Dive Bar

Tonight was a volleyball night. And we won!!!! It was seriously one of the funnest games I've played in a very very long time. Intense, full of energy, everybody was on and having fun, and we were playing as some type of bizarro cohesive unit. The other team was pretty cool, they were fun to play against. Sometimes we have to play hyper-competitive douche bags who sap all the fun out of the affair.

So on to celebratory beers. We went to Dive Bar mostly because it's pretty much the only bar around 97th and Amsterdam, where our game was. I feel like we've tried going there before and it was always crowded, so we coudn't get a table for 8 people and left. But since today it's been freezing all day, there was no way I was going to freeze my ass to walk to the bars below 80th street. And what would you know, we managed to get a booth. I think it helped that there were only six of us today, so we could actually fit in their booths.

Great vibe, good beer. I ordered a Hoegaarden, so it's not like they could have messed it up too badly. I don't remember having Hoegaardens in Austin, I was more of a Live Oak Hefeweizen drinker. (Which, on a side note, I have to give a mad shout out to the Austin Live Oak Brewery for giving me many many memories to treasure forever. It's almost like they sponsored parts of my mid 20's, along with Trudy's Mexican Martinis). But since discovering it, it is fastly becoming my favorite beer - light, tasty, and doesn't give me hangovers.

There was music, but it wasn't too loud. I like a bar where I can have conversations with friends without having to shout accross the table, yet the music is prominent enough that we can break into a rendition of Tiny Dancer without looking like total lunatics. And mostly it just felt like a bar. Certainly not a dive bar by any stretch of the imagination; this place is very clean, had a food menu and lots of professional looking people milling around. I guess when I hear the words "dive bar" I expect some old timers, winding down from their union jobs, and drinking bud light or whatever is on tap while munching on peanuts. Then again, I don't know what type of divish customers you can find in the upper west side.

The food wasn't as good. I'll go back there for drinks, but not necessarily for their pub grub. My mac and cheese felt too cheesy, if that's possible. P got tacos, which looked underwhelming. Then again, I have turned into a total tex-mex snob. A got beef fajitas, and they were the oddest fajitas I've seen in a while. I commend Dive Bar for including both sour cream and guacamole, which is always good, and trying to make pico de gallo. But the actual beef was swimming in some really salty gravy (really? gravy with fajitas?) and just didn't seem right. T got a burger that looked delicious. If I end up there again at dinner time I'll definitely order that. And since the place is so close to one of our volleyball gyms, I have a feeling that I'll be back fairly soon. : )