Skip to main contentWhat makes a dive bar great? Character. The fancy clubs can have their plasma big-screens and their specialty cocktails and their full kitchens separated from the seating area. Maui's (3508 N Williams Ave., 282-1611) doesn't have any of those fancy gewgaws. But it does have murals of waterfalls and surf and rainbows hand-painted on the concrete block walls. And it was named after the owner's dog, whose breed the bartender says she'll ask about when she's not squeezing honey into hot toddies. That owner, Steve Mason, does make his own batches of chicken curry ($6.50 a plate). What it has, in short, is character. And as you sit staring at your team trailing by 20 points at the half (for the purposes of this pep talk, it is helpful to assume you are a Philadelphia Eagles fan), you can look around at the man in the Bengals hat mourning his own season with another pint of PBR, and the girl on the floral couch practicing her juggling, and you will know that tonight, in this place, we are all winners.
WWeek 2015