Foster’s Bighorn

Where you can eat under the watchful glass-eyed beasts who probably would have had you as a meal were they not stuck to a wall.

I don’t remember when I first heard about Foster’s Bighorn but I’ve had it as a place to stop by on the way home from the Bay Area since then.

Foster’s is a bar/restaurant covered wall to wall in big game taxidermy. For somebody who is as interested in preserving critters and bugs as I am, this was kind of a requisite visit. Kinda like a shrine stop on some kind of weirdo pilgrimage.

Nothing prepares you for what you see as soon as you step into the place. No amount of reviews or photos can convey how overwhelmingly covered in animals every surface is, and how small the dining room makes you feel. Dimly lit with high ceilings, with an elephant surveying the room, it doesn’t matter how tall you are, you will feel small and dwarfed and insignificant. And surprisingly giddy. I don’t think I’ve felt this full of glee in a long while.

Not only is this place a sight for sore eyeballs, the waitress and barkeeps are funny, welcoming, and totally game to answer questions they’ve probably been asked a billion times.

To whit:

And if youre not convinced yet that you NEED to pay this place a visit next time you’re passing through Rio Vista, CA, theres a platypus behind the bar. Any place with an egg-laying beaver duck gets a gold star in my book.