Nick's in the alley

alley entrance
Originally uploaded by Philip Williamson.

Who would guess that down this alley, past the dumpsters, guarded by a row of McMenamin's trashcans, is the entrance to a very pleasant little lounge?

On a fashion note, this photograph was not taken in 1988.

On Wednesday, Jim and I stopped in after a bike ramble around McMinnville's neighborhoods. It was quiet inside, wood-and-wine-bottle-y, with pleasant downbeat music. A Cure cover, some Bowie, maybe. Cat Power.

We had the red-felted pool table all to ourselves (free), and played a couple of games. The cues are straight, well weighted and nice. The table is well-lit and level. It's not a fast table - the waitress said "lotta green on that table" as my shot ran out of gas well shy of the pocket...
Legend has it that before the closed-down Trask Brewpub (next door) got its horrific Macarenas (whatever) makeover, Nick (of Nick's Italian Cafe) would let himself in at night to play pool on their red-felted table. The rest is history.
I mean legend.

The food was really good, and quite cheap reasonable. We each had a bowl of Nick's minestrone, split a crostini with baked garlic, and had two Heater/Allen pilsners. Each. Duh.

Beer brewed three blocks away, world-class soup and a well-tuned pool table! Geez. It was really nice.

The bill came to $34. I'm not sure how it broke down, but the crostini was $5.
Let y="soup"
Let x="beer"
2y+4x=$32
Soup = $7, Beer=$3.50? That sounds right.

Not bad for Very Good food and beer in a very mellow atmosphere.
The waitress (friendly-casual but attentive (fairly perfect, really)) did break a $20 with two tens for the tip. She got about $4 extra. With the pool table, good service and great food it was still quite reasonable - I hope she tipped out the kitchen like she shoulda!