Dive Night, Part 2 ~ River Garden Bar

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.

Our Dive Night experience taken on the Friday before Halloween with Ruthie and Ray started out at Psycho Suzi's Motor Lounge.  That was definitely an experience of the good kind.  You can read about it here.  The thing is, we were in Nordeast, old stomping ground for Husby and Ray, and we couldn't leave the area without stopping by to call on Tony Jaros.  OK, we couldn't really visit Tony Jaros because, well, he'd dead.  More specifically, the River Garden Bar.  Yikes.

For those of you who are totally out of the loop (like I am), this bar is home to The Greenie.  I've heard about The Greenie for years from Husby.  Apparently Ray has reminisced about the River Garden and Greenies too.  It's a stiff drink, but you'd never know it because it is so dang sweet and tasty.  So without further adieu I give you...The Greenie.

All I can say is, the River Garden Bar is a place where people go to get drunk.  It is also a trendy stop for people who think it's quirky to go into dive bars just to drink up the atmosphere.  It's got character and characters.

This guy was constantly on his phone, but could only see it with one eye closed. 

Husby and Ray loved returning to their old stomping ground, the River Garden Bar.  Apparently it is one of those places where you can go back and relive those days of yore because it hasn't changed a lick in decades.  Ruthie and I loved sitting at the bar making up stories about all the other people, speculating about who will go home with whom, what they do for a living, and what their lives are like.  Of course we would label them with names like The Russian, Staring Guy, Artsy Girl, and Tight Lips.  Great fun.

There were also a bunch of mice who came into the bar.  Humans dressed as mice.  I don't know if they were supposed to be rats or mice.  Doesn't matter, they were a very fun bunch and I just had to take a picture of a couple of them before we left.

I'll remind you we were out the Friday before Halloween, so I assume these guys are dressed for that occasion and don't normally go out in their black long underwear, white gloves, and mouse ears, but I could be wrong.  They were much fun, no matter what.

So all I can say is the dive dining and drinking for October was quite an experience.  The food at Psycho Suzi's was great, the Greenies* at River Garden were great.  Of course the company of Ruthie and Ray can't be beat.  It was the most memorable Halloween weekend I've had in a long time.

* The River Garden Bar also makes Blueys (sp?), Pinkies, and Purpleys (again, sp?).  The Blueys taste like Sweet Tarts, and uncannily so.  If you drink too many of all of these drinks you will no doubt barf rainbows.