A Bar of Their Own

Eater Twin Cities’ 2024 Eater Award Winners | Eater Twin Cities

"Built through sheer force of will and community support, this bar — inspired by Jenny Nguyen’s Portland Sports Bra and opened by Jillian Hiscock — reimagined a neighborhood tavern into a dedicated women’s sports destination. The transformation kept the kitchen’s uber-popular wing recipe while redecorating the walls with Maya Moore jerseys, pride flags, and softball murals; the owners negotiated streaming rights across disparate platforms to get everything from roller derby to the WNBA on the screens. The place functions like a true community home: when wins stack up, the joy is compounded by the room; when heartbreak happens — for example, after the Minnesota Lynx lost a record-breaking championship game on what many called the most egregious referee call in the history of the WNBA — it’s one of the few places that holds that grief. Despite early naysayers who doubted a women’s-sports bar could last, the project stands as a testament to the old line, “If you build it, they will come.”" - Justine Jones