DogWatch Tavern, a new bar bar in Fells Point, opened in late September in the old Reefers space on Broadway. Owner Marka Browning (former bartender at nearby J.A. Murphy's) bought the space and did a complete overhaul of the interior. Once was a Caribbean-themed tiki lounge is now a modern, renovated, neighborhood bar with a bright red and black motif. 

The tavern—which is huge at three rowhomes wide—is very obviously dog-themed, from the name to the branding (and even the bathrooms are divided into "squatters" and "leg lifters"). There is a sports bar feel to the place, with an arcade bowling game, large flat screen TVs, and a pub grub menu.

The night that we went, I tried some bar food staples, wings and buffalo chicken dip, which both lived up to their filling, spicy potential. There's good beer on tap, including Fat Tire Amber Ale, and the bar carries NHL and NFL packages. There are also self-serve beer taps at the bar, a trend that keeps popping up.

What's probably coolest about the new spot is its sheer size. There are tons of different areas to hang out for dining, shooting pool, lounging on leather couches to watch the game, or just hanging out at the bar. Where as many places in Fells Point (and the city in general) tend to feel confining, DogWatch is nice and open—making it an oasis in itself, without all the corny palm trees of its predecessor. 

The bar is hosting a holiday bar crawl (cleverly dubbed "Jingle Fells") on December 17 via Living Social.

[Image: typical clientele, courtesy of DogWatch Tavern's Facebook page]

After 10 years of being a staple in the Baltimore rock and funk scene, The Bridge is breaking up. The band is playing its final show tomorrow night at Rams Head Live! and I talked to lead vocalist and guitarist Cris Jacobs about playing their last show, future projects, and reflecting on the past decade.

What made you guys decide to split up?
At this point in our career and in our lives, things didn’t seem to add up to justify keeping it going. We had a great run that we’re really proud of, but, at the end of the day, we couldn’t sustain ourselves as a band. After 10 years, we didn’t think that rolling the dice again and again was the right way to go. I still want to play music all the time, but priorities in life tend to dictate what you need to do to get by and live the life you want. We would still be doing it if we could make a living off of it. Even after a decade, if we were outside of Baltimore, we were hit or miss, as far as drawing a crowd and making money.

What future projects are you branching out towards?
Well I’m still playing in a lot of different kinds of configurations, like solo stuff and duo stuff. I play with a great bluegrass band, Smooth Kentucky. I also have the Cris Jacobs Band with some great, great musicians. We’ll all be out there playing. I know the other guys are playing with other groups. The drummer Mike is playing in my new band. At this point, we all still want to play, but also make a living. I’d love to play with any one of those guys, any time.

What special things do you have planned for tomorrow night’s show?
We’re playing three sets, with no opening band. So that will be close to four hours of music. We’re going to play as much as we can of our catalog—take you through a loosely chronological evolution of the band. We’ll have former members of the band come out and play. It’s going to be a lot of fun. We’ll be throwing some covers in there, but mostly original stuff since it might be the last time a lot of these songs will get played. Plus, Thanksgiving Eve will be our 10-year anniversary. It’s always a good night for people to go out and see each other and that was the inception of the band in 2001. We kind of made the decision we were going hang it up and end it in style.

What have been some of your favorite memories?
Obviously traveling the world and playing music has been amazing. We’ve also had some good times playing a private festival called Black Sheep Family Reunion in Oregon. And then there’s just times hanging in the van, pulling off to the side of the road, and going on hikes. That’s going to be the kind of thing I miss the most.

How has the music scene in Baltimore evolved since you started?
I think it’s evolved in a really positive direction, and I think we might have contributed to that. In our little world, I think we brought a lot of people together to go out and see us and, in turn, to see other local bands. I think maybe we’ve helped stir the scene a little bit. There are a lot of local bands who’ve said they’ve looked up to us, but we were never really the darlings of the Baltimore music media. We were always kind of that hippie jam band playing down at the 8x10. There’s certainly a lot of pace in Baltimore, but we might have been on the outside of that. I’ve come to the conclusion that we were a damn good rock and roll band with no weird factor, so we just couldn’t capture attention. We did it our way, we were always ourselves, and I’m extremely proud of that. 

[Image of The Bridge (Cris in brown): courtesy of Alicia Rose]

According to a couple of sources, and a report by Baltimore Business Journal this morning, local brewer Heavy Seas is opening a new brewpub in the old Diablita location near Little Italy. The new spot, dubbed Heavy Seas Ale House, will be run by Patrick Dahlgren, the stepson of Heavy Seas owner Hugh Sisson.

State law doesn't allow Sisson to run a pub like this because of his ownership of Heavy Seas Brewing Company, but his company will be able to sell beer to the new Heavy Seas Ale House and, ultimately, the pub will help better market his beers.

"I have for years wanted to have some sort of retail branding platform," Sisson told the BBJ. "Many breweries do."

Heavy Seas Ale House is set to open in the beginning of 2012.

[Image: courtesy of allaboutbeer.com]

At 4:30 this morning, a two-alarm fire broke out at beloved neighborhood bar Mt. Washington Tavern. Fifty fire fighters were called to the scene and, when they arrived, they were unable to enter the building because of the dangerous conditions. The cause of the blaze is unknown, but visible fire has been extinguished and there have been no injuries reported.

The tavern's owners, Rob Frisch and Dave Lichty, posted a note to their Facebook page today:

"To our valued customers, friends, 

What a morning. We may be down but we are certainly not out. The fire has taken the Tavern for now but we look very forward to rebuilding and being better than ever. 

We are so thankful for the outpouring of support already and even more so that our customers and employees were unharmed. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. We will keep you posted as news develops and look forward to celebrating with you at our grand re-opening. 

Rob and Dave and the whole MWT team"

I also got a chance to speak with Rob over the phone this morning. "Obviously the wound is still very fresh," he said. "But we've been talking to contractors and insurance people and we're absolutely going to rebuild. I have a couple of [fundraising] ideas I can't get into, but we're hopefully going to do something down the line."

When asked if the bar's design and layout will still be the same after the rebuild, he said "It's going to depend on how bad the damage is. The tavern is such a unique building inside with all its original woodword. We'd like to keep it very similar."

Open for 32 years, the tavern is a staple in the Mt. Washington community and Baltimore at large. Our thoughts are with the owners and employees of the tavern and we wish them luck and suppport as they rebuild. 

[Image: courtesy of Mt. Washington Tavern]