WINONA, Minn. — Lakeview Drive Inn, which claims to be the city’s oldest restaurant, opened for summer — its 83rd year. The first days will be limited to outside carhop service, said manager Haley Bergsud. “We’re not starting out with people inside, but hopefully as the summer goes on that’s going to be our goal,” Bergaus said in an interview on KWNO radio. Too, picnic tables will be brought out soon enough. Yes, said Bergsud, Lakeview’s signature homemade frosted-mug rootbeer is back– albeit with a concession again for the times with a NutraSweet variation for dieters.
Rootbeer forever. When the 100-year-old elm outside the Sarnia Avenue drive-in had to be felled in 2011, chainsaw artist Curtis Ingvoldstad created a memorial to Lakeview rootbeer.