I suppose I keep my voting average skewed quite high, but I do a lot of research before I travel new places (thanks, Yelpers!) and Lefty's kept popping up on the radar. Took a group of friends over to Caxton and wandered in. This was one venue that everyone unequivocally loved the vibe of. The space itself is super cool, but even better is the fact that they brought it up to speed without using much polish - old is old, and old is cool. Even the table numbers for food are old whiskey bottles spraypainted black, then stenciled with a number in white. Fun little touches like that garner my respect every time.
Drinks - good tap selection, and the barrel-aged Manhattan on tap is quite good as well. Macallan 25 at 10 bones a shot? Unheard of in Brisbane.
Food - ok, here is where we were really blown away. At first we weren't even sure they had any, but I'd read the burgers were to die for, so we dug a little deeper. Turns out we're just blind, because the menu is painted on the wall about 15' high. Simple - wings, burgers, or po' boys. Soup of the Day is Whiskey (again, nice touch). Around the table we tried one of everything, and while the shrimp po'boy got rave reviews, the cheeseburgers simply stopped us in our tracks. Buttery brioche bun, fresh veggies, curry ketchup (yes folks, even over here I'm going to call it ketchup), and a rich, juicy patty. Trying to heft this sandwich was like experiencing a gravitational anomaly - it felt 3 times heavier than it looked like it should. I can only attribute that to the extra flavors that are well beyond the curry, and I also (hate to) have to admit there were some in there none of us could place. The thing is amazing.
Vibe - so, the venue is obviously cool. The staff had a pretty amazing range of facial hair, and were casual but efficient and friendly. After the rugby game, and before the music started, Lefty's went from about 10 people to a couple of hundred in less than an hour. It was a deep crowd at the bar, but service was still pretty quick. Once the band started, we were glad to have gotten there early, as we already had the closest booth to the stage. The music (La Bastard, doing rockabilly and Johnny Cash covers) was tight, entertaining, and at the perfect volume - no one was oblivious to the fact that a concert was happening, but even right at the stage we could talk across the table.
All in all, a new fav in B. Thanks, Lefty! read more