Bellying up with …
On Fridays, we’ll spotlight the men and women serving up cold ones and conversation in our neck of the woods. Let us know about your favorite bartender by emailing ltaylor@news-gazette.com.
Felicia Warrens has tried other jobs, but there’s something about bartending.
“It was just easy, just talking to people, and it just sort of clicked with me,” she said. “I tried to do other things … but there’s something magical that just draws you in.”
While she had worked in the restaurant industry in her hometown of Joliet, Warrens became a bartender during her time at the University of Illinois. She’s worked at a few bars and restaurants around the area, but for the last four years, she’s been at the Aspen Tap House.
She knew many of her coworkers from elsewhere and started around the same time as many others, quickly forming what she said is like a family there.
“I always tell people who have never been here on a (Illini) game day, this place is second to the stadium. You will not get more electric energy anywhere else in town,” Warrens said.
Warrens said she loves connecting with people over the bar and helping them step outside of their comfort zones, especially with local brews to rotate with more popular beers.
“That is so fun, unlocking parts of people’s minds,” she said. “When you think of Champaign-Urbana, you think of the university, obviously, but the food scene here is so cool, and the beer scene here is so cool.”
Her favorite drink to mix up is a pineapple coconut punch, but if she’s ordering for herself, it’s going to be a Michelob Ultra and a kamikaze shot.
“You know how they say chefs go home and just make themselves a bologna sandwich or whatever? I spend all day doing flair back here, I just want something that goes down easy.”
Outside of the bar, Warrens is pretty chill: You’ll find her playing video games, reading, walking her dogs Chewy and Robin or hanging with her three-legged cat Zoodle.
