The former Dutch’s space in Hyde Park has transformed into something wildly different.
Hi-Dive, the recently opened bar from restaurateur and chef extraordinaire Jared Bennett of Metropole, Maplewood, Royce and Karrikin Spirits fame, looks like someone plopped an Old West saloon inside your grandma’s living room.
“I felt like Dutch’s was a neighborhood spot, and I wanted to keep it that way,” the chef said of the former wine bar and restaurant. “But then I realized I wanted something different while keeping that neighborhood feel. That’s when we decided to go with a high-end dive bar, themed like a 1970s basement bar.”
Bennett and team should consider their mission accomplished: walk into Hi-Dive and it’s not hard to imagine the place being somewhere Kelso, Donna and Fez would’ve smoked inside of during an episode of “That 70s Show.”
He took special care to shout out consultant Tiffany Wilcoxson, who collaborated with Bennett on the original vision for the bar and helped design the space.
“When people walk in, I want it to feel nostalgic without it being so over-the-top that it’s shoved down your throat. People should go, ‘hey, I remember that couch from my grandma’s,’ or ‘hey, my grandfather used to collect beer cans like that.’ We want it to feel like home.”
Drinks at Hi-Dive are incredibly cheap, especially for the local area: plenty of cheap beers are on hand, an espresso martini is just $6, and glasses of premium wine can be had for $8.
“We’re a neighborhood bar, right? The idea is not to have the prices so high that people can’t come in once or twice or even three times a week. We’re just trying to make a place where people don’t have to spend $20 on a craft cocktail … I wanted to create a place that was affordable.”
In keeping with the 70s theme, he’s acquired several beers that are associated with or originated in the decade, like Stroh’s, Hamm’s, and Miller High Life. And given Bennett’s 20-plus years of experience cooking in the Cincinnati area, there are plenty of food options on hand, but even those correspond with the decade. In tandem with light bar snacks, Bennett and crew will be serving a tongue-in-cheek selection of “TV dinners”—which are gourmet options themed like the dinner trays of old.
“The menu for the TV dinners will kind of switch up whenever I feel like it. Right now, for example, we’re doing a riff on Spaghetti-O’s. I have a pasta cutter and an extruder that makes that same kind of shape as Spaghetti-O’s, grab some little meatballs, then we mix that with some tomato sauce and butter,” he said.
Of course, given the Queen City’s inclination to produce culinary pop-ups, Bennett intends to “have different chefs come in and do their thing” inside the bar’s kitchen space for special one-time events very often. Currently, the bar shares a full-size kitchen with Bennett’s catering operation Jarrido’s.
Hi-Dive opened last Friday, but has already seen an influx of customers despite the lack of advertising. Bennett said just minutes after opening last week, a couple happened to see him put out the ‘now open’ sign while they were driving and immediately pulled into the lot. So far, it’s been mostly neighborhood residents at the bar, which is exactly what the team is going for.
“We’re trying to be part of the community. We want to be a ‘third place’ where people can come and relax and get away from all the things going on in the world,” Bennett said. “I’m not trying to win any awards or anything. I just want to make something different from everyone else, and focus in on making a great neighborhood bar.”
Hi-Dive is open seven days a week at 3378 Erie Avenue in Hyde Park. For more information, visit the official Hi-Dive Instagram page.
