Dive Night, Part 1 ~ Psycho Suzi's Motor Lounge

Dive Night is a once monthly adventure undertaken by me and Husby, along with our friends Ruthie and Ray. Each couple alternates choosing a restaurant, one which must come under the category of "dive." Our definition of dive: a neighborhood gathering spot hiding under the radar. Casual atmosphere and good food. We're out to find the best food in the Minneapolis/St Paul area without having to pay a fortune or dress up. A sip of beer or wine doesn't hurt either.  See a list and links to the previous dive night posts here.

It's been a while since I've posted about Dive Night with Ruthie and Ray because, well, it's been a while since we've done it.  You know how life gets sometimes.  That's what's been happening with us.  Because it has been a while since the last Dive Night we decided to do it big.  The best place to find a dive in the Twin Cities?  None other than Nordeast!

I'm not too familiar with the northeast Minneapolis, but I don't get out much.  Those of you who know anything probably know about the place we chose as our monthly dive.  Psycho Suzi's Motor Lounge. 

Psycho Suzi's used to be an A&W Rootbeer stand.  They've given the old drive-in quite a substantial makeover.  Think tiki.  We went the Friday before Halloween, so the place was decorated for the holiday and some of the patrons were in costumes.  All of that just added to the fun.

The employee of the month is featured prominently next to the restrooms.  I especially liked her quote.

And the bathrooms were aptly labeled.

They even serve exotic Polynesian drinks in volcano cups.

But enough about the decor.  Let's talk about the food.  Oh, the food.  We started with appetizers, fried cheese curds and Brown Sugar Babies.  The latter are bacon-wrapped smokies with a bourbon brown sugar glaze.  OMG.  And the cheese curds had the most delicate, tempura-like batter that was unlike any I've had before and were served with a marinara sauce.  Personally, I thought the dipping sauce was unnecessary.

On to the main course.  I'll confess I was a little disappointed that everyone wanted pizza.  Pizza?  Well, little did I know that Psycho Suzi is known for her pizza.  I went along with the majority's consensus and each couple chose a different one.  I'm so glad we got pizza. 

These may look like ordinary pizzas, but they were far from it.  The crust was deliciously thin and crispy.  Ruthie and Ray ordered the Four Barrel pizza, which has spicy sausage, red onions, roasted red peppers, and feta and mozarella with the house red sauce.  Husby and I ordered The Barris with caramelized onions, sun-dried tomato, oregano and goat cheese.  
 
It's been a while since I've had a pizza that diverts from the standard Domino's-type.  Not that there's anything wrong with Domino's, but they don't roast peppers, they don't caramelize onions, and they sure as heck don't use feta and goat cheeses.  All of us sampled each pizza and all of us liked both.  Well, I more than liked.  I wondered where this pizza had been all my life.  At Psycho Suzi's all along.

Check out Suzi's website ~ it's as entertaining as the ambiance, service, and clientele of the restaurant. 

We couldn't end the evening with Psycho Suzi's.  After all, we'd been having that life thing I was referring to earlier, and it had been so long since the four of us had been out.  We found a way to ward off  Stay tuned for Part 2 of this Dive Night post and find out where we partook in a little nightcap.