A hot hangout in dead of winter

Sam Sessa

February 7, 2008

What makes a bar a winter hangout?

It must have a fireplace. A fully stoked fireplace -- not one of those slick imitation gas logs. Dark wood and worn brick must be everywhere inside. And this wood and brick must be dimly lit and adorned with eye-catching trinkets and frames.

Hot food is also necessary, as are cold beer and warm, friendly service.

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For me, one bar fits that bill better than any other: the Wharf Rat in Fells Point. The Rat is always first on my list of cold-weather drinking holes.

Wide wood floorboards stretch out underfoot, and model ships and various other nautical tchotchkes hang overhead on walls. Hardly anything there has changed in the past 30 years, it seems.

TVs are taboo in the Wharf Rat, and several locally brewed Oliver Ales are on tap at all times. (The ales are brewed at the Wharf Rat's sister location on Pratt Street in the Inner Harbor.) And the fireplace at the back of the pub puts most other fireplaces to shame.

Six grown men could stand inside the Wharf Rat's giant fireplace (provided there wasn't a fire going at the time). It's huge.

On cold nights, the staff lights a fire, but rarely, if ever, stokes a big enough fire to fill the fireplace. Workers would burn through an entire tree's worth of wood in a night if they did that. So they keep the fire to an average size; it looks small in such a large space.

The Wharf Rat's ventilation system also tends to blow the scent of the fire (but not the smoke) around the rest of the bar, which I love. There's nothing quite like walking into a warm bar on a cold winter night and smelling a lit fireplace.

A qualm: The pool table costs $1 per game and has a tendency to eat the cue ball. Hungry pool tables shouldn't cost that much. Heck, fixed pool tables shouldn't cost that much. Three quarters is enough.

Another qualm: While delicious, the food takes too long to prepare when the place is full. It seems as if the bar is understaffed Friday and Saturday nights, which means if you order a pizza, it could be an hour before you get it.

Don't bother with domestics or imports. Go for the Oliver Ales, which are proper English ales. They cost $4.25 each.

If you can't decide which one you want, you can order three eight-ounce Oliver drafts for $4 until 7 p.m. On Thursdays, that special goes all night.

Weeknights are my favorite times to go to the Wharf Rat because it's less full, but I've never seen the place packed. You can stretch out there, cozy up next to the fire, sip a fresh, locally made beer and shake off the cold. What more could you ask out of a winter hangout?

sam.sessa@baltsun.com

The Wharf Rat in Fells Point is at 801 S. Ann St. Hours are 11:30 a.m.-1 a.m. Mondays-Saturdays. Call 410-276-8304 or go to thewharfrat.com.