Porterhouse Bar and Grill

Every week, it seems, fewer people are getting out. You can blame the economy or the gas prices, but you can't blame Porterhouse Bar and Grill. Porterhouse, the Riverwalk cornerstone at Himmarshee and SW Second Street, brings you DJ Ed Whitty and the band Friction every week without ever charging you a cover. By day, Porterhouse, the sibling of the Boca spot by the same name, is all about steak and lobster and other tasties (at prices that folks who can still afford steak and lobster consider reasonable). By 5 p.m., Porterhouse serves its own economic-stimulus package: a sweet deal of three-for-one on wells, house wines, and draft beers (which, although skim on variety, do include Heineken). The minimalist bartenders aren't up for much conversation, but they get your alcohol to you quickly. The bar stretches the length of the room, which is mostly made up of dancing/standing room and a few booths. The Top 40 covers do a surprisingly good job of keeping the clientele on that dance floor while the rest of us watch and tap on the bar, which, as I learned the hard way, could get sticky at a steak house. Was it A.1. Steak Sauce? Butter? Man, I sure hope so. The dancing types bob and weave and revel in one of Fort Lauderdale's better acoustics setups. Tawny light from tiny pendant lamps sets a discreet tone ideal for couples who, like R. Kelly, "don't see nothing wrong with a little bump and grind." DJ Ed Whitty rules the stage on Sundays. Power 96 broadcasts live from midnight to 4 a.m. on Tuesdays. Women drink free Wednesdays. And Friction rocks out to the latest pop tunes on Fridays and Saturdays.