Project Description

The best bar in America is…. Nye’s Polonaise Room! It’s not the gastropub in the hip section of town, it’s not the hot, new club downtown with all the beautiful people, and it’s not the Irish joint frequented by policemen and politicians. Nope, it’s Nyes. Esquire magazine says so. After a four month search, Esquire offered this, ”The best bar in America occupies a corner where the path to righteousness and the road to perdition run parallel, east to west, perpendicular to the muddy river that cuts this country in two, north to south.” Nye’s, home to The World’s Most Dangerous Polka Band which plays every Friday and Saturday night in the Old Side, and “Sweet Lou” Snider who has been taking requests and belting out tunes at the piano bar in the New Side since the 1950’s, is a main stay in the blue collar section of “Nordeast” Minneapolis. Opening in 1949, not much about Nye’s has changed. The drinks are still honest, the menu is still generous, and the decor belongs in a museum. You don’t get to be the best bar in America overnight and you don’t get there by chasing every new trend and pouring every new whatever-tini. Fads come and go, Nye’s hasn’t.
NOTE: Sadly, citing extensive maintenance and upkeep, Nye’s has recently announced that it will be closing its doors to make way for redevelopment. R.I.P.