Nightlife: Doing it Kim Bartmann's way at the new Pat's Tap

Some bars say very little about their owners. Pat's Tap isn't one of those bars.

Kim Bartmann's latest endeavor was designed with several of her idiosyncratic obsessions in mind. She likes skee-ball, so the bar has four vintage skee-ball machines. She likes canned beer, so there are no bottles (just cans -- and lots of them). She likes palindromes, so the bar's name is "Pat's Tap" any which way you look at it.

At this point in Bartmann's lengthy restaurant-redefining career, she can basically do whatever she wants. I suppose that's what she's been doing all along at the likes of Bryant-Lake Bowl, Barbette and the Red Stag Supperclub.

Located near 35th and Nicollet in south Minneapolis, Pat's Tap was once home to Casey's, a no-frills bar seldom frequented by people from outside the neighborhood (except for Bartmann, it seems).

"Obviously, I love retro and vintage stuff," she said. "It's a really cool bar and deserved to be brought back to life."

Over a couple of beers last Friday, the restaurateur waxed poetic about the opening of her long-awaited neighborhood joint.

BARTMANN ON THE NAME

... ON SKEE-BALL

"I have to be removed from it at the State Fair," she said. "It's like I'm stuck at a slot machine." The bar's skee-ball machines date to 1952. Her sister Kari (a co-owner) spent the summer restoring them in her garage. Games have been free since Pat's opened in late September, but they'll cost a quarter once Bartmann gets the coin mechanism to work properly.

... ON THE EUROTRASH MENU

"First of all, I had to have food my mom would like," she said. She noted the BLT iceberg lettuce salad as filling that requirement. The rest of the menu is something she calls Eurotrash: steak frites, bangers and mash, lamb meatballs, gougères. It's bar food, but taken through the wringer by chef Charlie Schwandt. Small plates range between $5 and $9. Salads and sandwiches hover around $10 to $13. Most entrées are in the mid-teens.

... ON THE JUKEBOX

... ON CANS OVER BOTTLES

There are plenty of tap beers to choose from, but the bar puts an extra emphasis on its can selection, which is one of the Twin Cities' largest (more than 60). Why cans? Bartmann points to the "Canifesto" on the menu: "Cans are airtight and oxygen-free, protecting the beer and keeping it fresh." The cans range from $3.50 for a Hamm's to $8 for a Tokyo Black (a high-end porter from Japan).

... ON THE PATIO

Well, here's one thing that hasn't gone Bartmann's way (yet). Half of her brand-new brick patio is gated off, per a zoning/licensing issue. She's working on getting it resolved. And don't even mention this summer's controversial patio ordinance. "I don't even want to talk about that anymore," she said.

... ON ENVIRONMENTALISM