LBM (12301 Madison Ave., 216-712-4692), everybody’s favorite Viking-themed neighborhood cocktail bar in Lakewood, has announced plans to fully reopen for indoor, take-out and new sidewalk dining. That will occur on Monday, July 20. Because nothing this team does is quotidian, the relaunch will involve a Gordian knot of seating modifications, menu reformatting, high-tech safety protocols and peculiar sense of humor.
Guests who visit on or after July 20 will observe a new theme-styled menu, one that changes every couple of months. The theme for the initial offering is called “LBM: The Apocalypse Survival Guide.” The actual menu is fully illustrated and digitized, accessed by diners via QR codes embedded on tables and the bar. Disposable printed versions also will be available for guests who prefer them.
“For safety when dining in and for some entertainment while following along if doing take-out at home,” explains owner Eric Ho.
The menu is broken down into chapters based on “survival practices,” such as mental fortitude, water, fire, shelter, tools, hunting, gathering and scavenging. Sketches throughout provide lessons in knot making, fire building, water purification and foraging for wild edibles. Cocktails and dishes inspired by those concepts are listed alongside.
Modifications to the interior further drive home the theme and make it a more immersive and entertaining experience.
As for seating, there will be three sections at the bar, three six-person tables in the dining room and three deuces on the sidewalk.
Since enduring a Covid scare of their own recently, the team has been busy “researching, implementing and installing safety measures that bring guest safety to another level,” Ho adds. These practices include low-hanging fruit like masks, social distancing and sanitizer stations, but also the installation of a hospital-grade UV light in the HVAC system to sanitize the recirculating air. A professional sanitizing company will regularly apply antibacterial quaternary film on all surfaces to disinfect them.
“We found it our responsibility that if we reopened that our crew was 100-percent comfortable with our precautions, active measures and procedures to keep them safe and healthy and that our ease will transfer to the guests as well,” says Ho.
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