See You at the Highball

© Janet Jay / RumBum.com

Meet me at the Highball.

Wanna play some fun and games? Get yourself to the Highball, a grown-up's playground that also looks like a swanky retro hotel.

The Highball is that rarest of birds – a bar that presents itself as vintage that makes the effort to actually be vintage. But don't take my word for it. The eight lanes of bowling tucked into a corner of this ginormous bar are original from 1959 and have been fully restored. If bowling isn’t your thing – or if you just wish the ball wasn’t so goshdarn heavy – four vintage “classic model” skee-ball machines beckon nearby. The prizes include belt buckles, flasks, shot glasses, Pop Rocks and cufflinks, so there’s ample motivation to shoot your best.

If you’re in a singing mood, the Highball has seven themed karaoke rooms, spanning musical styles from country, hip hop, disco, heavy metal, psychedelic, new wave and more. Each room includes a box of accessories to get you in the mood. The new wave room, for example, comes with a keytar, a Flock of Seagulls wig, skinny keyboard tie and Devo hats. You can hole up in a karaoke room with three to 19 of your closest friends while the imitable staff keeps you supplied with the finest of libations. In a single night you can sing Lady Marmalade under the fish-netted ceiling of the Tiki Room, spend some quality time at the bar, and end the night singing “Sweet Child of Mine” with a room of new friends, light sparkling off the shards of mirror in the heavy metal room.

As for the bar at the Highball, there are a few important things to mention: watermelon liqueur, pepper vodka, vanilla vodka, mango rum, cucumber gin, citrus vodka, cherry bourbon, and chai vodka. Those huge glass urns filled with fruit that you see over the bartender’s shoulder? Yeah, they hold that wildly inventive selection of liquors. One bartender recommended her favorite cocktail, the Spiced Russian, an interesting concoction of chai-infused vodka, Kahlua, Tia Maria and cream. Besides the custom drink menu, the Highball offers a wide variety of premium liquors, as well as beer and wines. Executive chef Trish Eichelberger, who formerly worked at Austin’s iconic Alamo Drafthouse, has created a menu that comfortably straddles the line between down-home Americana and modern inventiveness. She reimagines the diner staple Meatloaf Sammy, for instance, as bison meatloaf on sourdough – not a radical change, but enough to make it fresh and interesting.

As if the karaoke, skee-ball, bowling, food and drink weren’t enough, the Highball also hosts concerts, pub quiz, dance parties, variety shows, and seemingly anything else that sounds interesting. They also host private events, which surely range from corporate events to family reunions to Zombie Proms. That’s the beauty of the Highball: there’s something for everyone.