After helping judge the Bloody Mary contest on North Avenue this weekend (tough job, right?), I headed to The Dogs Bollocks (2321 N. Murray Ave.), the contest’s fan favorite. The name itself was enough to draw me in, and on its website, it claims to be the only authentic British pub in Milwaukee. But immediately upon entering, my hopes for a true British pub were dispelled. Yes, they have Boddingtons, Strongbow and Tetleys. Yes, those are British beers. But a British pub goes much deeper, much further into the experience than just beer.
I think there’s a growing trend occurring, that bars aren’t authentic when placed out of the country from which they hail. I understand a bar can be proud of where it’s from, but there’s a line. And a bar must create an atmosphere, draping itself in the illusion that the drinker is removed to that place or time, if that’s what they intend. In The Dogs Bollocks, there are pictures of the Queen, the Beatles, Winston Churchill, news clippings of official British Navy invoices, flags, red telephone booths, British Empire maps, even a sword on the wall and a full-sized Beefeater statue. It’s a cheap parody of itself, a mock imitation with flagrant kitsch and overt memorabilia.
Maybe it’s us, the consumers in America, who are incurring this change in bars. We go to Famous Daves, an imitation of North Woods dining. We eat at Outback Steak House, far from Australian cuisine. And because of this, because we make these standards in the food and bar world, we miss out on the truly outstanding and original aspects of what a place should be when coming from a different country or location.
I don’t mean to be all doom and gloom. The wait staff at Bollocks is outstanding, all of them friendly and punctual. The drinks are higher priced, but something has to pay for that Beefeater (which could be fun, given the amount of liquor consumed). And if the tapestry of pop-Britain was taken out, it would be a fairly quaint place and fairly British, too. A partition wall with a window in it and the dark wood bar top are evidence of this. And maybe I’m being too harsh, forgetting that it is just a bar, or forgetting that all establishments when placed in another country, tailor themselves toward the locale. But it begs two questions. In an age of globalization, where cultures are almost constantly losing their identity, don’t we want authenticity? And maybe more importantly, what is being lost because of this?
I had a layover in Japan a few years back and stayed at the Radisson several miles outside of Narita. The only bar around, the one inside the hotel, was an ’80s-style American watering hole. Surf boards on the wall, ugly linoleum floors and flowery wallpaper. It was every cliché we have. And it would have been funny, transported into America and placed on Brady Street. Funny if it wasn’t in Japan. Funny if they didn’t really think that all Americans are like that, have that taste and that particular style. And I take no real offense because maybe that’s exactly what we are, but I bet most people would say no. So then, the question is: What false, stereotypical assumptions will we draw going to The Dogs Bollocks? Or rather, what perception will we now distort?
