The Beginning

“Bars on the Big Muddy”

The premise is simple. We believe in the great American Bar. We believe in greasy food and cold beer. We cherish the stale smell of a long oak bar and find comfort in the gentle roar of conversations shared over a Boulevard. We find ourselves in the flavor of a juicy cheeseburger, scolding hot fries and a fresh pickle spear. The American Bar is a part of us. It’s who we are, and it’s the heart of aMidwestern community.

It is where you go after a long day at work to unload with your friends, and occasionally you stay for the popcorn made at midnight. You’ve been there when they opened the doors, and you have been ushered out when the closed them. You took your wife there on the third date nervous that she wouldn’t accept it. Luckily, she loved it and taught you the two-step there. You meet your family there for the Sunday taco special, even though they aren’t that good. (the tacos, not the family). You were there for the Huskers in ‘97, watched Mario’s miracle there in 08 and all the Royals’ heartbreak in between. It’s your bar. It is where you meet your friends the night before Thanksgiving, and it’s where you went to console them on Sept. 12th 2001.

Every great American Bar is different, and every community has their favorite. It is our goal to highlight some of the great ones across the Missouri Basin. We are here to share our experiences with you, and we hope that you enjoy them.

Ok, let’s get though the basics, so you know what this is all about and what the ground rules are.

Who We Are:
Let’s start with what we are not. We are not “foodies”, oenophiles, or bar snobs in any way. We are in our late 20’s and live along the “Big Muddy” in Kansas City and Omaha. We share a love of good food, good beer, and good people.

Goodin: John first broke his seal in the bars of the Midwest, spending evenings chilly evenings of the Fall and Winter saddled up against the bar in the likes of Sioux City, IA and Kearney, NE. Although he earned his undergraduate education with the Lopers while gulping up the best of Thunderhead Brewing, it is when he went solo to the coast that he truly refined his tastes. John spent 2 years living it up on the Potomac, where he focused his taste buds and brought back East coast delights like Yeungling and the soft-shelled blue crab. John returned to the Missouri Basin last year, with a new approach and a new vision ready to conquer the American Bar.

Sterner: Being a man who travels frequently, you would expect Sterner to be the guy who frequents many bars across the U.S....and you would be correct. Through his many travels, Nick has been in locales from the Southern tip of Florida to the frozen plains of Kalispell, Montana. Nick honed his skills at bars such as The Yacht Club and the now defunct Mad Hatter while attending The University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS. Through these experiences Nick came to appreciate what makes a truly good American bar and more importantly, what doesn’t.

The Bars:
With literally tens of thousands of bars to potentially visit along the Missouri Basin, we need to be clear about what will not make the list of yet to be seen. We both cherish variety and the mix of bars that the US brings to the table, but for the sanctity of our mission we have to cut the list. Therefore, there are several categories of locales that we will not be visiting…we are sure this list will change/expand/shrink, but we have to start somewhere:

Here are the list of no’s: No national chains, no themes, no restaurants pretending to be bars, no pubs, no martini bars, no wine bars, no gastropubs (ever), no tapas bars, no topless bars, no piano bars, no hotel bars, & no stadium bars.

The System:
After lengthy discussions on the foundations of a great bar (and the causes of that feeling you get when you saddle up to a stool that feels like it was made just for you) we came up with a 5 star system for rating our visits...we are working through the details now...

Look for our next post with a description of the pillars and the first of our reviews!!