What now?

After our lo-fi preview night last night, we're waiting to be fully and gloriously operational before we begin regular daily hours and welcome everyone in. (There's only so far Sol and tiny bottles of Ketel One can take you.) There had been some thought that we could open by Friday or Saturday, but it doesn't look like we'll be able to get a) our beer, wine, and liquor orders delivered; b) our walk-in refrigerator activated; and c) our soda system fixed until Tuesday, due to the holiday weekend, among other things. But it's Labor Day weekend after all, and I suspect many of you will be out of town. We'll see you on Tuesday at 4 pm, barring the collapse of the American system of commerce. I'll update the blog whenever any of a-c is completed.

Our first night

So at around 8 pm, after cleaning and organizing the bar, we turned our sign to "open" and welcomed all comers with a bunch of borrowed beers from the Cherry Tree. Thanks to all the friends and neighbors who came by for our bar "preview," and gamely tolerated a wretched beer selection. It's great to have the opening ferret off our back. We may not re-open until Labor Day weekend or just after, depending on how quickly our real inventory--kegs, wine, and liquor--arrives, but it was exhilarating to actually have a bar for several hours this evening.

We...have...our...liquor...license.

Yes, that's right. Our long local nightmare is over. We're legally able to serve beer to folks now. Getting the kegs and wine and liquor will take a few days, as well as a few pesky problems with our walk-in refrigerator and soda system. But we're opening in an abbreviated "preview" mode for our friends and neighbors tonight just because we're so excited that we can. It's really lovely to be in control of our own destiny again. I feel like my life has just gone from sepia to Astros jersey. See you all soon--we should be fully operational with a full drink list just after the holiday weekend.

What's happening this coming week...

The plumbing work is finally, really, done, and we have an inspection scheduled. However, we weren't able to pull our license like we had hoped last week, because we're still waiting for our building's file from the Building Department. It's in some shadowy location, apparently, and takes forever to come to town. But we're checking for it tomorrow; if all goes well, we can grab it, go to our lawyer, and pull our liquor license. After that, we can open. So keep your fingers crossed and participate in whatever pagan rituals you see fit, appeasing the god of paperwork, Papyrus, with burnt offerings of forms in triplicate and notary publics.

Our plumber is in

and actually finishing his work. Shhhh, don't say anything to jinx it.

Robot update

Here are a couple of pictures of our robot in progress, up in Rhode Island. As you can see, he lacks an upper head, but that's pretty much it. His head may not be on his shoulders before we open, but he will straighten himself out and come down pretty soon.

View from the robot's back.

Front/side view.

The latest

I should have known to be more cautious: our inspection last Friday brought up a couple minor things our plumber didn't do. So we're waiting for a new inspection, hopefully early next week. But we're also seeing if we can make an end-run and open anyway, given that we're done with our work. The last thing we want to have to do is continue to rely on our plumber. I don't want to jinx anything, and I've said it before, but we have a good chance of being open by the end of the coming week. Keep stopping by and we'll see you all soon.

Amazing what nothings can delay you.....

Well, that Wednesday plumbing inspection became a next Wednesday plumbing inspection, then slipped to this Wednesday, each time because of some ridiculously minor problem our plumber found with the way our Schedule B (you don't want to know) shows up online. Our architect (and, for the most part, we) think our plumber is jerking us around, and has called him any number of colorful names having to do with female reproductive organs.

BUT, (and here's the good news), we really, truly have an inspection scheduled for this Friday, after finally ridding our Schedule of anything that could provoke as much as a tremor in our plumber's fragile body. Inventory, insurance, a letter of no objection, and our liquor license will come early-mid next week, and we'll open a day or so after that, we vow. The place is clean and we've taken down our paper, so people are welcome to come by and have a look if we're around before then. I'll keep you updated as we complete the final steps of our marathon. Thanks for sticking with us.