A Clean, Dim Lighted Place

Ever since I was in high school, I've loved the idea of a nice tavern. On Long Island, my friends and I, with nicely done fake IDs, used to sneak into a fern bar on Hempstead Turnpike, and order wine and listen to bad folk music.

When I was a new lawyer, my mentor, Ed, took me to a place called Fox's Sherrin Inn. He said, while I was driving him home one night: "Dave, turn here. We're not going home yet. We're stopping at Fox's, for a martini this fu***** big." I complied, and visited for the first time.

Supposedly the upstairs was a brothel in the 50s and 60s. I consider it my country club.

After Hurricane Wilma, my friend Pat and I visited HIS country club, Riveria, for dinner. On the way home, we stopped at Fox's, despite the curfew. There was a fellow at the bar who said he had moved to Minneapolis in 1975, and was visiting for the first time in 30 years. He was shocked to see the red naugehyde chairs and black and white bar awnings were the same as he remembered. The only thing missing was the acrid cigarette smoke, thanks to the ban.

Last New Year's, D1 went to a party there with some college friends. Their waiter, Nelson, treated her and her boyfriend like royalty.

Last night, I was supposed to meet my friend John at my OTHER favorite tavern, Tobacco Road. He had business in SOuth Miami, so we switched to Fox's. The food was fine, and the laughter flowed freely, as we spoke about the characters we've both dealt with in our combined 50 years of Miami lawyering.

Nelson took care of us. I asked him about my daughters' friends behavior New Year's Eve. "Hey --you know I subscribe to the bartender/patron confidentiality rule!"

I always think about Ed when I'm at Fox's. He died too soon, in his early 60s. He'd have been there last night, if he were in town, wearing his brightly colored golf pants ("I learned my sense of style from the Polish Bowling Leagues of Milwaukee") and maybe a sweater, for the cool night.

Fox's is a fine place. May it never meet the fate of the Orange Bowl...