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| - Gold Bar is not hip, it is not polished, it is not new and it is not standard Phoenix/Tempe. Gold Bar is easy to like and easy to sit in for a couple of hours grading papers.
I come from cozy towns in Michigan, where when the snow falls heavy the streets grow quiet and everyone you meet has tinge of red to their cheeks and the need for a warm drink. There's a kind of empathy that comes with this quaintness that is hard to find in Phoenix. It was there in the old 3 Roots but you had to trade it for slow service. It's not there at Cartel, but that's not what Cartel is about.
Gold Bar is charming. You're transported, as much as can be hoped for in our strip mall culture, to a cozy living room in another town when you spend a couple of hours here. The family that runs it knows many of the customers names, they sell hearty foods and heavy drinks.
Just from overhearing the son of the owners talk I can tell you: They have stamp cards. Monday is Pastry stamp Monday. Friday is Extra Shot Friday. Friday and Sunday nights are live Jazz. Sunday morning has classical guitar. Saturday night is game night, where they have drawings every 20 minutes to give you free drinks, eats and prizes.
So, it is quiet and you can hear everybody else, the drinks are a bit expensive and the food is only okay. All of those things add up to make this place a little slice of home for someone who is not the biggest fan of living in the city that ate the desert.
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