Back to the Book

Travalon and I are back to visiting the historic taverns from Bottoms Up. Saturday we drove up to Oshkosh, stopping in Fond du Lac to enjoy Lakeside Park, since the weather was beautiful. We stopped into Chasers in Oshkosh as soon as it opened; it was one of the less ornate bars we’ve seen from the book, but I did enjoy trying Kinky liqueur there, plus we had two-for-one shots of Goldschlagger. Then we drove to Berlin and went to The Rendezvous, which is right next to a Mexican restaurant. The restaurant had hired a band to play outside for Cinco de Mayo, and people in The Rendezvous had colorful sombreros on, so it was a real party atmosphere. I played bar dice with the bartender and won, although I didn’t really understand the rules, so she gave me a free beer. We stopped for dinner in Beaver Dam, which was a shame because it turns out that Heine’s in Minnesota Junction has really good pizza. (We got one to go and enjoyed it the next day.) I had an amazing drink there that tasted just like pumpkin pie. This bar used to be called Alice King’s Inn, and it was really beautiful inside. There was a mirror etched with a nude lady that actually used to be a door to the upstairs back in the day, when Alice King ran a house of prostitution. One of the current owners told me he once met an old man who had known Alice King, and she used to pay off the sheriff during Prohibition and then later when the booze was legal but the prostitution wasn’t. I would highly recommend visiting this historic bar, and try their pizza while you are at it. It isn’t easy to find; it looks like a house from the front, and there is just a little sign that says “Heine’s.” But you could ask anyone in town where it it.

Famous Hat