It’s not easy to build a bar that satisfies everyone. If you add live music, you risk alienating the neighbors who just want to relax and chat over a pint. Leave out the tunes, and you might miss bringing in music fans.
The North Star Bar in Fairmont has managed to walk this fine line. From the outside and the inside, it looks like the perfect corner pub, complete with a Prohibition era mirror-backed mahogany bar and a healthy set of taps flowing with worthy microbrews (such as Magic Hat No. 9 and Allagash White). Mussed hipsters sit elbow to elbow with tattooed construction workers, sipping beers or throwing back shots during the generous weekday happy hour, which includes half-price pints and 25 cent wings. A bar menu offers the basics but also some surprises including “drunk and beaten†calamari, beer battered octopus with garlic mayo and a brieLT, a French-ified version of the American classic.
In the back room, two pool tables see quite a bit of action, but it’s the sonically protected room next door where the musical action takes place. The midsize venue is considered by those in the know to be one of the best places in Philly for both up-and-coming and established acts to play. In recent months, you could have climbed up the viewing balcony and seen the next-big-thing The Teeth or ‘90s chanteuse Juliana Hatfield on the North Star’s intimate stage. Consider putting yourself in the hands of the North Star’s trusted booker and check out an act you’ve never heard of before. You might just discover your new favorite band. If not, you can head back to the bar and discover your favorite new beer instead.
- K.M. Henri (Style Magazine : Places We Drink)
The North Star is one of the best indie music venues the city has to offer, with a room that's somewhere between the Grand Ole Opry and the Whiskey club in Los Angeles. But in the angular space surrounding the performance area, there's plenty of room for hanging out and taking in a lively, leisurely drink or two -- whether you're ultimately headed to the band room or not. The pool tables and appropriately hip jukebox give you something to do if you aren't feeling up to circulating and kicking up casual conversations -- which is good, since the tight bar area is not particularly suited to sit-down heart-to-hearts. Most patrons work the room with one of the North Star's many beer options, bumping into the people they know and being forced into close quarters with people they might like to know. It may be a shade too bright for a rock 'n' roll watering hole, but it's still the coolest rock lobby around.
-- Nathaniel Friedman
