Review: Bar offers good prices on beer; worthy alternative to Street

Following an impressive advertising campaign, the inventively titled "University Pub" opened its doors Friday night — or rather, closed two sets of glass doors to those not yet 21, separating Chancellor Green Cafe from the rest of campus.

Apart from that minor detail, the furnishings of the cafe remained eerily reminiscent of early morning language classes and paper cups of double-shot cappuccinos. The lights, usually a blessing when you're trying to finish your reading before class, beat down harshly on a room full of people at night.

The keyword here, however, is full — well beyond the 12 o'clock lunch rush. The reason for the cafe's excessive popularity was not hard to find: the usual selection of pastries and salads in the display cases had been replaced by a very minimalist arrangement of beer, wine and chicken. This unholy trinity managed to overpower the academic decor, creating an atmosphere that would be the envy of many a so-called "trendy" bar. There were young "intellectuals," kicking back and relaxing in jeans, sneakers and dressy shirts, interspersed with the occasional elbow-patched professor, all shouting to be heard over some very well-played live jazz.

To get back to the display cases: to the left lay two bottles of white wine, with the red wines standing nearby. Underneath the wine, the beers were displayed, and one had to be impressed by the range of bottled beers they served. From your everyday Samuel Adams and Corona to a mild but tasty beer from Guatemala, Famosa Lager Beer, they had everything an adventurous beer-seeker could possibly hope for, including what I was assured were "some cute little microbrews."

The prices were very reasonable, especially for the beer, which ranged between $2.50 and $3.00 a bottle — not to be scoffed at if you're used to the pricier offerings around town. The right side of the display cabinet, usually home to the Muffin of the Month and Gracidoodle Cookie, now housed further variations on chicken.

During the evening, my notebook became the medium of detailed observation of the other patrons of the pub. To the right of our table, a line of small metal tables shoved together formed "frat row," a mainly male group who ordered their beers in six-packs and weren't afraid to make more noise than the jazz band. To the other side, small clusters of familiar-looking pale individuals made up the "sketchy grad section," and at the table next to us, a small x marks out the "bald man."

The rest of the room consisted of independent students, post-doctorate researchers, members of eating clubs huddling together and the few underclassmen old enough to be allowed in — pretty much every section of the University population was represented.

While this was initially cause for some awkwardness, with cries of "I just saw my TA lick a beer bottle!" and the like filling the air, by the end of the evening at least some mingling was taking place. While not everyone immediately became best friends, the grad students stopped looking sketchy after a while and became positively human, the bald guy started a conversation and most people met some new faces. Indeed, it was hard not to with the room so full!

The bottom line on the notebook sketch detailing the layout of the pub: "Princeton students having real conversations = coolsh-t". I couldn't put my pub experience more succinctly than that.