We walk into a wall

Round Table Clubhouse, Fresno, California
We are living in the future.

Sure, we don’t have flying cars, and that’s a big disappointment, but there are so many things we didn’t see coming. Computers in our home seemed amazing enough, but we didn’t see the internet coming or the ability to carry access to it in our pockets. Another thing we didn’t see coming was serve-yourself wine and beer taps. Though Round Table Pizza’s Clubhouse is a restaurant rather than a bar, we decided we really needed to write about its bar wall, so we asked a couple of friends to meet us there on a recent Friday night.

It makes sense that such a thing would exist -- all-you-can-drink soft drink machines in pizza parlors and fast food restaurants have been a thing for quite a while now. On the other hand, alcohol can’t be served in the same lackadaisical fashion that Pepsi and Pibb are dispensed. After ordering our pizza, we went to a different register to leave a credit card and driver’s licenses as ransom. The cashier gave us bracelets in exchange.

She pointed out the room temperature and refrigerated beer glasses (and the room temperature wine glasses) and explained how the taps work. At the wall, you hold your bracelet to a sensor under the beer or wine you want to drink. It’s easy to taste a variety of beers before committing to one. It’s also easy to run up your tab, but the wall bartender will not allow you to be overserved.

We’ve seen a cocktail-mixing machine, so I suppose a wall could also serve liquor. I assume Round Table doesn’t have the licensing or inclination. Since cider wasn’t an option, I, like Mindy, went with wine.

We’d actually visited this Round Table once before, during their grand opening on Saint Patrick’s Day. The Clubhouse is a large, open-feeling place with the usual plethora of TVs and a nice game room. We were fascinated with the artificial fire -- you could put your hand in the flames. There were many more rectangular tables than the circular ones promised in the company’s name.

On this visit, we’d asked friends from our Sunday School class at The Bridge. We had a great time together, and as we ate our pizzas and breadsticks, we asked our bar questions.

Mindy asked them whether they wanted to use their real names or aliases. Mindy gets rather enthusiastic about pseudonyms. Our friends decided to call themselves Kayla and Jethro (as in Tull).

When we asked what made for a good bar, Kayla said, “It’s the friends you go with.” Neither Kayla nor Jethro expect to meet new people at a bar but prefer a place where friends can eat, drink, and talk comfortably.

Jethro said, “If I were to own a bar and it had a vibe like Cheers did, that would be what I’d want.” Jethro also said that a trendy place can be fun.

A good church, Kayla said, should have “good teaching and the warmth of the people around you.”

They told a bit about their story. Kayla grew up going to church on occasion, and she liked it. Jethro lived in the same community, and his family never went to church. They were already a couple when someone shared the Gospel with them. Soon after, they decided to follow Jesus, and they assumed the thing to do was to go to church. They visited The Bridge (which was then called Fresno Evangelical Free Church), and the preaching of Rick Yohn, the pastor back in the day, “impacted” them. Jethro said, “He really made us think of things I’d never thought about.”

They also began attending a Sunday School class with other young couples at a stage in life when there was time to do things together. They built close friendships that carry on today. Many of the same people have been in an adult Sunday School class for over thirty years now, and Jethro said, “I never even knew I needed community.”

They said that if any one thing has kept them at The Bridge, that is it.

We attended that same Sunday School class when we lived in Fresno nearly thirty years ago, and when we moved back to the area last year, Jethro and Kayla remembered us. It has been wonderful to spend time with them again.

We went to Round Table to report on that beer and wine wall for this blog, and we always enjoy the pizza. But easily the best thing about the night was time with old friends.

We Walk All the Way to a Bar

Pizza Pit, Fresno, CA

In seminary I had a prof who was a teetotaler; he taught that Christians shouldn’t drink alcohol. I found most of his arguments absurd (especially the suggestion that Jesus turned the water into grape juice), but his strongest argument was that drinking brought dangers in the modern world that didn’t exist centuries ago, especially drunk driving. Thousands of lives are lost every year because people drink too much and gets behind the wheel.

Drinking at home is the most obvious solution -- perhaps in bed to avoid any drunk walking accidents -- but what if you just want to go to a bar?

There are many simple solutions to this challenge, designating an alcohol free driver being one of the many. Another is walking to the bar instead of driving -- though not everyone has a bar within walking distance of home.

Fortunately, we do. We walked to the bar at the Pizza Pit.

Our son, Bret, came with us -- which turned out to be quite appropriate. Our neighborhood bar is inside a family restaurant. The sign on the door makes it clear: “Welcome to the Pizza Pit! This is a family restaurant . We ask that you be respectful of others. No foul language, please. We’ll give you ONE warning. The second warning and we will shut the TVs off. Please don’t ruin it for everyone. Thank you for your business.” So we went as a family. And we watched our language.

Bret put some money in the jukebox and we listened to Florence and the Machine. We sat at the bar where Josh quickly took our order. We’d had pizza at the place shortly after moving to Fresno, but since we’d already had dinner at home that night, we just had some Cheetos to go with our drinks.

Mindy and Bret had Redd’s Apple Ale, and I had some fairly local hard root beer. It was a slow night, and we talked with Josh about why that might be. It was cold; perhaps people were staying in. Perhaps people were doing their Christmas shopping.

Josh said he  works only occasionally at this Pizza Pit. Usually he works at the other location in the Tower District. In addition to tending bar, he’s an artist and has displayed his work at the other Pizza Pit location, which participates in the downtown ArtHop.

Joey, one of the owners, came in. He told us that Pizza Pit has been around for twenty years, but the current family ownership has been running the place for the last seven years.

We asked Joey if he’d answer our questions about what makes for a good bar and what makes for a good church and he said, “Good people”.

Josh said, “I was going to say the same thing.”  

Joey said the Pizza Pit was a neighborhood place, and neighbors made the place. He made sure we knew that they’re primarily a pizza place that happens to have a bar so people can have a beer with their pizza if they want. But the place is kid friendly, with video and prize-dispensing games. Joey said they often have events for Little League Teams and birthday parties.  

As for what makes for a good church, Joey said he’s not religious. He said he’s known a lot of hypocritical people in church. “If you’re in a religion, you have to be loyal to it, not two faced.”

We enjoyed our drinks and then walked home. No drunk driving risk at all after we each had our one drink. So even the best argument that seminary teacher offered doesn’t hold water (let alone hard cider), and in the world of Uber and robot cars, even less so.