India Oak Grill

The Clintonville I remember from over a half-century ago seems to have congregated in this wonderful little dive bar that is on Oakland Park Avenue about a half-block east of Indianola (hence the name). I don't drink but I had heard about the subs so I went to check the place out. I was a stranger for about five seconds on my first visit there this afternoon, somewhat obviously an outsider but certainly not treated like one. Walk in and you can politely squeeze your way through the crowd to get a stool if one is available at the bar. There are also tables and a few booths next to the bar as well as some tables in the rear. It's dim and a little noisy but not obnoxiously so. The wait staff is terrific. The guy who took care of us at the table was also tending bar and was a great, great guy, very efficient and friendly. I got the oakburger, a great hamburger with a fried egg on it. The food is not pretentious, just really good. The burgers are sloppy, like they should be. They don't bring knives and forks and while you could probably get them there are plenty of napkins so you can and should just dig in and enjoy it as nature intended.

This has suddenly become one of my favorite places in town. It's your classic dive bar, the real thing, not like those places on campus that pretend to be. Instead it's more like what you would find as you stumbled down the street in the Uptown section of New Orleans. I can't give a higher or better compliment than that.