Old Haunts: The Missoula Club

the missoula food scene is missing all sorts of things, but one thing it has in spades is damn good burgers. i used to come to “the mo club” with my dad where he would have lunch with a bunch of “old guys” some of whom were in there 90s when i used to go with him in his late 70s. i think almost all of them now, including my dad of course, are dead, with only tom graff, one of the younger ones and my high school film teacher, left. the bar is cash only and has been open in some incarnation since 1890. the burgers come with or without bacon, your choice of cheese, pickles, and onions, grilled or raw, with ketchup, yellow, or insanely hot brown mustard in squeeze bottles on the counter, and mayo packets by request. they also have chips and a huge jar of pickled turkey gizzards on the counter behind the bar and while i have never seen anyone eat the latter i have been told that one of the older bartenders, shane, eats them all the time. the beef is local, of course, the buns are toasted on the flattop with the burgers and are perfectly soft and greasy. the walls are covered in university of montana grizzlies photos and memorabilia going back to the nineteen teens, there are a couple of video poker and keno machines and a pinball machine that seems to rotate (it is currently ghostbusters themed). the men’s room is three urinals on one wall and an un-stalled toilet against the other and a sink in the middle with a paper towel dispenser above it and no mirror: i guess we are expect to shit and check ourselves out elsewhere, and i am fine with that.