Dark Horse Bar & Eatery

Dark Horse Bar & Eatery spent a decade serving Lowertown before closing in February 2025, and reopened that July under new ownership — a relaunch run by chef Shane Oporto in the kitchen and Sarah McDonough on the floor, backed by Eclective, the hospitality group behind Saint Paul Brewing and Can Can Wonderland. The reopened room pairs elevated bar food, including a signature burger and pizzas, with a cocktail list that was rebuilt from scratch.

What makes the relaunch notable here is that the non-alcoholic drinks were treated as part of that rebuild rather than as an afterthought bolted on later. The dedicated Zero Proof section runs at $9 a drink and everything in it is made in house: a Ginger Beer built on house ginger syrup with cayenne and soda, which gives it genuine heat rather than the flat sweetness of a commercial bottle; a Squirt using a house grapefruit cordial with soda; and a Tepache, the lightly fermented Mexican pineapple drink made with piloncillo and cinnamon. That last one is the tell. Tepache takes days to ferment, produces a faint natural effervescence and a complexity that no syrup can imitate, and no bar makes it unless somebody there actually cares about what non-drinkers are handed. Athletic Brewing's Free Wave and Upside Dawn are stocked alongside for anyone wanting a beer.

The Star Tribune's assessment of the reopened programme captures the standard being applied: "Non-alcoholic and low-proof beverages receive just as much care in building flavors as the standard classics such as the Old Fashioned or Vesper martini." For a neighbourhood bar in Lowertown — a district that empties out badly when there is nothing on at the ballpark — having a room that treats a $9 zero-proof drink as worth fermenting for is a real asset. Tuesday through Sunday, late on Friday and Saturday.