By the time we’re finishing up our senior year, Marshall Street bars hold very little charm.

Getting soaked in beer when someone inevitably gets shoved, paying a $5 cover charge and aggressively judging the same people you’ve been seeing out since freshman year has gotten old.

Which is why, with the last few days of freedom, it’s time for future graduates to step off the hill and explore the best of what Syracuse nightlife has to offer.

Beer Belly Deli & Pub

Though Westcott Street is just barely off campus, you’ll feel like you’re in a whole other world at Beer Belly Deli & Pub.

In true hipster fashion, it offers beer by the can as well as the bottle, and their draft menu rotates daily. Drinks can be a bit pricey –– a bottle of Sierra Nevada Harvest costs $9 –– but compared to drinking Bud Light in a packed bar, it doesn’t seem so bad.

Or, if you really want to be quaint, you can buy a $3 can of PBR and have beer-induced flashbacks to the nights you used to walk around the East neighborhood in search of open parties at a stranger’s house.

But you can’t visit BBD without chowing down on a generous serving of fries. I would highly recommend the sweet potato fries, since they’re delightfully salty yet crispy, and pair perfectly with whichever beer you choose.

Shiftys

Perhaps one of the most hidden hidden gems in Syracuse, Shiftys was the most delightful discovery of my senior year — or maybe my life.

As a Buffalo native, I have extremely high standards for both my chicken wings and my dive bars. Shiftys nail it in both categories.

This place serves up fresh-from-the-fryer wings that, unlike every other chicken wing I’ve ever eaten in Syracuse, are not undercooked and come with sauce options other than “Buffalo Wing Sauce.” Plus, they’re only $5 a dozen on Monday nights.

But it’s the employees and the clientele that really make Shiftys what it is. If you’re more comfortable sipping a fishbowl with your girls than chugging beers with grizzled natives covered in wing sauce, it’s best to stay away.

Benjamin’s on Franklin

It’s pretty simple: if you want to dance on a Saturday night in Syracuse, go to Benjamin’s.

Conveniently located directly across the street from Pastabilities in Armory Square, Benjamin’s is subtle on the outside, and anything but on the inside.

Paying homage to our founding father, Benjamin’s is one-part patriotic, one-part New York City club. Though Declaration of Independence-inspired decor doesn’t sound that sexy, it really is. Especially if you opt for the bottle service package, where you’re seated on leather couches behind an actual fence — to keep out the plebeians, I’m assuming — and served champagne by the magnum.

But if you’re a normal person, you can still enjoy the pumping bass and sip your mixed drinks from real glasses so you feel like a grown-up. Here’s hoping that Benjamin’s is a preview into what real life will be like.

Al’s Wine & Whiskey Lounge 

A patron of Al’s recently told me that it should rank as one of the best bars, “in the whole universe.” I might have to agree. Al’s combines two things for which I have a very fond affinity: bookshelves so high you need a rolling ladder and copious amounts of whiskey.

Sure, you can get anything you want at Al’s — including standards like Red Bull and vodkas — but the wall behind the bar is full of so many varieties of whiskey, you’d need a lifetime to taste-test them all or a very hearty liver.

But the best thing about Al’s is that the staff realizes that bars can get kind of boring without activities. The back room of the bar has pinball, pool and a variety of arcade games –– plus, you can play Jenga. Can you honestly think of anything better than knocking over wooden blocks while slinging your fifth whiskey on the rocks? No, no you can’t.

Published on May 8, 2014 at 1:00 am

Contact Avery: avhartma@syr.edu | @averyhartmans