Boy Luck Club

With luv day (also known as VD) looming on the horizon, we’ve had just one thought as we’ve been subject to a barrage of red and pink floofy items in the most commercialized holiday since Christmas:

Thank God we’re single.

Not that we’re necessarily opposed to dating or smug coupledom, mind you, but we’re enjoying not being beholden to anyone at this point in our lives. We like how we don’t have to arrange our weekends around anyone else’s plans. Plus, each outing is tinged with a sense of possibility — not only of meeting someone interesting and cool but of new adventures and antics. And hey, if that doesn’t happen, then at least we’ve had a nice night out with friends.

So, it was in this spirit of singledom that we decided to go to Lucky Brewgrille, the bi-level bar/club located in the Mission Mart strip mall. (And that’s bi as in two, not as in an AC/DC sense.) Not only did the name seem appropriate for us — get lucky, har har — but when it first opened three years ago, we remembered seeing lines outside the doors quite frequently. And, as one of our pet theories goes, the longer the line outside a metro establishment, the dorkier the crowd inside.

On a recent Friday night, though, there was no line outside, which was promising but probably just because it was eight degrees below zero outside. However, the frigid cold didn’t stop the tube-top chicks from running inside without their coats. As another of our pet theories goes, their fake-baked orange hides probably keep the warmth in, like some mutant reptile’s skin. “I suppose if you’re going to get down, you don’t want stuff like coats to hold you down,” said Research Assistant Laura.

We started by drinking upstairs. The top floor is a restaurant by day but turns more barlike around 10 p.m. There was a DJ playing, among other things, the disco version of the Cookie Monster song (“C Is for Cookie”), and in general, it was definitely more laid-back and enjoyable than the Delux Lounge downstairs, which was dominated by the dance floor and, with its lower ceilings, was reminiscent of a suburban basement. And for the upstairs dwellers who were curious about what was going on downstairs but too lazy to walk down a flight of stairs to check it out, there were a couple of monitors displaying the goings-on below. It was hard to tell if there was any love down there, though; the figures on TV looked surrealistically still, and it was too dark downstairs to make out anything.

Or maybe we just couldn’t see clearly because of all the drinks we had consumed. Lucky has different drink specials every day, and Friday night’s special was Red Bull and vodka for $2. Because we’re not big fans of Red Bull (it smells like Robitussin), we went with Boulevard Wheats and Madrases. As we sat upstairs, we were entertained by a guy in a sideways trucker hat who tried to breakdance and a girl in a turquoise shirt who climbed over a booth table to mash with her date. Fortunately, the couple rectified the seating situation by sitting on the same side, date-booth style. We also watched guys in turtlenecks and boy-band hair stream in, as well as one chick who was actually wearing a Bebe visor and another who had on a white angora bucket hat. “You can tell just from looking at the crowd that we’re in Johnson County,” said Research Assistant John.

After a few drinks, we stumbled downstairs, which upped the sausage factor considerably. The first thing we saw was a wall of guys standing around and watching the dance floor. We also couldn’t help but notice the booth of older couples grinding and groping away near us. “Fuck it,” John said. “Not only are they the oldest people here — they’re the coolest. Most of the people downstairs are like striped shirt,” he said, gesturing at one frat boy standing at the edge of the dance floor.

We headed back upstairs and talked to Keith, the DJ who’s been there pretty much every Friday for the past two years. “Downstairs, it’s more contemporary rap, and upstairs it’s some of that, but it’s also funk, soul and European lounge,” he said as he cued up “Let’s Get It On” and squeals of excitement were heard.

According to owner Greg Fuciu, one of the most popular nights at Lucky is Wednesday, when the bar serves $4 jumbo martinis. “We try to make ’em fun,” he said of the drink specials. So, will it be a good place to get lucky on Valentine’s Day? “We try to say be lucky,” he said, laughing. “Get lucky is pushing the envelope for us.” Though the bar isn’t doing anything special for VD, he said that Pomeroy will be performing there on Fat Tuesday.

“It’s two different identities going on,” Fuciu said of the dual-level factor. “Go downstairs and get your groove on, or hang out upstairs and be lucky.” Yep. Give us some jumbo martinis and we’ll be feeling lucky, all right.