An ongoing tradition -- Nick's a great place

Burgers, famous strombolis, pizza, beer and buckets; celebrities, adminstration, faculty, politicians, undergrads, graduate students and alumni; grafitti, pool and TVs; preps, jocks, hippies, nerds, frat-boys, townies, freaks and old people. All of these can be found at Nick's English Hut on any given day.\nFor 75 years, Nick's has provided everyone in this town old enough to drink a beer with a great place to eat, drink and hangout. Nick's is an IU tradition, and one that won't go away anytime soon. Bars nowadays try to rope in crowds with armies of big screen TVs piled on top of each other, bands, dance floors, mood lighting, special effects, cheap and crappy happy-hour food and drink specials, karaoke, skin-to-win contests and fancy watered-down, house specialty fu-fu drinks.\nNick's formula to sucess is pretty simple, and the equation is the reason Nick's has remained and will remain a Bloomington tradition. \nAtmosphere\nNick's English Hut actually looks like a hut on the outside and on the inside. Walking through the door, your eyes must slowly adjust to the dim lights. It seems the place is almost lit by candles or lanterns, creating an ambience similar to an old 19th century tavern. A plethora of four person booths makes privacy and intimacy possible in the restaurant, while in other rooms, tables can seat large groups for huge social interaction.\nThe bathrooms in Nick's offer plenty of interesting reading. Grafitti covers the walls, and the rooms are probably the most interesting place to relieve yourself in Bloomington. \nNick's recently added a new room upstairs where customers can play pool and darts. Though the room is new, and looks new, a little wear and tear will give the room the character the rest of the bar possesses.\nFood\nI didn't even care for strombolis when I ordered my first Nick's sausage masterpiece. I didn't even really like sausage. But the loose meat sandwhich hooked me, and for a few months I ate a Nick's strom at least twice a week. Then I had a Nick's Burger. Nick's has the best burger in town by far, and I've eaten pretty much everywhere a burger is rumored to be good (Opie Taylor's, Village Deli, Bear's Place, Hinkles and the only one that can rival a Nick's burger, Upland Brewery).\nIt doesn't stop with burgers and stroms either. I have friends who love the pizza, tenderloins and salads. Another friend, from Boston, said Nick's had the best clam chowder he's had in Indiana.\nDrinks\nNick's drink menu boasts nothing fancy. It sticks straight to the basics: A variety of beer and hard liquor. Most of the popular bars in town go easy on the liquor, but Nick's doesn't shy away too much from giving you your money's worth.\nBut the driving force behind drinking at Nick's is at the bottom of the bucket. Sink the Bis' adds a whole new level of fun to drinking. I can't count the number of drunken stories that start out, "Well we went to Nick's to play Sink the Bis'..." Nick's provides the buckets, or you can buy one. But, only the most prestigous Nick's regulars can earn a permanent spot in the restaurant for their personal bucket. Nick's keeps a spot for former IU Chancellor Kenneth Gros Louis.\nStaff\nThe Hut's staff possesses a unique attitude intregal to the personality of the business. In most restaurants, waiters and waitresses brown nose you as much as possible for an hour and either don't leave you alone or hardly wait on you at all. A fake, processed niceness is present at many restaurants. Not at Nick's. What you see is what you get. What you get from a Nick's server is politeness and service with a little bit of attitude instead of them pretending they are your new best friend. Unlike processed restaurants and their staff, Nick's isn't fake and neither is their staff (unless you're an annoying or rude customer). If you're an irritating, obnoxious drunk, don't expect the best service unless you're already a liked regular. Win the heart of a Nick's server and you'll get unequalled treatment.\nTradition\nSink the Bis' has quickly bona fide Nick's standing as an IU tradition, but the game didn't even really start up until the '80s. Nick's tradition had already been sealed before then. The restaurant wears that tradition on its sleeve, and walls. Every booth tells a story through walls jam-packed with pictures of celebrities, administrators and all-star regular customers. The wall is sort of a hall of fame for Nick's customers. The Nick's tradition creates an atmosphere liked by almost any group of people. Nick's doesn't aim at any particular age group, it aims at everyone. With great food, drinks, staff and tradition, Nick's is a Bloomington favorite. \nHappy anniversary, Nick's English Hut.