Underground Scene

"Bring on the pyg!" Hardly the cry you'd expect to hear over a candlelit dinner; nor would you expect wenches, wastrels, minstrels, and marauders. Yet you can't miss them when you feast in little Mount Joy, northwest of Lancaster and 75 miles from Baltimore. Bube's Brewery (102 N. Market Street, Mt. Joy, Pennsylvania, 717-653-2056), one historic building with three restaurants, hosts up to 60 feasts a year in the Catacombs, a stone-walled, partly natural cave 40 feet beneath the surface. The wide, arched tunnels that once housed beer barrels now see semi-scripted debauchery nearly every Sunday night, when five-course dinners ($35 per person, $31 for non-drinkers) take on pirate, medieval, or ancient-Roman themes. A caped reveler blows a horn and walks down a long table, stomping the pewter plates as he goes. Two pirates plead their case to diners, who judge which is a murderer. A wench in a low-cut smock wiggles her tongue at a bunch of grapes and encourages all to follow suit. Medieval Times, this ain't: Off-color jokes, flowing wine, and over-the-top theatrics make this meal not for children. But adults drive from as far as Washington and New York, some dressing to match the theme and calling for the next round of revelry, even before the players and servers do.