D I N I N G G U I DE SH O WC A S E
The Union Social House FRIENDLY, RELAXED NEIGHBORHOOD BAR By Graham Coffey
There are all sorts of familial units. We have our family of origin, sometimes we make a work family, and oftentimes friends are made that become known as one’s “family of choice.” Those are all wonderful, but you’d be hard pressed to find a family capable of rivaling the one at the Union Social House when it comes to size and eccentricity. You see, the fellowship of the barstool is a powerful thing, and it has turned the Union Social House into a community within a community. The sun at the center of the Union Social House solar system is the establishment’s owner and founder, Carol Clark. She doesn’t so much walk through the place as she floats. She has the unique ability to sit across from a stranger and immediately make them feel comfortable. On this night, she walks in and no fewer than four people come up to greet her before she can cover the 30 feet between the door and our table. She sits down, flute of champagne in hand, and it becomes immediately apparent that the bar has taken on her personality. I’d arrived half an hour earlier and walked through the bar. The pub opened in November 2019, just a few months prior to the pandemic, so it was my first time inside the place. I was struck by how familiar it immediately felt. The tables are big and inviting, the comfortable murmur of conversation provided just the right amount of white noise, strangers at tables glanced over in a warm and nonjudgmental way, and then there was the aroma. I didn’t know what it was initially, but my brain and stomach came together in an instant and told me to go figure it out. I followed the scent outside and found the source on a permanent foundation out back. When Clark opened the Union Social House, she partnered with local food-truck aficionados Beau and Dylan Lindborg, owners of Backcountry Gourmet. The brothers had two other successful trucks in the Durango area previously, and the one on the pub’s back patio is their third in three years. I watched as they churned out house-cut truffle fries and slider after slider. The sliders are works of art, and one can only see so many $6 BBQ bacon cheeseburger and pork belly sliders come out before having to order a couple for oneself. Once you have your food you’re welcome to take it back inside, and you’re also welcome to hang out on the mas-
72 Durango Magazine Summer/Fall
Photos courtesy of Brandon Mathis
sive back patio. You’ll find a world full of inviting spaces on the patio. In one area there are a few tables; in another there’s a fire pit. And the most unique feature of all are the greenhouses, an invention born of necessity during COVID-19. The capacity restrictions that came with the pandemic made it hard for Carol to justify paying the costs to stay open, but the greenhouses were a clever way to put parties together in isolated spaces and keep the Union Social House up and running. Each greenhouse has its own vibe. One is furnished with a high-top table surrounded by barstools for eight. Another has a gray rug spread beneath a few old easy chairs
with faux fur blankets. Vintage trunks and barrels serve as end tables, an old mirror sits against the back wall, and a chandelier hangs from the ceiling as guests chatter. When warm weather returns, the greenhouses will be temporarily taken down and replaced with a bocce-ball court and whatever else Carol comes up with. This is classic Carol, says Beau Lindborg. “She has so many ideas and I’ll think she’s crazy. Next thing you know, it’s beautiful.” Like all the furnishings both inside and outside the Union Social House, the shabby chic décor was cobbled together from yard sales, thrift stores, and online auctions. “All of these tables and chairs have a story. They’ve been gathered around for years,”
