#1858 - The Donnelly Club, Donnelly, ID - 8/21/2011

AKA just "The Club."  A nice enough place, but a little tame and uneventful after the Valley Club.

Of course it's probably less so on a Saturday night; a myspace post from 2009 says "GIRLS BRING YOUR GO GO BOOTS will have a Go Go stage set up for the party girls.Must keep your clothes."

I wonder how many women in Donnelly, Idaho have gogo boots?

256 N Main St, Donnelly, ID 83615 - (208) 325-8770              
Reviews: foursquare - yelp - urbanspoon

#1857 - Valley Club, Cascade, ID - 8/21/2011

It's 2:00 on a Tuesday afternoon and the Valley Club in Cascade is rollicking. Folks at the bar are yelling insults at the guys playing pool and vice versa. Raucous laughter can be heard as soon as you approach the baby blue cinder block building from outside. And it's not just a momentary thing -- it is a fairly continuous stream of laughter and shouts from raspy-voiced women and ornery old men.

Inside there are pictures of eagles and John Wayne on the walls.  There's a trainee bartender learning the ropes -- not some doe-eyed 22-year old, but a sixty-ish lady with great big hair and abundant blue-green eye shadow.  If you like a lively dive, this is clearly the place to be in Valley County.

The small town of Cascade now subsists largely on tourism, despite the recent bankruptcy of the lavish Tamarack Resort just across the Cascade Reservoir (now renamed "Lake Cascade" to better comport with the nature theme of the area's attractions), and despite the much larger tourist town of McCall lying some 30 miles north.  Many ranchers remain in the area, but the last of the lumber companies left when the Boise Cascade sawmill shut down in 2001, for lack of further timber resources made available by the U.S. government.  But the Valley Club is no tourist magnet, and that's a key to its greatness.

115 N Main St, Cascade, ID 83611 - (208) 382-3416
Est. 1946
Reviews: dumpsdivesanddrunkards - urbanspoon

#1856 - Long Branch Saloon, Horseshoe Bend, ID - 8/21/2011

This is exactly the bar you would want in Horseshoe Bend.  Sure the Riverside Cafe down the street has the view -- sitting on the back patio along that bend in the Payette river that gives the town its name.  But the Long Branch is the one that feels like it is serious about being a bar -- with an old western saloon feel, vintage signs from the area, animal heads on the wall, and its own dusty back patio.  A nifty stop for  drink when you are passing through Horseshoe Bend.

473 Idaho 55 Horseshoe Bend, ID 83629 - (208) 793-2762
Reviews: tripadvisor - yelp

#1855 - Corner Cafe Bar and Grill, Horseshoe Bend, ID - 8/21/2011

The Corner Cafe Bar and Grill is a pretty average bar in an average restaurant in a large, barn-like building in the small town of Horseshoe Bend, Idaho.  They have nine bar taps, televisions playing sports, wifi and pool tables.

446 Idaho 55, Horseshoe Bend, ID 83629 - (208) 793-3374
Web site: cornercafeidaho.com - facebook
Reviews:  yelp

#1854 - Jim's Alibi, Boise, ID - 8/20/2011

Hanging in Bullshit Corner did not prevent me from getting the
BS Swatter treatment from Tristina, at Jim's Alibi, in Boise, ID

Jim's Alibi is a faithful dive bar.  It is open 365 days a year; there waiting for you on Christmas, Thanksgiving, whenever you feel like dropping in.  It's available in the morning and the middle of the day. It offers you all the activities you expect in a modern dive bar: karaoke, eight ball, bingo. And it is faithful in keeping your activities inside safe from the prying eyes of outsiders -- there are no windows. If you need an alibi, it's not because Jim's let you down.

2710 Broadway Avenue Boise, ID 83706 - (208) 342-9220
Est. 1983 (Jim's Alibi, the Alibi has been around longer)
Previous bars at this location:  Happy Hour Tavern
Web site: jimsalibi.com - facebook
Reviews: sneakysunday - boiseweekly - yelp

#1853 - Moe's Place, Garden City, ID - 8/20/2011

You can pretty much know Moe's Place from the moment you pull into the parking lot. A big, open space between city and suburbs, with no particular attraction except cheap alcohol, a youngish crowd, and the distractions from mixing the two. You see the signage with the sort of sparkling font you might see at a low budget strip joint, and you can pretty much deduce that this place has much more than its share of fights and moron melodrama, and hence it probably changes owners every couple years or so. But if your life is going nowhere and you think the best way to fix that is Jack and Cokes, you might want to get down to Moe's -- or whatever it's called for now.

3933 W. Chinden Blvd., Garden City, Idaho 83714 - 208-343-1243
Est. 2011


Reviews: boiseweekly - neurolux

#1852 - The Stagecoach, Garden City, ID - 8/20/2011

This is a classic, mid-century steakhouse lounge, dark and romantic in a slightly shabby way. It claims to be the oldest family-owned restaurant in the Boise area, run by the family of founder Willie Schrier from 1959 to 2007, when it was acquired by another local family.  It is unabashedly old school, with red  naugahyde booths, fringe leather server outfits, and a sort of gamblers after-hours atmosphere.  The drinks are classic dive bar -- moderately priced and poured with a heavy hand. The food is classic middle-American steakhouse, with the best known dish among the locals being the large, breaded bar prawns.

3132 W Chinden Blvd, Garden City, ID 83714 - (208) 342-4161
Est. 1959

Web site: stagecoachboise.com - facebook
Reviews: urbanspoon - boiseweekly - yelp

#1851 - Joe's Crab Shack, Garden City, Boise, ID - 8/18/

2288 North Garden Street Boise, ID 83706 - (208) 336-9370


Web site: joescrabshack.com
Reviews: boiseweekly - yelp - urbanspoon - tripadvisor

#1850 - Sandbar Patio Bar and Grill, Boise, ID - 8/18//2011

A seasonal patio bar associated with the Riverside Hotel, the Sandbar has average food and service, but a very nice location on the south bank of the Boise River.

2900 Chinden Blvd, Boise, ID 83714 - (208) 343-1871
Est. June 15, 2012

Web site: riversideboise - facebook
Reviews: idahostatesman - boiseweekly - yelp

#1849 - Tiny's Lounge, Nampa, ID - 8/18//2011

A nifty little dive bar in Old Nampa.

10 12th Avenue South Nampa, ID 83651 - (208) 467-1717
Est. 1979?


Reviews: boiseweekly

#1848 - 1918 Lounge, Nampa, ID - 8/18/2011

A classic little dive that I might have been ready to spend some extended time in if I had not grown accustomed to Washington state's smoking ban.

10 13th Avenue S, Nampa, ID 83651 - (208) 467-3273

Reviews: boiseweekly

#1847 - Monkey Bizness, Nampa, ID - 8/18/2011

This place apparently had live monkeys at one point.

724 1st Street S, Nampa, ID - (208) 467-1507               
Web site: facebook
Reviews: boiseweekly

#1846 - The Packard, Pendleton, OR - 8/17/2011

A fair sized dive bar with a good beer selection, some funky art, and a nice, very old back bar.

118 SE Court St, Pendleton, Oregon 97801 - (541) 276-3737


Web site: facebook
Reviews: brewpublic

#1845 - Hamley Steakhouse, Pendleton, OR - 8/17/2011

Hamley Steakhouse & Saloon, Pendleton, OR

The Hamley Saloon is part of a very large restaurant outfitted in a sumptuous old west theme with antiques, lots of dark wood, tin ceilings, and rock steps down to a sizable wine cellar. It is named for J.J. Hamley, who was making saddles and leather goods in Pendleton since 1905, and whose company has outfitted Hop Along Cassidy, Tom Mix, Gene Autry, Walter Brennen, and John Wayne. The restaurant is inside a historic Pendleton building that hosted the Umatilla Courthouse around 1869. The bar features not only a grand Brunswick "Del Monte #2" model back bar, but a matching cabinet.

The cocktails and food are fairly standard fare, but the remarkable decor make it a must-visit stop for anyone traveling through northeast Oregon.

 

30 SE Court Ave, Pendleton, OR 97801 - (541) 278-1100
Est. June 2007
Web site: hamleysteakhouse.com - facebook  
Reviews: foodsantacruz - urbanspoon - yelp - tripadvisor