Beloved trivia night to continue at Cazuela’s

Julianne Kerver
Mon, 13 Jan 2020 22:55:17 +0000
Arts & Life, Dining, Entertainment, food & drink, News, activities, activity, bar, beer, Cazuela's Grill, Cazuela’s, closed, closing, District PourHouse, drink, event, food, gateway, happy hour, margarita, margaritas, Monday, restaurant, sarah d, sporcle, tequila, trivia, trivia night, university district, wine

Cazuela’s Grill’s second location occupies the space that was formerly Mad Mex at Gateway in the university district. Credit: Beka Cagle | Lantern Reporter

What popular event is returning to a different location to test people’s knowledge of fast facts?

“Trivia Nights with Sarah D” will resume this week at Cazuela’s Grill in Gateway starting Monday at 8 p.m. Sarah Dygert, live trivia host for trivia entertainment company Sporcle Live, worked to find a new spot for the popular event following the Dec. 13 closing of The District Pourhouse, the trivia event’s former location.

“It was like my second home. I loved it. It was my favorite place I’ve ever worked,” Dygert said about The District Pourhouse. “It was really sad, actually.”

Jack Singh, a third-year in biology and regular trivia-goer, said he was surprised when The District Pourhouse closed, because of its convenient South Campus location.

“There was never a day I went, especially on trivia nights, where it wasn’t packed. We’d have to get there an hour early just to find a table,” Singh said.

Cazuela’s became a contender for the new trivia location when Dygert and her boyfriend, who was also a District Pourhouse employee, stopped by the Mexican restaurant to get a drink before heading to the closed District Pourhouse to help clean the bar, she said. Dygert said she met Carlos Barajas, general manager of Cazuela’s, who had heard of her trivia night.

Dygert said she left contact information for the Sporcle sales team with the restaurant, which reached out to express interest in being the new trivia spot.

The restaurant had been looking for weeknight activities such as trivia, Barajas said. He said this will be the first time they host a trivia night.

“I hadn’t thought much about the next place to do trivia…but they picked me up immediately so that was pretty cool. Pretty unplanned, but a good thing,” Dygert said.

The location change won’t deter Singh, who said he will “absolutely” keep attending trivia nights.

“It is just so much fun,” he said. “You have a round from 8 to 9 [p.m.] and a round from 9 to 10 [p.m.]. You’re competing against a lot of teams; the questions are usually interesting, there’s a lot of opportunity to wager how [many points] you put down. The mystery rounds are always interesting. It’s just a fun environment.”

Dygert also attested to the warm atmosphere her trivia nights cultivated.

“I’ve met so many people — made friends through trivia — and it’s always just a really fun time for two hours. Every trivia night, you get to basically brighten someone’s day,” she said.

“Trivia Nights with Sarah D” held the No. 1 and No. 3 Sporcle trivia show in the country for its Monday and Thursday events at The District Pourhouse. Sporcle hosts more than 10,000 shows across the country, Dygert said.

“I started the show there from the ground up, so there was never a trivia show before me. I started when they first opened and created a lot of regular teams and returned players,” Dygert said.

Those teams and players can return now that Dygert’s trivia nights will resume at 8 p.m. every Monday at Cazuela’s Grill — just steps away from the event’s first home.