Albany Park has an intriguing option to celebrate New Year’s Day as Surge Coffee Bar & Billiards opened Friday morning inside the former Marie’s Golden Cue space at 3241 W. Montrose Avenue. New ownership gutted the 48-year-old pool hall: crews have been working on the space’s new look since March after Marie’s closed. Nine months later, and the 6,000-square-foot space feels more like a sports bar or modern coffee shop compared to the occasionally seedy pool hall that occupied the space for nearly five decades.

That space includes a bar with room for 20 stools and 14 Brunswick Crown V pool tables. New owner Wahib Merchant has run Pressure Billiards & Cafe in Edgewater for 11 years. He welcomes serious billiards players, also wants to expand the game to novices. Pool should be for everyone, and he sees the space as a community hub serving as a coffee shop by day and a bar at night. Surge will pour Metropolis Coffee and serve food: pastries in the morning and pub food in the afternoon and evenings.

Surge will also offer six rotating signature cocktails created by The Dogma Group. The cocktail consulting group has created drink lists for clients including Billy Lawless’s The Dawson, The Gage, and Coda di Volpe. Merchant said he’s fond of the Old Fashioned (Old Forester bourbon, Demerara syrup made with Metropolis coffee).

Fans of Marie’s will be curious to see what Merchant’s done with their old place. Stroll through the space below. Surge is open and Friday and Saturday, but will be closed on New Year’s Eve. They’ll reopen on Monday with regular hours and the TVs will be tuned to New Year’s Day bowl games.

Surge Coffee Bar & Billiards, 3241 W. Montrose Avenue, open 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. on Sunday through Thursday; Open until later on Friday and Saturday.