do have one of those rotating hot dog machines, so they can fire up a brat if you’re desperate.

Jäger is a much-needed neighborhood pub for all those new condo owners in the North Loop. It’s not a restaurant like Babalú or a dive like Cuzzy’s or a roadhouse like Bunker’s. It’s a nice, classy pub where grownups can order a cocktail and enjoy quiet conversation enveloped by wood and glass. Seems simple, but it’s something many neighborhoods in our city are sorely lacking. And although Jäger sells plenty of the black German ick, it turns out the place isn’t named after it. Which is good, because we have plenty of places where the bartender knows his way around a Jäg-bomb, but we have far too few Jägers. 923 Washington Ave. N., Mpls., 612-332-2686