Photo credit: At Random
Some bars will whip up a Brandy Alexander on request, but At Random (2501 S. Delaware Ave.) isn’t just some bar. The inconspicuous corner in Bay View can handle a dozen different ice cream drinks, including Grasshoppers and Peanut Buttercups, served in soda fountain glasses and topped with cherries and butter cookies. If dessert isn’t your thing, At Random also serves such exotic inventions as the Red Dragon with vodka and rum and the Black Magic with Southern Comfort and vodka. In a “Mad Men” mood? At Random is the place for a Rob Roy or a Stinger. The drink menu is larger and more elaborate than the food menu at most restaurants. And yes, you can order plain old scotch and water on the rocks if that’s your fancy. They even have eye-catching non-alcoholic drinks.
After 60 some years in business, At Random nearly closed last year. It might have been razed, replaced by one of those multistory “multi-use” structures popping like toadstools around Milwaukee. Coming to the rescue was entrepreneur John Dye, the Milwaukeean who revitalized Bryant’s and resurrected the Jazz Gallery. The new owner changed virtually nothing. The dark interior is cozy and welcoming, lit by amber glass lamps suspended from the ceiling. The split mirrors on paneling remain, along with the curvaceous bar, the tiny booths for two and giant boomerang booths that could accommodate a party of 12. At Random has always existed in its own place and time—a cross between the sidebar at the Sands in Las Vegas circa 1955 and someone’s elaborate basement bar room circa 1969. Vintage soul music usually forms the conversational-level sonic backdrop to one of Milwaukee’s most unique lounges.
