Seat me at the bar

There was a time when the bar inside a busy restaurant was just a pit stop before being seated in the main dining room. A glorified waiting room with cocktails.

What a waste of space, I say. In my book, a restaurant's bar should be just as significant as its dining room.

Take Meritage in downtown St. Paul. Its new bar -- seamlessly constructed in the next-door storefront -- is a stunner. And it's versatile: A simple order of oysters and a champagne cocktail might be suitable one night, while a full-scale dinner might suffice the next (roasted California sturgeon, anyone?). All available in the bar, of course.

I recently checked out Meritage and two fairly new restaurants where bellying up to the bar can give you the best seat in the house.

Known for: The three-year-old brasserie in downtown St. Paul mixes French cooking with local ingredients. Until recently, it was home to maybe the smallest bar in the saintly city (only four seats).

The bar: Owners Russell and Desta Maree Klein recently took over the shabby convenience store next door and transformed it into an incredible cocktail den. With its zinc bar and leather booths, it has seating for almost 40.

What's to like: This is a Paris-style retreat where Ernest Hemingway would have happily drunk himself silly. The back of the bar proudly displays Meritage's war chest of a wine list. But the new stars are the cocktails, most of them dreamed up by Desta Maree and former Bradstreet bartender Mark Govich. They're playing with classics, new inventions and champagne-inspired cocktails. If you want something with a little bite, try "The Hatter" (Rebel Reserve bourbon, Chartreuse, Angostura bitters and Dolin sweet vermouth). While the restaurant is best visited on payday, the bar menu is more affordable. The smoked confit chicken wings ($8) melt off the bone. And the daily selection of oysters will make even the most squeamish bargoer a fan ($2-$4).

Did you know? The bar hosts seven kinds of absinthe -- the green fairy being a true Parisian pastime. The Kleins found their gorgeous absinthe fountain in New Orleans. It's good for diluting the pours, priced between $12.50 and $16.50. The bar limits one glass per guest, which is a good idea. We don't want anyone slicing off their ear, now do we?

Known for: The first two Barrios feel more like tequila bars that happen to have food (albeit really good Latin street food). For his downtown Edina location, owner Ryan Burnet knew a dancing-on-the-furniture version (see: St. Paul location) wouldn't fly with the stodgier crowd at 50th and France. Thus the inclusion of "Cocina" in its name.

The bar: Call it what you want, this is still Barrio. While the dining room is more pronounced, anyone worth his or her worm in mescal is going to want to sit at the bar. OK, so there are no DJs and there's less tequila, but that doesn't mean the Edina housewives aren't packing this place like a Louis Vuitton fire sale.

What's to like: Edina needed something like this. While most of 50th and France is a ghost town after 10 p.m., bargoers were streaming into Barrio's blood-red interior well past midnight on a recent Saturday. The intimate squared-off bar almost gives the place a neighborhood feel -- like "Cheers" but with soccer moms in sequined jeans. The pared-down tequila list (if you call 85 different bottles "pared down") is well-curated. But I most want to see what bartending ace Jeff Rogers will do with his upcoming overhaul of the old cocktail menu. The dinner menu (available throughout the restaurant) is expanded with various ceviches and tamales.

Nitpick: Is a "less aggressive" Barrio (Burnet's words) a better Barrio? In my book, a DJ wouldn't hurt, but Burnet said he probably won't go that route.

Known for: The neighborhood specialists behind Groveland Tap, Longfellow Grill and Three Squares have turned the former Heartland in St. Paul's Mac-Groveland neighborhood into a casual, cozy Italian joint.

The bar: Like the space's previous inhabitant, Scusi's bar is completely separated from the dining room. The hyper-intimate spot features 12 bar stools and some newfangled methods for serving the vino.

What's to like: Who needs a cork when you have high-tech wine? Scusi uses a wine preservation system that displays two dozen bottles in temperature-controlled glass cases. Tap lines attached to the bottles dispense the wine like draft beer. (One bottle can last for six weeks.) And then there's the keg wine. So what does wine served from a keg taste like? You guessed it: wine. It's a hot trend on the West Coast and something co-owner Luke Shimp plans to do more of. He hopes to have new kegs of Frog's Leap Napa Zinfandel in this week. It's priced a little higher at $15 a glass, but you get a quartino (about a third of a bottle). As for food, the Italian plates are priced to share, from pastas and pizzas to various olive accompaniments. The full menu is available in the bar, with my favorite item being the slow-cooked lamb pappardelle ($12).

Nitpick: Instead of the usual bread-and-butter freebie, customers are greeted with a white lunch bag filled with house-made rosemary crackers and a white bean dip. It amps up the casualness (a good thing), but c'mon, they're crackers.

Did you know? While pumping wine out of a bottle might ruffle purists, Shimp said it's actually a great way to drink higher-end stuff, such as Chateau Montelena Cabernet ($35 a glass). "You're going to get a perfect glass of wine that hasn't been sitting around with oxygen tainting it," he said.