Cliff's Bar and Grill adjusts fitfully to the McKinney Avenue strip

There are many ways to open a bar. On a wing and a prayer is one method. That's how Cliff Gonzales, who operated the Loon for 22 years, debuted Cliff's Bar and Grill on McKinney Avenue late last year.

Gonzales attributes his success with the Loon, a renowned watering hole that succored multiple generations, to luck and instinct and more luck. He presents his business strategy with a self-depreciating shrug: "It's what I do every day. Try to treat people the way you'd want to be treated."

He hopes the same applies to Cliff's Bar and Grill, but allows for hiccups along the way. "February is the worst month," he says, so finish-out on the patio has been delayed till April. "We ran out of money."

Cliff's is smaller than the Loon, 1,400 square feet inside and the 1,700-square-foot patio. Parking is valet-only, and it's a tight, side-mirror-scraping squeeze to get to. Loon customers could pull into the capacious lot of a strip shopping center, across from West Village, now demolished and replaced by a CVS Pharmacy. "You'll never see parking like that again in Uptown," Gonzales says.

Some things haven't changed. His old staff members - cooks and bartenders - are drifting back to Cliff's. Expect pretty much the same short, crowd-pleasing menu and sturdy pours that drew dead-broke coeds, high-net-worthies from Highland Park, movie stars and pro ballplayers to the Loon. That topped-out whiskey on the rocks for $8 would be $14 at the Uptown steakhouses.