The American Bar Dollar in Osijek, it’s all about the American experience.
It has been a year since the “The American Bar Dollar” has first opened its doors back in February of 2015. They have just celebrated their one year anniversary and are currently getting geared up for St Patrick’s Day just around the corner. The popularity has grown as it is in the ideal place being centered in downtown of Osijek, just one step away from the Cathedral. This city has never seen anything like this before.
On February 27 2016, TCN caught up with Nenad Komes proud owner of the American Bar Dollar, and is an expert when it comes to making everything look and taste truly American. What is the top choice on the menu, which people go crazy for? Nenad responds back with a smile on his face, “It is the spare ribs and steaks.” In further discussion he began to explain the preparation process of how the spare ribs are done. The spare ribs are done with a 2 day process: first it starts of with using a dry rub the next day wet rub. (The seasoning is prepared on site using fresh grounded garlic, herbs, peppers and salt.) How you get it to be so easy to tear apart and not be dry? He explained that it’s in the process of slow cooking time of four hours and occasional adding the BBQ sauce. When the spare ribs are done and taken out of the oven it has a sprinkle of fresh ground pepper to taste. The Spare ribs are incredible as I had a chance to try them earlier this month. When you bit into the spare ribs it is full of juiciness with great tasting BBQ sauce. The BBQ sauces is very good it does not have a lingering after taste, there is a balance between the sweetness and bitterness. I really wanted to know what brand of sauce was used, as it had reminded me of some smoked BBQ sauce back home.
Nenad surprised me in saying that the sauce is not store bought and is created on site made with their own recipe. He has taken great care of every detail from the precision of ingredients and the way the food is served. The food selection is hard to come by especially if you have ever tried asking for onion rings lately or a rack of spare ribs anywhere in Croatia. The way cooking is done is great as you can actual see the kitchen with the oven and food being prepared. It’s just like North America kitchen as you get to see the waiter and waitress talk directly to the kitchen staff. They serve all three meals of the day Breakfast, lunch and dinner. There are many choices on the menu and to list them all would be too much reading so I kept it simple. To give you an idea lets start by start off with a breakfast Scrambled eggs with bacon chips or maybe A BLT Sandwich (Bacon Lettuce and Tomatoes). Lunch always go for burgers they have more than five types. Dinner is a must have a steak or rack of spare ribs it is truly a meat lover place. They even have Chicken Buffalo wings the owner knows his stuff. If you ever wanted to know how American food is you got to be here to try it.
To describe the atmosphere it’s always busy and a table is always ready. The staff are very approachable and can answer any question. When you first walk through the doors it feels like you have just arrived in America. Standing in the entrance is an early iconic American gas pumps in front of the bar. The American Bar Dollar restaurant pays homage to the pop culture memorabilia visually displayed such as craft beer cans, whiskey bottles, and other consumed American goods. There is the sense of the golden age as old traditional boxing gloves hanging beside an American Football. The part that is most interesting is the comic strip painted on the far wall depicting the Wild West and Osijek cowboy. The cool part is they have a courtyard outside and it opens when the weather gets better. The same theme continues with a rustic look on the walls with a hand painted logo in western style of Coca Cola. The furniture is all wood given it a natural feel. For people standing and needing a table they added a slight twist In the corner of the court yard are Barrels and huge kegs stacked as part of the decor or could be used as tables for people that are standing .There is so much detail paid attention to that they even take the time to change the windows displays every month to go with the seasons. This month the resturant has a nostalgic American bicycles displayed to help promote home delivery service. There is so much detail that you just have to see it.
Which brings us to the subject of beer, the selection of beer that the American Bar Dollar carries is not available at any super market or convenience store. (Believe me I have tried to find it and most people will look at you like you have Jet Lag.) They carry Belgium, German, United Kingdom and USA (Sorry no Canadian beer yet). The place actually knows there stuff from an IPA to a lager and don’t forget the stout. What is the most popular beer that customers ask for? The current most popular beer is craft beer. Nenad tells TCN that it runs out quickly as there is huge demand for it. The craft beer is on rotation based on availability of the supplier to keep up with the demand. This also allows more choice so there is always something new to try and explore different beer. The restaurant carries over a hundred different types of beer, it’s amazing to have such a variety in one place. Nenad points to some of the beers behind the bar and begins to summarize in brief about some of them. (The amount of information and knowledge he has is incredible.) There is a category for each location, region, Gluten free, Organic, and style i.e. IPA, IBU etc. One could easily spend a day talking about beer and learning about what it is that makes a good beer and how to distinguish the style, taste and other facts.( However this would take another news article to have.) There is a beer for everyone here and you may find something you did not know about beer.
The restaurant has many events and functions happening it hard to mention all of them. To list a few main events: Halloween, Christmas and New year’s, Super bowl (American Football event), Valentine’s Day, and next would be Saint Patrick’s day. One last question remains with a restaurant of this caliber. Has there ever been anyone famous American drop in for visit? He has not meet any famous American yet that he is of knowledge of. However the one group of famous people he would like to meet would be the Rolling Stones. The American Bar Dollar Osijek a place to be seen and enjoy a great meal.
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