Let's get this staright: I loathe sports bars. I despise the whole TV-in-your-face, chicken wings by the kilo rotteness that has blighted this country from our strip malls to our downtowns. We used to have road houses that served local fish fried up and served with a frosty mug of now long-forgotten regional beer. Now we have sports bars that serve grilled chicken sandwhiches and horrible, mass-produced, pretend micro brews. Yet, for all my passionate rantings against sports bars, I love the Big Ten. Since I started college at the University of Minnesota, and my dorm room was about a block from this joint, I've ventured there on an almost weekly basis.
The first time I ever ate there it was two days after moving to Minneapolis. I was freezing waiting for my cold weather clothes to arrive by mail from North Dakota and homesick already. The Big Ten was there to serve me a hot cup of chili and a warm sub sandwhich. Later I graduated to the big booth in the back where I'd gather with my friends and split a mountain of criss-cut fries (why do fries in a waffle shape always taste better?) and a pitcher of Summit for Happy Hour. When I think back on my twenties, I recall trips to Europe, the grind of my first 9-5 job, and playing darts in the back of the Big Ten.
The decor, in typical sports bar fashion, is memorabilia from the '50s and '60s era of the Big Ten conference and the pre-requisite TVs tuned to exstreme motorcycle parasailing or some such nonsense. The food is sports barean, but in an honest, and even, respectable, way. I've always been a fan of their hot subs, chili and fries. Their signature sandwhich, The Big Ten, is a strange midwestern mutation of the reuben which has five pieces of pepper jack cheese on it. That's the sort of excess that's so bold that you have to have a grudging respect for it. Isn't a reuben decadent enough? Well, apparently not.
The daily lunch specials offer some of their best fare, such as a genuinely awesome barbeque pork sandwhich. The beer selection is large and forward-thinking. They were the first on campus to have Summit (a regional beer), Guinness and a real, honest to goodness German beer like Paulaner on tap. Now that I'm in my thirties, I think the most appropriate place to sit is right at the bar, where I can think about the power of nostalgia to transform a sport's bar into a home away from home.
The Big Ten is located at 606 Washington Avenue Southeast.
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