Coogan's

Did I get a beer? Not likely. Did I forget to take the picture until after I had drunk half of it? I have done that before but no. This, my friends, is the Knob Creek manhattan I got for $11 or thereabouts at Coogan's, 160 Milk Street, Boston. And this, my friends, is just wrong. Yes, this is a beer joint but come on. Hit the restaurant supply store and buy a dozen cocktail glasses. Hit the outlet stores and get a dozen for $24. Where's your pride? My water glass looked eerily similar to this glass. It was kept full upon request but swept up and not replaced at one point. Never saw a food menu and was never offered one or asked if I wanted anything but this place has $10 lobsters and some other specials before 7 pm.

One of the draws is the Trivial Pursuit game. I think teams exist before they arrive; the group I was with is supposed to have some good players. My team (the man who insisted I take his business card who ditched me, the team, the whole kit-n-kaboodle for the blonde at the other end of the bar; the out-of-towner who pulled Frederick Douglas out of who knows where as the correct answer to one of the questions but offered nothing else for the rest of the game; and the only other person in there besides me who ordered a manhattan - same glass, same sad look) finished in the middle of the pack.