South Dakota
Best dive bar South Dakota? Here are 3 spots loved by locals that are worth the $2 beer
There’s a game of Shake-A-Day around here somewhere.
Dive bars in the Midwest are like coming home and bellying up to your regular spot or with your lucky pool cue. Your Jack and Coke is already poured, your buddy arrived at the time he always does and now the lore is flowing.
It’s going to be another great night.
This time of year especially harkens a bar regular – home for the holidays and wanting to unwind once again.
Whether you’re chasing nostalgia or just a cold one, these dives prove that the heart of the Midwest beats loudest in its bars.
Here’s a look at a few great dive bars in South Dakota.
The Ice House: Shattered glass and record-breaking can smashing
The Ice House Bar in Yankton, South Dakota, isn’t known for producing artificial ice. How boring. It’s known for its century-old tradition of smashing empty beer bottles against a brick wall.
The family-owned, Missouri River establishment began in 1928 as the Pure Ice Co. until it started selling beer after the prohibition in the 1930s. Since, folks come for the $2 beers, $10 buckets served curbside or to hang their legs off the dock to toss a bottle or two underneath their feet.
The tradition is famous. Broadcast journalist and South Dakota native Tom Brokaw frequented the bar for a Budweiser, and owner Jim Anderson was on “The Late Show with David Letterman” to show off his record-breaking can-smashing skills: He can crush 76 cans in 25 seconds with one foot!
Details: 101 Capital St., Yankton, S.D., 605-665-2631.
Top Hat: One of the oldest haunts in Sioux Falls
The Top Hat in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is timeless. Your father probably sat underneath the same glow of the same PBR neon sign in the 1970s and grabbed a bag of Fritos from the same clip on the wall. (Hopefully the chips are newer.)
Owner Andy Lenz prefers to freeze this dive bar in time. Why change it? she says. There are no frills, no craft beers on tap and no menu. Hungry? She’ll toast a thin-crust Rosken’s Dakota Pizza if you want to pair it with your Grain Belt while playing a game of pool underneath dim lighting.
There’s also dart boards, video lottery, a juke box that’s always humming and the smell of old cigarettes and stale booze – which is to say, it feels familiar, safe and like home.
Details: 508 S. First Ave., Sioux Falls, SD, 605-332-8171.
Meridian Corner: Deep-fried chislic and broasted chicken
If you know South Dakota, you know chislic. If you know chislic, you know Meridian Corner. Located on the corner of highways 18 and 81 west of Freeman, this proudly proclaimed “hole-in-the-wall” is nationally known for its family recipe of deep-fried lamb or mutton: Lamb chislic is more tender, while mutton chislic is chewier but with more flavor. Each is humbly served in skewers of three, six, nine or 12, with a side of saltines and garlic salt.
There’s savory broasted chicken and pork chops on the menu as well.
The family-owned tradition of Meridian Corner was hard to kick. It opened in the 1980s, closed shop for years then opened again in 2011, back by popular demand and with little change. It’s an old red farmhouse on the corner of nowhere, and there are usually tractors in the parking lot.
Details: 43915 U.S. Highway 18, Freeman, S.D., 605-387-5000.