The Bergen Bar and Grill

My co-workers seem to be very focused on my food. I feel like we are always talking about food which is strange because we rarely eat together because someone needs to be available to help at the counter all the time. Sometimes I feel self-conscious when this interest results in someone peering into my lunch bowl that's filled with poultry bones, but mostly this Minnesota-nice interest in your food ends up in some fun recommendations that I wouldn't know about otherwise.

When we moved here way back in October we would get restaurant recommendations all the time, and one of the places that was repeatedly recommended by everyone we've met in the area is The Bergen Bar and Grill in Bergen, Minnesota. Everyone said it was the best place around for steaks - but I personally think Calhoun cooks the best steaks so we've been putting off the Bergen Bar. 

But this past week we got some news that means that we needed to check some things off of our southwest Minnesota bucket list, so we decided to go to the Bergen Bar!

The most important thing to know about the Bergen Bar is that it is SMALL and has a serious reputation around here for being a place that's hard to get in to...if you eat dinner at 5 o'clock sharp. When the Bergen Bar was first recommended to me it was December, and we were warned that we needed to be there at 5 o'clock sharp or we needed to be prepared to wait in our car for them to call us because the restaurant wasn't big enough to wait inside.

But no one knew what would happen if you went for a later dinner. Who in this town eats after 5? Apparently just us!

So we went for "late" dinner at the Bergen Bar and didn't have steak. I'm afraid we missed the epic story of waiting in our car for an hour for a seat and ordering a hugs slab of meat, but we had a great time anyways.

First, we drove into Bergen seemingly without warning to find a bunch of trucks parked outside of what appeared to be a house. We figured it was the spot and it was. No wait (dinner about 8 seems to be the key) and some great burgers, each has a beer and spend under $20!

Second, this mural was on the old Bergen Store. Love.

Third, I got a new job and we're moving! It is crazy to be checking things off a bucket list.

Jason D. Smith over at the Flensburg Files does Bergen much more justice than I have, check it out.