January 23, 2025 • 10 mins
David Shaw, Operator/Writer of The Scoundrel's Field Guide ranks some of the best in Columbus!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I've been looking forward to this for a while since
I first got the email from David Shaw, who is
the author of the Scoundrels Field Guide and the Top
Dive Bars in Columbus on the Legacy Retirement Group dot
com phone line. David, Welcome, what grueling work. I feel
bad for you that you had to actually suffer through
going to a couple of dozen dive bars in Columbus
(00:23):
and enjoying yourself and then having to rank them.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Good morning, good morning. Yes, this is all a scam
so that my wife cannot tell me I'm not allowed
to go.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Pretty well, so that's the ticket.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
So say you're writing a book on dive bars and
then you can get out of the house whenever you
want to go. And a review said dive bars that's brilliant, man, brilliant. Yes,
So you can find out more about this by the
way scoundrelsfield Guide dot com. Let's we obviously can't cover
all of these, and a number of these I've actually
(00:55):
been to in a previous life, so I'm excited to
I kind of talk about some of these, but top
the list tip top of the list, Johnny's Glen Avenue
grill in Grandview, also known as the Glen.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Talk about the Glen.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah, so I'm a little bit biased because I lived
on Glen Avenue for a little while, so full disclosure,
but I don't it's hard not to love. It's a house.
It was converted back in the forties. One family has
owned it ever since. The person that did the conversion
has passed it on to his sons who still own
it today. There's cheese balls available in the kitchen, which
(01:32):
is a real place in this bar that's right behind
the kind of main room. Everything is cheap. They have
a surprisingly good beer selection. It's one hundred percent of
Ohio state memorabilia on the walls. So good timing with
the topic that you just discussed. Yeah, yeah, it's walking
into somebody's house and having a beer. But it's a
bar and it's in the middle of a neighborhood in Grandview,
(01:52):
and it looks like it's been untouched for about sixty years,
and I think that's part of the charm of a
dip bar.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
No doubt. And I've been to the Glen a while.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
It's been a while, but it used to go with
Bob Connors BC and we'd go there after our show
in the morning, but it's a different conversation, but I
like it. There's a there's the back rooms too. You
never know, someone appears out of nowhere and you're like,
where'd that guy come from. There's there's a number of
different rooms in the back that no one really knows
what happens there at the Gwen. Also on the list,
(02:22):
the Ruckmore Lounge. This is up at the Crosswoods off
of twenty three. Are they still cash only there?
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Ruckmor's cash only? Yeah, the ring game is still there.
They often have a faux beer pong table set up
in the corner. Yeah, that's that's a place where people
have passed by it a thousand times. It's on the
edge of P seventy. You probably have seen the building.
It used to be a brothel. Actually in some of
the hotel, keys for when it was such an establishment
(02:51):
can be seen like embedded in the bar and there's
like a key hook and so yeah, part part of
the book and part of the fun of like doing
the research is seeing what the backstory and what little
hints of that backstory still exists in some of these places.
And yeah, Ruckmore and is a good example and is
not unique there are lots of brothels turned dive bars
(03:13):
in the world, and Ruckmore happens to be ours.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Well.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
You you do a really good job in the book
and the website of going and kind of doing the
history of the building and describing the building.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
And I mean, you can't. You can create a dive bar.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Atmosphere in a strip mall somewhere, but it's just it's
just not the same. It's all really it starts with
a really good structure, preferably you know, a million years old,
and the Ruckmore fits that. And you're right, people just
drive by that it's a very you know, well traveled
area and they don't even know it's right there. You know,
you stop into the Ruckmore, it's you gave it a
ten out of ten. It's number three on your list.
(03:49):
And you can't talk about dive bars in Columbus without
getting down towards campus and Dick's Den on High Street
with the great Neon sign that says why not And
that's a big question mark on the sign. And Dick's
Den of course known for it's jazz, a great spot
to go in and uh and and I mean it
does not get more dive bar than Dick's Den.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah, and campus is full of good options, right. We
just lost we sadly just lost one beer step on
the South campus, and I've been in contact with the owner.
Beer stub is in the book. I did not have
the heart to take it out, and that owner took
down every wood panel on the walls. If anybody's been
there before and can picture it, took down every wood
(04:31):
panel and numbered them in the hopes of maybe opening
up a new spot so you can kind of recreate
that beer stup magic.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
That's cool.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Yeah, campus is great. Digs Den is also one wood paneling,
which is always a good sign in dive bar world.
It's nice, warm feeling and nice cavernous space that you
wouldn't maybe expect from the from the outside. And what's
not to love about the sign? The sign is fantastic.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
And we'll stay on. Uh, there's a couple on high
you know. O'Reilly's Pub is on the list, and I
do love a good sunken bar, which is what they're
known for. And I don't know if you ever had
the French fries at O'Reilly's Pub. I mean that's that
is a signature for me. O'Reilly's Pub. Talk about that
for a second.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah, I love o'rilly's Pub. That's another place you've probably
driven by it and didn't know that it even existed.
There's a big, giant time, but the building is just
like kind of a white blob. But yeah, late night
food probably the best late night food. I think maybe
biased again against dive bars, but some of the best
late night food in Columbus. They're famous for their pepperburger,
so if you go and you've never been there before,
(05:37):
that's probably thing number one to buy. They have an
actual old school jukebox. Even some of these other diabars
on the list have since kind of replaced their old
cool dive bars with digital ones for I'm sure make
more money and purposes. But O'Reilly's is so far with
the de urge, and I agree, I love a sunken bar.
There was a bar that used to be on campus
called Woodies. Yeah, that was demolished for an apartment complex,
(05:59):
and that like kind of an epic sunken bar is
the place to get that sixed.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Now on us staying on High Street again, you go
Nord's and it's interesting there's two bars that are about
a touch about a football field. Apart, you've got Bob's
Bar on I guess the west side of High Street,
the cultural hub of the Midwest, and then which is
which is a self proclaimed but it's a fantastic you know,
(06:25):
sort of slugline there. And then right across the street
you've got El Dorado's you know, mother daughter ownership group
there with Debbie and Nevy.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Talk about those two places.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Yeah, I love both those places. Bob's Bar is sneaky,
it's a little timy place. Obviously, the sign is amazing.
That's maybe the best dive of bar slogan I've ever seen.
Cultural Hub of the Midwest, it's difficult to argue, but
also probably the deepest beer selection of any of the
bars on the lists. And they do lots of rotating
options and they sometimes get things that know whether bar
(06:55):
gets and they have a like annual celebration that's right
around the time of the first Crew game where they
have a whole guest pep takeover and so yeah, bob
Bar definitely a dive bar, but kind of surprisingly deep
beer scene there. And El Dorado, I mean, their schedule
is filled with all manner of live activity, so there's
(07:16):
music and karaoke and community events and pot lucks and
all kinds of things. That's, like you said, stayed in
the family for a very long time and again, and
maybe this is inherent of a dive bar. It's so
easy to drive by and not know that it's there,
but there's an entire community of people that have rallied
around all of these places. And so you walk into
El Dorado and there's the same twenty people that have
(07:38):
been there every day or every week. And that's part
of the fun, right of like being part of that
conversation and seeing who's there and just kind of soaking
it in.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Well, it's like cheers. I mean, everybody knows your name right.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Speaking with David Shaw, a writer and author of Scoundrel's
Field Guide, Top dive Bars in Columbus scoundrelsfield Guide dot
com and you can get the book there too.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
I wish we had more time.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
I want to get to a Meister's Bar down towards
towards you know, Arlington Grand View. I think it's technically
stilling Columbus, but I mean known for its deep dish pizza.
I mean, the pizza is amazing. You can really only
have one slice of that before you're full. But it
takes like forty five minutes to bake those pies, So
it's an ideal place to go in order your pizza
(08:23):
and then sit there at the bar and have a
beer at Meister's.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Absolutely, and I would also recommend the Buffalo cheese sticks
there are so good. Pizza is great, and they have
dollar Can Nights on Thursdays, so for those of us
that are watching how many dollars we spend, that's a
good option. They have some of the like very good
old man beers. I would get an old style for
people that have been to the Chicago area. Yeah, they
(08:46):
have like all these things that you didn't think existed anymore,
Old Milwaukee and blats and all kinds of stuff. So yeah,
I love Meisters and those folks that are really really kind.
They had a one of their bartenders just had a
heart attack and had a ghost me set up and
had a big fundraiser and raise a ton of money
for him. And I think it's just a good example
of what these places really stand for, right, Like people
(09:08):
rally around each other and rally around the community built
around these bars, and you can feel that at a
place like Fisters when you go in.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
I'm looking at this list and it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
I mean the India Oak and Clintonville, the Point Tavern,
which is just right down the street from the radio station.
You've got the Thirsty Scholar, Brewsters, Liedos, Zenos, Burns Pub,
High Back, and it's an amazing list. The hey Hey
bar and Grill give me I get thirty seconds before
(09:39):
we got to jump on the Hey Hey and the
amazing sour kraut balls there.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yeah, I was gonna say that there's two options, regular
and spicy. Definitely get the spicy. Can't go wrong. And again,
like you said, kind of back areas where you're not
sure where people are coming from. Hey Hey has a
great one where they do some lot of music in there,
but they used to do a lot more, and that
back room used to be kind of a mismatch of
couches and boots and boxes and things that they had
forgotten and it's since been cleaned up a little bit.
(10:06):
But yeah, that's another spot where you can kind of
explore around and see things that you've probably never seen
before despite being there a couple of times.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
It's such a good list.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
I'm just Betty's Bar outer in Mickey Mickey, I don't know,
is it's still called Mickey's Old Timers in Grandview?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Do they still use that old it's just Mickey's.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Now we're gonna have to do this again, and I
want to maybe get you on and talk about some
of these pub crawls, these these kind of dive bar
crawls that are kind of organized because I think you
can actually talk. So we'll keep your number and check in.
But if you're interested in this, check them out. Scoundrelsfield
guide dot com
I've been looking forward to this for a while since
I first got the email from David Shaw, who is
the author of the Scoundrels Field Guide and the Top
Dive Bars in Columbus on the Legacy Retirement Group dot
com phone line. David, Welcome, what grueling work. I feel
bad for you that you had to actually suffer through
going to a couple of dozen dive bars in Columbus
(00:23):
and enjoying yourself and then having to rank them.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Good morning, good morning. Yes, this is all a scam
so that my wife cannot tell me I'm not allowed
to go.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Pretty well, so that's the ticket.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
So say you're writing a book on dive bars and
then you can get out of the house whenever you
want to go. And a review said dive bars that's brilliant, man, brilliant. Yes,
So you can find out more about this by the
way scoundrelsfield Guide dot com. Let's we obviously can't cover
all of these, and a number of these I've actually
(00:55):
been to in a previous life, so I'm excited to
I kind of talk about some of these, but top
the list tip top of the list, Johnny's Glen Avenue
grill in Grandview, also known as the Glen.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Talk about the Glen.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah, so I'm a little bit biased because I lived
on Glen Avenue for a little while, so full disclosure,
but I don't it's hard not to love. It's a house.
It was converted back in the forties. One family has
owned it ever since. The person that did the conversion
has passed it on to his sons who still own
it today. There's cheese balls available in the kitchen, which
(01:32):
is a real place in this bar that's right behind
the kind of main room. Everything is cheap. They have
a surprisingly good beer selection. It's one hundred percent of
Ohio state memorabilia on the walls. So good timing with
the topic that you just discussed. Yeah, yeah, it's walking
into somebody's house and having a beer. But it's a
bar and it's in the middle of a neighborhood in Grandview,
(01:52):
and it looks like it's been untouched for about sixty years,
and I think that's part of the charm of a
dip bar.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
No doubt. And I've been to the Glen a while.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
It's been a while, but it used to go with
Bob Connors BC and we'd go there after our show
in the morning, but it's a different conversation, but I
like it. There's a there's the back rooms too. You
never know, someone appears out of nowhere and you're like,
where'd that guy come from. There's there's a number of
different rooms in the back that no one really knows
what happens there at the Gwen. Also on the list,
(02:22):
the Ruckmore Lounge. This is up at the Crosswoods off
of twenty three. Are they still cash only there?
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Ruckmor's cash only? Yeah, the ring game is still there.
They often have a faux beer pong table set up
in the corner. Yeah, that's that's a place where people
have passed by it a thousand times. It's on the
edge of P seventy. You probably have seen the building.
It used to be a brothel. Actually in some of
the hotel, keys for when it was such an establishment
(02:51):
can be seen like embedded in the bar and there's
like a key hook and so yeah, part part of
the book and part of the fun of like doing
the research is seeing what the backstory and what little
hints of that backstory still exists in some of these places.
And yeah, Ruckmore and is a good example and is
not unique there are lots of brothels turned dive bars
(03:13):
in the world, and Ruckmore happens to be ours.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Well.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
You you do a really good job in the book
and the website of going and kind of doing the
history of the building and describing the building.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
And I mean, you can't. You can create a dive bar.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Atmosphere in a strip mall somewhere, but it's just it's
just not the same. It's all really it starts with
a really good structure, preferably you know, a million years old,
and the Ruckmore fits that. And you're right, people just
drive by that it's a very you know, well traveled
area and they don't even know it's right there. You know,
you stop into the Ruckmore, it's you gave it a
ten out of ten. It's number three on your list.
(03:49):
And you can't talk about dive bars in Columbus without
getting down towards campus and Dick's Den on High Street
with the great Neon sign that says why not And
that's a big question mark on the sign. And Dick's
Den of course known for it's jazz, a great spot
to go in and uh and and I mean it
does not get more dive bar than Dick's Den.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah, and campus is full of good options, right. We
just lost we sadly just lost one beer step on
the South campus, and I've been in contact with the owner.
Beer stub is in the book. I did not have
the heart to take it out, and that owner took
down every wood panel on the walls. If anybody's been
there before and can picture it, took down every wood
(04:31):
panel and numbered them in the hopes of maybe opening
up a new spot so you can kind of recreate
that beer stup magic.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
That's cool.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Yeah, campus is great. Digs Den is also one wood paneling,
which is always a good sign in dive bar world.
It's nice, warm feeling and nice cavernous space that you
wouldn't maybe expect from the from the outside. And what's
not to love about the sign? The sign is fantastic.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
And we'll stay on. Uh, there's a couple on high
you know. O'Reilly's Pub is on the list, and I
do love a good sunken bar, which is what they're
known for. And I don't know if you ever had
the French fries at O'Reilly's Pub. I mean that's that
is a signature for me. O'Reilly's Pub. Talk about that
for a second.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah, I love o'rilly's Pub. That's another place you've probably
driven by it and didn't know that it even existed.
There's a big, giant time, but the building is just
like kind of a white blob. But yeah, late night
food probably the best late night food. I think maybe
biased again against dive bars, but some of the best
late night food in Columbus. They're famous for their pepperburger,
so if you go and you've never been there before,
(05:37):
that's probably thing number one to buy. They have an
actual old school jukebox. Even some of these other diabars
on the list have since kind of replaced their old
cool dive bars with digital ones for I'm sure make
more money and purposes. But O'Reilly's is so far with
the de urge, and I agree, I love a sunken bar.
There was a bar that used to be on campus
called Woodies. Yeah, that was demolished for an apartment complex,
(05:59):
and that like kind of an epic sunken bar is
the place to get that sixed.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Now on us staying on High Street again, you go
Nord's and it's interesting there's two bars that are about
a touch about a football field. Apart, you've got Bob's
Bar on I guess the west side of High Street,
the cultural hub of the Midwest, and then which is
which is a self proclaimed but it's a fantastic you know,
(06:25):
sort of slugline there. And then right across the street
you've got El Dorado's you know, mother daughter ownership group
there with Debbie and Nevy.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Talk about those two places.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Yeah, I love both those places. Bob's Bar is sneaky,
it's a little timy place. Obviously, the sign is amazing.
That's maybe the best dive of bar slogan I've ever seen.
Cultural Hub of the Midwest, it's difficult to argue, but
also probably the deepest beer selection of any of the
bars on the lists. And they do lots of rotating
options and they sometimes get things that know whether bar
(06:55):
gets and they have a like annual celebration that's right
around the time of the first Crew game where they
have a whole guest pep takeover and so yeah, bob
Bar definitely a dive bar, but kind of surprisingly deep
beer scene there. And El Dorado, I mean, their schedule
is filled with all manner of live activity, so there's
(07:16):
music and karaoke and community events and pot lucks and
all kinds of things. That's, like you said, stayed in
the family for a very long time and again, and
maybe this is inherent of a dive bar. It's so
easy to drive by and not know that it's there,
but there's an entire community of people that have rallied
around all of these places. And so you walk into
El Dorado and there's the same twenty people that have
(07:38):
been there every day or every week. And that's part
of the fun, right of like being part of that
conversation and seeing who's there and just kind of soaking
it in.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Well, it's like cheers. I mean, everybody knows your name right.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Speaking with David Shaw, a writer and author of Scoundrel's
Field Guide, Top dive Bars in Columbus scoundrelsfield Guide dot
com and you can get the book there too.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
I wish we had more time.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
I want to get to a Meister's Bar down towards
towards you know, Arlington Grand View. I think it's technically
stilling Columbus, but I mean known for its deep dish pizza.
I mean, the pizza is amazing. You can really only
have one slice of that before you're full. But it
takes like forty five minutes to bake those pies, So
it's an ideal place to go in order your pizza
(08:23):
and then sit there at the bar and have a
beer at Meister's.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Absolutely, and I would also recommend the Buffalo cheese sticks
there are so good. Pizza is great, and they have
dollar Can Nights on Thursdays, so for those of us
that are watching how many dollars we spend, that's a
good option. They have some of the like very good
old man beers. I would get an old style for
people that have been to the Chicago area. Yeah, they
(08:46):
have like all these things that you didn't think existed anymore,
Old Milwaukee and blats and all kinds of stuff. So yeah,
I love Meisters and those folks that are really really kind.
They had a one of their bartenders just had a
heart attack and had a ghost me set up and
had a big fundraiser and raise a ton of money
for him. And I think it's just a good example
of what these places really stand for, right, Like people
(09:08):
rally around each other and rally around the community built
around these bars, and you can feel that at a
place like Fisters when you go in.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
I'm looking at this list and it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
I mean the India Oak and Clintonville, the Point Tavern,
which is just right down the street from the radio station.
You've got the Thirsty Scholar, Brewsters, Liedos, Zenos, Burns Pub,
High Back, and it's an amazing list. The hey Hey
bar and Grill give me I get thirty seconds before
(09:39):
we got to jump on the Hey Hey and the
amazing sour kraut balls there.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yeah, I was gonna say that there's two options, regular
and spicy. Definitely get the spicy. Can't go wrong. And again,
like you said, kind of back areas where you're not
sure where people are coming from. Hey Hey has a
great one where they do some lot of music in there,
but they used to do a lot more, and that
back room used to be kind of a mismatch of
couches and boots and boxes and things that they had
forgotten and it's since been cleaned up a little bit.
(10:06):
But yeah, that's another spot where you can kind of
explore around and see things that you've probably never seen
before despite being there a couple of times.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
It's such a good list.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
I'm just Betty's Bar outer in Mickey Mickey, I don't know,
is it's still called Mickey's Old Timers in Grandview?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Do they still use that old it's just Mickey's.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Now we're gonna have to do this again, and I
want to maybe get you on and talk about some
of these pub crawls, these these kind of dive bar
crawls that are kind of organized because I think you
can actually talk. So we'll keep your number and check in.
But if you're interested in this, check them out. Scoundrelsfield
guide dot com
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