Delicious Pub Food

Written By: Luke Osteen | Issue: September - 2022

Our visit to the High Dive on an electric summer’sevening was ostensibly a deliberate effort to evaluatethe Dive’s new food truck service – The Dancing Bear.But somehow the evening morphed into an unforgivingmorality play worthy of Sophocles, with a few scenes liftedfromThe Odyssey.This tale of seduction and overweening hubris, just like thosetales cultivated in the theaters and salons of BCE Athens, beganin the most seductive of settings.The High Dive, also known as The Highlands Dive, has becomesomething of an insider’s getaway from the stresses of Plateau life.We were there to sample The Bear’s menu of fine pub food andwe were prepared to give in to our basest gustatory desires fordeep fried, slightly messy fare.And the Bear’s kitchen delivered in spectacular fashion – withina few moments our table was groaning under the weight of agenerous Cheeseburger; a deeply comforting bowl of Macaroni& Cheese; absolutely irresistible Warm Pretzels served withboth Mustard and Melted Cheese; a basket of French Fries; andChicken Tenders carefully battered and spiced.Blissful.And our Bartender Renata kept our table lubricated with aselect Stout, a precisely constructed Margarita; a straightfor-ward Gin & Tonic and, for me, a sweet Tonic. So you see – my friends and I were being cleverly seduced intoa gentle stupor, just as Odysseus and his hapless crew weretruckled by Circe and her generous helpings of wine and cheese.And here’s the thing – though we were sent to survey TheDancing Bear’s bill of fare onThe Laurel’s dime, my friendsand I showed up on a Thursday night specifically to defend ourfirst place standing on The High Dive’s legendary Trivia Night.Jollied by that hard cider and buoyed by an early question aboutthe size of late Cretaceous dinosaurs (about which, I know morethan 97 percent of Plateau residents), I became infected with adangerous strain ofhubris.We blazed through three rounds of progressively tricky questionsand at the end of regular competition we were securely in first place.With the arrival of the Bonus Round, we elected to swing forthe fences and bet everything.And this is where this Trivial drama reaches its tragic denoue-ment – we were asked to name the Capital of Wyoming.Swollen with pride, I announced to my teammates that theanswer was, of course, “Casper.”My teammate Stuart (the same Stuart Ferguson who reviewslocal books in this magazine and an unimpeachable scholar inhis own right) asked me not once, not twice, but three timeswhether I was sure of my answer.Without a doubt, I replied.And, of course, the correct answer was “Cheyenne.”So, a lesson proposed by the Greeks nearly 2,600 ago, anddelivered once more by a visit to The High Dive: Whom theGods Would Destroy They First Drive Mad with Delicious PubFood and a Generous Barkeep.

by Luke Osteen