Life > August 31, 2003

By Ethan Dougherty and Brian White

Old Gold and Black Reviewers

Most Wake students can name about five bars in Winston-Salem.  Everyone is familiar with usual student haunts like Burke Street, The Black Bear, Freddy B’s and Daytona’s (“Now With Less than 30 percent Convicted Felons”), but very few others. 

Where does the rest of Winston-Salem drink?  We don’t know, and since 98 percent of the campus refers to them condescendingly as “townies,” we don’t care. However, in this weekly column, we’re going to go where no Wake Forest student has gone before:  middle-class bars, biker bars, the American Bar Association. Hopefully by the end of the year, we will have found a few new Thursday night destinations, ones where patrons don’t have to run the risk of getting hit by that obnoxious ring toss game. 

“But wait,” you’re probably saying, “last year’s Howler already did a review of local bars!”  We’re hoping to go a little more in-depth with our analysis and provide journalism free of grammatical errors. It’s going to be a long, slightly tipsy odyssey, and we hope you’ll read each week.

Our first stop is at one of the aforementioned student favorites, Fox & Hound, located at 367 Lower Mall Drive just off of Stratford Road, one of Winston-Salem’s more upscale establishments. 

Upon stepping into the bar, after having one of the surly, overzealous bouncers inspect your ID, the ambiance grabs you by the shoulders and yells, “Look, I’m classy. You’re lucky to even be here.”  The earth tones calm the soul, and the wood molding offers a touch of English decadence.  However, the whole English fox-hunting theme might be taken a bit far, as the walls are crowded with probably every bad print depicting fox hunting that’s ever been made. 

With three rooms of tables and a fairly large bar, there’s more than ample seating, most with unobstructed views of at least one of the plethora of televisions tuned to the various ESPNs lining the perimeter.  The relatively quiet music is piped in through music videos that are mostly Top-40 rock and some R&B, making Fox & Hound the ideal bar to carry on a conversation with friends or play pool at one of the many nice tables.

The drinks are a tad pricey, with domestic pints at four dollars(cheaper on Tuesdays), but the vast selection (36 beers on tap) takes the sting off of the sinking feeling when you close out your tab.  However, there is one hurdle one must overcome to taste these sweet nectars.  The tattooed woman usually manning the bar is less than friendly.  Lots less than friendly.  In fact, she could be described as “downright mean.”  Even if the bar isn’t crowded, visitors can expect to wait a while to get their beer, and a short eternity to get a mixed drink. 

If you’re a sheltered, upper-middle class, white Wake Forest student, the other clientele at Fox & Hound certainly isn’t going to frighten you.  The large interior space makes most weeknights seem relatively laid back and relaxed.  Most other patrons are young professionals who could easily be just a few years removed from Wake themselves who come in to enjoy the calm atmosphere and broad, reasonably-priced menu of continental American cuisine. 

Overall, Fox & Hound is certainly a nice place to have a few pints and a burger with your friends on a Tuesday night, but it’s not a place where you’re likely to meet new people or end up in a stranger’s bed, bound and gagged, wondering where your life went wrong (or how incredibly lucky you are, depending on your point of view).  It probably won’t supplant Burke as the Wake Forest Thursday night hotspot, but it’s definitely worth trying another night of the week. 

Seniors Ethan Dougherty and Brian White bring you the hottest spots for nightlife in Winston-Salem in their weekly column “Shaken & Stirred.”