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It seems like just yesterday (11months ago to be exact) that Bib Gourmand favorite Do or Dine abruptly closed, leaving empty its wood-grain wallpapered and disco-ball bedecked space, beloved for its eclectic and inventive New American fare (remember those foie-gras doughnuts?) Well-respected for playful dishes by chef Justin Warner, it's a bit of a jolt to walk past the Bedford Avenue space where a stern bouncer now sits atop a barstool checking IDs until 4am.
That's right—the V drawn over the N on the awning outside the space is no act of graffiti tomfoolery The sit-down dinner-and-cocktails spot is now a dive dubbed, fittingly, Do or Dive. Opened by the team behind Skinny Dennis, Rocka Rolla and Lucky Dog, it's an amalgamation of all three bar concepts rolled into one—a.k.a, a far cry from foie gras. The dog-friendly establishment boasts 18 drafts on tap at hella-low prices ($3–$6), even for Brooklyn.
But despite the stark contrast between Do or Dive's former life and its current more gritty association, it's not a dive in the rugged sense of the word. The subway-tiled floors are not sticky, nor is the reclaimed wooden bar-top, and the jukebox in the corner combined with the apple-red, metal-flaked banquettes and smart shuffleboard table in back give more of a retro pool-hall vibe than dingy honky tonk. With happy-hour specials running from noon until 7pm everyday, the odds are in their favor to become the hometown bar they aspire to be.
Check out the space below, decked out with collected art and lit by vintage beer signs:
