Trivia Vagabond: The Jones Bistro

Crisis. Opportunity. We don't need self-help myths about Chinese characters to draw connections between the two. Last week's debacle at our regular trivia venue? A great opportunity to wander from local pub to local pub, trying out their quizzes and telling you which ones are worth your while.

First stop: The Jones Bistro, recommended by Fred in our earlier post's comments. We played their quiz last night. Here's the rundown.

Quiz: 40 questions, grouped into 8 categories of 5 questions each. Last night, for example, included Anatomy 101, Math 101, and History 101. Questions are varied within each category. In Anatomy 101, for example, we were asked about the body's largest organ (the skin) and who plays Meredith Grey on Grey's Anatomy (Ellen Pompeo).

Difficulty: Moderate. We played with one other person and ended up with 26 points and a third-place finish. The winning team, Canada Likes to Come From Behind, hit 36 points. (Maybe 35. We didn't take notes.)

Scoring: Swap your answer sheet with another team at halftime and at the end.

Entry fee: None. There is a 2-drink or food order minimum per person, however.

Prize pool: First place team wins $25 off their tab. Second place gets $10 off. The team who performed in the bottom of the first half of the quiz and ends up with the highest score at the end wins $5, and is eligible for either of the other two prizes if they do really well.

Where and when: Sunday nights from 7:30 to 9:30 at the Jones Bistro in Maple Leaf, at 8824 Roosevelt Way NE.

The takeaway: The food is excellent -- we went early with our wife and daughter to have dinner. The flank steak sandwich and the burger were both great, and the fries were, as Fred promised, exceptional, crispy and golden-fried. During the quiz, we had the lemon tart for dessert, and the Jones did not disappoint -- it was tangy, like a citrus dessert should be, and the crust was delicate and mouth-melty.

The quiz gets high marks. Fred is a great host. He keeps things moving, getting through team signup, 40 questions, reading the answers, a 10-minute halftime break, and prize allocation within 2 hours. Teams can play anywhere in the restaurant -- a booth, a table, or at the bar. We like the difficulty level, and we're pretty sure that with a 4-person team we'd place in the top half consistently and win a decent amount of the time.

Our main stumbling block: the prizes. The Jones is not cheap for a pub, though the price matches the quality of the food. You're playing the quiz for the chance at a discounted meal, without any way to profit. The meal is worth it, but when we play trivia, we want to ante up some cash and potentially rake in the dough at the end of the night. Nonetheless, we expect to go back from time to time -- it's a great venue, even if they don't have hard cider on tap.