Road Tips

Tilted Kilt - Peoria, IL

I had to do an early morning training in Peoria earlier this spring, so I ended up spending the night at the Hampton Inn at Grand Prairie, a new hotel next to the Shoppes of Grand Prairie shopping and entertainment complex on the northwest side of town. I noticed a sushi restaurant on the east side of the mall and decided to eat there that evening. However, after I checked in at the hotel and went back over to the restaurant I found it wasn't open yet as there was construction equipment inside. From the outside, it looked open. It was time to go to Plan B. Right next to the hotel was a place called the Tilted Kilt. It looked sort of like an Irish pub and I thought I'd just cut my losses early and go there for a bite to eat.

I'll have to say that the Tilted Kilt is quite interesting. I would categorize it as a three-sided combination of a Buffalo Wild Wings, an Irish/Scottish/English pub and a Hooter's with waitresses running around in short tartan skirts, matching tops that lift and compress their boobs until they look like they're ready to pop out, and white knee socks. It was easily a ratio of 19-1 men vs. women in the place, and I'm not too certain about the sexual preference of the women that I saw dining in the Tilted Kilt that evening.

I also wasn't certain if I'd ever heard of the Tilted Kilt before my visit there. The first Tilted Kilt opened in 2003 as part of the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and was founded by Mark DiMartino, the owner of the Tillerman in Las Vegas (for my visit to the Tillerman, click here). DiMartino, along with business partners John Reynaud and Shannon Reilly, conceived the Titled Kilt to be a "contemporary, Celtic-themed restaurant staffed with beautiful servers."

Not long after the Las Vegas Tilted Kilt opened, an Arizona businessman by the name of Ron Lynch visited the Rio and fell in love with the restaurant's concept. He approached DiMartino and his partners about the possibility of franchising the Tilted Kilt theme. Lynch bought the franchise rights to Tilted Kilt in 2005 and opened his first franchise location in Arizona the next year. The restaurant began to grow as DiMartino and his partners began to sell franchises. Many Tilted Kilt's have gone into what were old Bennigan's location that closed when that chain of Irish-themed restaurants declared bankruptcy in 2008 and closed 150 of their corporate-owned locations. Tilted Kilt is one of the fastest growing restaurant chains in the nation with 53 locations in 18 states. And more are in development.  They hope to have 300 Tilted Kilt locations across America and Canada within five years.  

However, one city didn't think that Tilted Kilt reflected the core values of their residents. Evanston, IL recently rejected an application for a liquor license for a proposed Tilted Kilt location in that city. City leaders had been presented with a petition of over 2000 names of people who opposed the opening of a Tilted Kilt in Evanston based primarily upon the suggestively clad young ladies who worked in the restaurant. Given that Evanston was a dry city up until the early 70's, there is still a large temperance movement in the city. Adding a bar that appears to glorify sexy women while selling booze was too much for some. The owner of the Tilted Kilt franchise is now looking to open a location in nearby Morton Grove.  In fact, Tilted Kilt looks to have 10 locations in the greater Chicago area by the end of this year.   

The menu at the Tilted Kilt locations are virtually the same with a combination of Scottish, Irish and English dishes such as Irish Stew, Fish and Chips and Shepherd's Pie. But the majority of the menu features your normal American-style bar food items and American-ized British Isle food. Actually, the menu is better than what you'd find at a Hooters.

 But the girls are the clear draw at the Tilted Kilt. I'm not trying to be disparaging, but most of the girls at the one in Peoria looked like they had been recruited from local gentlemen clubs as they all seemed to have over-sized breasts, helped in part by the push up tops that revealed a canyon of cleavage. (The picture at right is a stock photo I found on the Internet and are not of girls from the Peoria location.) But, they were all cute, yes, including the female bartender who waited on me that particular evening.

One of the "company policies" that Tilted Kilt employs is that the girls must be "personable" and be able to chat up the customers.  If time allows, Tilted Kilt even encourages their female servers to sit with their customers and carry on conversation.  I suppose this is to help garner more of a tip for the girls.

Not all of the servers at Tilted Kilt restaurants are female, however.  They do employ a number of men servers who wear man kilts.  They aren't as suggestively dressed as the female servers, but I suppose by having the waiters wear kilts, the restaurant somehow thinks that it will quell any outrage by feminist groups over the waitress' skimpy outfits. 

Pro basketball was prominently played on the number of flat screen televisions that hung from the walls all through the Tilted Kilt location in Peoria, which opened in late summer of 2010. I sat at the large wooden bar and the bartender dropped off a menu and I ordered up a Smithwick's, one of what looked like a couple dozen different types of beers they had to offer at the Tilted Kilt.

I could see right off the bat that the selection, while broad at the Tilted Kilt, was somewhat limited as to what I would call haute cuisine. They had burgers and your normal appetizers on the menu. About a half dozen different types of salads were available, as were a number of sandwiches including something called Fat Bastard's Meatloaf Sandwich. They also featured flat bread pizzas and entrees that included battered fish tacos, fried chicken and an Italian-herb seasoned chicken breast dish. I didn't necessarily see anything that really tripped my trigger and I was having a hard time trying to figure out what would be good to have that evening.

I finally decided upon the pastrami sandwich - you had your choice of traditional pastrami sandwich with Swiss cheese and spicy mustard, or reuben style with sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing. I've been on a reuben kick for the past few months and I got the reuben style pastrami sandwich. As a side, you got your choice of sweet potato fries, garlic fries, onion rings, cottage cheese or a side salad. I decided to try their garlic fries.

The bartender, in addition that she wasn't bad to look at (below left - I know, I need a new phone with a better camera, and I recently got one), was very attentive to my beer levels and was also very accommodating when I forgot to ask for an extra side of Thousand Island dressing when I initially ordered my sandwich. She was cheery and friendly, chatting up the middle-aged businessmen who were not looking directly in her eyes. There seemed to be a number of local regulars at the bar, but there were also a number of guys from the two hotels that were walking distance from the Tilted Kilt.

Another waitress brought out my sandwich and it as your standard reuben sandwith on toasted swirl-marble rye bread (above right). The pastrami was thick, yet tender and pretty flavorful. It was a pretty good sandwich, actually. The garlic fries weren't all that garlicky, at least not as much garlic as I'm used to. They were pretty average, overall. But that was fine with me as I concentrated on the sandwich and not so much on the fries.

My first visit to a Tilted Kilt location was average, at best. The eye-candy is definitely the draw to the restaurant/pub, the food is your average bar food and they do have an abundance of televisions to watch any type of sporting event that is on at that time. The beer selection was sort of impressive, but typical of what you'd find at other places that have that similar sports bar/Irish pub theme that Titled Kilt had. I don't think my wife would like going into the place, but I know a number of friends who would and who would probably think the food was outstanding. But quite actually they'd be blinded from culinary reality by those short tartan skirts and those tight tops.

Ozzie's Restaurant and Sports Bar - St. Louis

Being a big baseball nut, I was sorry to hear about the closing of the original Ozzie's Restaurant and Sports Bar out in Westport Plaza about a year and a half ago.  (See that post here.)  But almost as soon as I wrote that entry on Road Tips, I was informed by a number of people that Ozzie's would soon be reopening in downtown St. Louis in an area of rehabbed and gentrified buildings along Washington Ave. (see map)  It so happened that I had an appointment with a prospective dealer just down the street one day on a recent trip to St. Louis and I made it a point to have lunch at Ozzie's new location. 

The original Ozzie's out in the Westport Plaza featured a plethora of baseball memorabilia courtesy of Ozzie Smith, the former St. Louis Cardinals shortstop and Baseball Hall of Fame member.  It was the ultimate sports bar with televisions throughout the place and a menu that was above average for a typical sports bar.  Over the final couple three years of its existence out at Westport, the food had seemingly gone downhill and Ozzie's was getting a lot of pressure from another sports themed restaurant in the area, Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols' own Pujols 5.   

Ozzie Smith was associated by name only in the restaurant, and owner Ray Gallardo - who was the founder of the Casa Gallardo Mexican food restaurants based out of St. Louis - was the owner of the establishment.  Gallardo had a contract with Golub and Co., the Chicago-based owners and developers of Westport Plaza, which said his establishment would be the only sports-theme bar in the complex.  In 2006, Westport allowed Puhols to open a restaurant and told Gallardo that it would be an upscale restaurant with a sports theme.  It turned out that Puhols 5 was closer in theme, style and menu to Ozzie's than it was to an upscale sports restaurant such as Mike Shannon's.

After three years of losses that totaled nearly $500,000, Gallardo filed suit against Golub and Co. for allowing Puhols 5 to open.  He dropped the suit against the developers before he ultimately closed down the original Ozzie's after 20 years of business.  I believe, however, that Gallardo was counter-sued by the owners of Westport, but I never heard of what happened with that particular suit.

In the meantime, Gallardo's son, Roberto, spearheaded the move of the original Ozzie's to what was once an old garment manufacturing building in the Washington Ave. Lofts District in downtown St. Louis.  Ozzie's occupies the first two floors in the building with the main floor being the restaurant and the upper floor being a large party/reception/over-flow room that features a number of autographed jerseys from former Cardinal players on the wall, along with Smith's 13 Gold Glove awards in a large display cabinet along the front wall of the room.  

It was around 1:30 when I made it into Ozzie's.  Parking was available just up the street from the restaurant and I went in the front door.  Just behind the hostess stand was sort of an artsy display of baseballs suspended with wires.  It was actually kind of cool.  A hostess asked me if I wanted a table or if I wanted to sit at the bar.  I decided to sit at the bar and she handed me a menu and I made my way toward the left side of the large rectangular bar. 

 
As I sat down, I looked over to my immediate left and noticed that they had a television literally implanted into the bar (above right).  It had a plexiglas top over the screen which was angled down for better viewing as you sat there.  I thought it was a neat little touch to the place.  I took a quick look behind me at the wall of booths in the place and noticed that each of them had their own personal flat screen television.  A number of larger flat screens were distributed throughout the main floor at Ozzie's. 

It appeared the items on the menu weren't much different from what the original Ozzie's offered before.  Actually, it might be a little smaller than before, but Ozzie's still featured some burgers, sandwiches, the typical bar-type appetizers, salads, and a number of specialty entrees such as steaks, a marsala pork chop and a garlic and herb grilled chicken breast.  One thing that I don't quite remember from the original Ozzie's was breakfast served on the weekends.  The new Ozzie's location features breakfast on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. - something worth thinking about during an upcoming baseball weekend this summer. 

I just wanted to get something simple and I ordered up the marsala mushroom burger - a 1/2 pound burger topped with provelone cheese and a mushroom marsala sauce.  Lettuce, tomato and onion slices came with the burger and I got a side of Ozzie's seasoned fries.  I also ordered up a cold Budweiser to go with my burger for lunch. 

It was well past the lunch rush and there were only a few people in the place when I was there so my burger came up relatively quick.  I remember the burgers at the original Ozzie's to be pretty good and this one was just as good as I remember.  I was a little worried that the sweet marsala mushroom sauce would be a little overpowering, but it was a nice fit with the burger and the provolone cheese.  The burger was thick and juicy, full of flavor on its own.  The lightly toasted bun didn't disintegrate from the juicy nature of the burger and the somewhat sloppy marsala mushroom sauce.  It was a multiple napkin burger to say the least.

The burger, itself, was more than enough for lunch, but I tried a few of the fries.  They were OK, but the burger was much better.

Before I left, I went upstairs to the second floor room to look around. It was exceptionally bright up there due to two huge south-facing windowns letting in abundant sunshine into the room. I couldn't get a good enough shot of all the Gold Glove awards that Smith garnered during his illustrious career, but I was able to get a close-up shot of one. And it took my time looking around the room at the jerseys and other memorbilia that Ozzie's had up on the wall. Sitting in front of the display case with the Gold Glove awards, Ozzie's had three double sets of seats from the old Busch Stadium that Smith played in during his career.

I'm certainly glad that Ozzie's is back in business.  Not so much because I think the food is great (it's not - but it's good bar food) or the ambiance is all that inviting and cozy (it's not as nice as the old Ozzie's).  But it's Ozzie's - one of my all-time favorite sports bars.  While the new location appears to be a little smaller than the original, the upper floor offers more space for Cardinal fans to enjoy a few beers and some food before, during and after a Cardinals game.  It's a little bit of a walk from the new Busch Stadium - about 15 or 16 blocks in all - but it's not far from the Scottrade Center, home of the St. Louis Blues, major concerts and other sporting events.  Ozzie's was always a "must visit" when we came to Cardinals games in the past.  I'm sure we'll be back to Ozzie's at some point in the near future. 

Chasers Sports Bar and Grill - Niles, IL

Chasers Sports Bar and Grill in the Northwest Chicago suburb of Niles (see map) is one of those surprising places that I've found out about within the past few months.  Surprising in that the food is actually pretty good for a sports bar, including their pizza which is some of the best in a city that has world class pizza all over.  I was first turned on to Chasers by the guys from Abt Electronics last fall and I have now been there about five or six times over the past few months.

Chasers originally opened about 20 years ago and quickly became THE destintation to watch sports on TV soon thereafter.  Chasers has over two dozen flat panel televisions and two large projections televisions - one in the main dining room as you walk in and the other in the little dance club toward the back.  If there's a game on, they have it.  

Their menu is typical sports bar food - sandwiches, appetizers, burgers, and salads.  They also feature a number of sub sandwiches - or "authentic East Coast grinders" - and Greek specialties such as gyros, saganaki and spinach pie.  And, as I said, the food is surprisingly good.  Especially their chicken wings and pizza. 

I'm not a huge chicken wings fan, but I have to say that the wings at Chasers are some of the best I've ever had.  The wings are big and meaty, juicy and not overcooked.  They are offered plain, or with a mild or hot sauce.  They also feature barbecue sauce chicken wings and an over-the-top hot sauce they call "Ay Carumba!"  You can order the wings either in lots of 10 or 18, or for a couple bucks more per order you can get small chicken drumsticks instead of wings.  I've had both the mild and hot sauce chicken wings.  While I wouldn't call the hot sauce all that hot, it has more of a peppery taste to it.   

We stopped into Chasers after the Iowa/Northwestern football game last fall to get a little something to eat and to watch some football.  I got an order of chicken wings - mild - thinking that someone would help me eat them.  No one else did and I think I had about seven before I got to a point where I was full.  You don't get cheated on the chicken wings at Chasers.  They're a meal in themselves. 

But the biggest surprise at Chasers is the pizza.  It's a thin crust pizza, loaded with mozzarella and plentiful toppings.  They use the big chunks of Italian sausage on their pizza at Chasers, and the vegetable toppings are all fresh.  It's a very good pizza.

I first had their pizza last fall when I met up with a bunch of guys from Abt Electronics after an in-store event they were having.  One of the veterans from Abt, Brian, was telling me about Chasers and how good the pizza was.  I had a piece of just a basic pepperoni pizza when I got there and I was absolutely floored by the taste.  The tomato sauce was tangy and sweet.  The cheese was perfectly caramelized on top and the crust was thin, but not too thin where the slice would droop under the weight of the toppings and cheese.  I've been back two more times since then and had the pizza and I have to say that I'm overly impressed with Chasers pizza.  Sure, there are a number of sports bars that feature pizza, but I've not found a similar place that has as good of a pizza as Chasers.  Chasers pizza is better than some pizza joints I've visited in the Chicago area.  And that says a lot about their pizza!

The only caveat about the pizza at Chaser's is that they use canned chopped mushrooms instead of fresh chopped mushrooms.  They have sort of an earthy taste to them and can almost overwhelm the taste of the fennel sausage and pepperoni.  But it's definitely not a deal breaker by a long shot. 

I also want to point out that the service at Chasers is pretty damn good.  The young waitresses are on top of things, friendly and overly attentive to your needs.  And they're pretty quick at bringing a cold beer to the table after you order one. 

After nine p.m. on some weekends, the back room turns into a dance room and the age skews well under 30 in the place.  It can get pretty loud in the place - as well as pretty crowded.   Dance clubs that play urban music aren't quite my scene and I prefer to be out of there soon after the music starts.  I've never cared for places that play loud music when you're trying to carry on a conversation with friends without having to scream above the music level.  However, on nights when there are UFC fights being telecast, Chasers shuts down the dance floor and cranks up the big screens to show the fights. 

Chasers is also one of the few places in the NW suburbs that is open to 4 a.m. and their kitchen is open until 3 a.m.  Maybe a few years ago that may have been a good selling point for me, but I'm long past my urges for late night carousing.  Plus, as I've heard many times, not a lot of good happens after 2 a.m.  But Chasers has an ample staff of bouncers to help keep the peace from any alchohol-fueled incidents that may arise.

But, to me, sports and the pizza is the draw for Chasers.  The wings are excellent, the pizza is outstanding and if you can't find a game to watch at Chasers, well, then it just ain't on.  Throw in some excellent service and cold beer and you've got a good sports bar to hang at in Northwest Chicago.   

Cubby Bear North - Lincolnshire, IL

The Cubby Bear North is the far north suburb's sister location to the original Cubby Bear bar/restaurant/music venue located directly caddy-corner from Wrigley Field in Chicago.  The original Cubby Bear was named by Sports Illustrated as one of the Top 25 Sports Bars in America back in 2005.  It's a place I've visited many times before going across the street to a Chicago Cubs game and it's a pretty fun place to visit.  They also make one of the best bloody mary's I've ever had.  Like the original, the Cubby Bear North is a place I've been to many times in the past, but only recently went back to for a late dinner on a cold winter's evening. 

The original Cubby Bear at the corner of Addison and Clark (see map) started in 1953 when Greek immigrant Gus Loukas and his wife, Sophia, opened the Cubs Tap.  The Cubs Tap evolved into the Cubs Pub, then it became the Cubs Grill.  In 1978, Loukas' sons, George and Angelo, bought the place and turned it into the Cubby Bear Lounge.  Both the Loukas brothers have a background in football - Angelo Loukas is a former professional football player who played a couple years with the Buffalo Bills, while George Loukas is a former Southern Illinois football player who was one of the best running backs in school history.  George Loukas is a member of the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame. 

George Loukas and his wife, Patty, also have a somewhat famous daughter.  Christina Loukas represented the USA in diving at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, placing ninth in the 3 meter springboard competition, and is a former collegiate and national amateur women's diving champion.  The Loukas' son, Nick, helps with the day-to-day operations of the original Cubby Bear.

When Angelo and George Loukas took over the Cubby Bear Lounge, the Wrigleyville area was in a state of quick deterioration .  The Cubs weren't drawing well, the neighborhood was falling into decay and the area became a series of dilapidated buildings and seedy joints.  George Loukas helped spearhead a movement to clean up the area, and almost as a coincidence, the Cubs began to draw larger crowds to their games.  In the late 80's, Loukas began to book nationally known musical acts into the Cubby Bear.  The family also opened Vines on Wrigley next door and the Sports Corner at the southeast corner across from Wrigley Field.  They also own one of the rooftop buildings just beyond the outfield wall of Wrigley Field on Waveland Ave. 

Over 10 years ago, the Loukas family expanded to north suburban Lincolnshire and opened the Cubby Bear North fashioned as a roadhouse style restaurant/bar/music venue on Milwaukee Ave. (see map)  It was one of the first of what is now many restaurants in the immediate area across the road at the Lincolnshire Commons shopping and entertainment district.  

As I said, I've eaten at the Cubby Bear North many times over the years enjoying their Italian beef sandwiches, burgers, and ribs.  The menu at the Cubby Bear North also features steaks, seafood, pasta entrees and your normal bar appetizers.  Cubby Bear North also features a late night bar menu that features burgers, tacos, cheese pizzas and their famous (and yummy) Garlic French fries.   The beer menu at Cubby Bear North features a number of your normal domestic beers, along with a nice mix of eclectic beers from microbreweries around the Midwest including Three Floyds, Great Lakes, and Metropolitan.

 
The Cubby Bear North seems to be a little bigger than the Cubby Bear in the city.  At least it's more spread out and open compared to the original Cubby Bear.  There's a main bar area to the right as you walk in, a large dining/dance hall in the middle, and another bar area on the far south side of the establishment.   A large stage sits on the long far wall of the building and a couple large projection screens drop down for sports viewing when bands aren't playing.  Flat screen televisions proliferate the walls, nooks and crannies of the Cubby Bear North.

It was close to 8:30 p.m. when I arrived at the Cubby Bear North and took a seat at the main bar.  A few basketball games were going on and I was pretty content to watch some of those as well as to read my Chicago Tribune.  The bartender came by with a menu and asked what I wanted to drink.  I looked into the large glass cooler in front of me and saw that they had Old Style.  I immediately ordered one of those. 

I wasn't overly certain what to get that particular evening.  I didn't want barbecue because it was so late and I knew it would sit in my stomach like a rock all night.  A burger or sandwich didn't sound all that pleasing at that point in the evening.  The special that evening was 2 for 1 pizza - buy one pizza and get a second one of equal or lesser value for free - and there were a number of people in the Cubby Bear North enjoying a pizza.  But I definitely didn't want a pizza. 

I pared my choices down to Cubby Bear North's Chicken Vesuvio (and I knew it wouldn't be as good as what I've had at a couple Italian restaurants in the past), seared fish tacos (another thing that I was sort of skeptical about, given that the Cubby Bear North isn't really known as a seafood restaurant), or their rigatoni, served with chunks of sweet Italian sausage, topped with mozzarella and baked.  I thought that would be pretty good and I decided to try that. 

About 20 minutes after I ordered, a waitress brought the steaming bowl of baked rigatoni over to me.  I got some parmesan cheese and crushed red peppers to throw on top.  It looked pretty similar to the "Wigatoni" that I love so much at the Wig and Pen in the Iowa City/Coralville area.  The mozzarella was caramelized on top, the rigatoni noodles were thick and large and there seemed to be ample amounts of Italian sausage throughout the dish. 

A couple three guys came in before I ordered my baked rigatoni and ordered some food for themselves.  The guy seated next to me commented when the waitress brought my pasta to me that it didn't look bad at all.  After a few bites, he sort of leaned over and said, "How is it?  It looks good."

 

I said, "It looks better than it really is." 

Quite honestly, it wasn't as good as the Wig and Pen's "Wigatoni".  Most of the sausage was located on top and it wasn't all that plentiful.  The pasta was all right, but the marinara sauce wasn't all that zippy in taste.  Overall, it was very far from inedible, but it was more of a pretty bland taste experience.  But I guess I couldn't expect that much out of a place where most of the food is geared toward bar patronage.  It's definitely not fine dining at Cubby Bear North.

While the Cubby Bear North does a lot of things "OK" at their place, nothing they have on the menu is really what I would call outstanding.  But if you're there with a group of friends after work, or stopping in to catch a game, sip a few brews and eat some standard bar food, the Cubby Bear North is a good place to hang out.  The sandwiches and burgers are good.  The ribs are actually surprisingly above average and the garlic fries I've had in the past are pretty damn good on their own.  The Cubby Bear North is about as good a place for the rich suburban North Shore people to "slum" as any around.

The Varsity Club - Columbus, OH

I wanted to talk a bit about our visit to one of the more famous watering holes in the Big Ten Conference, The Varsity Club in Columbus, OH.  It's one of my more favorite places I've found during our trips to different schools when Iowa plays football.  It was our first stop the weekend we went out to see the Hawks play Ohio State in November.

I had been to the Varsity Club - officially called "The Original Varsity Club" - during our previous visits to Columbus.  The hotel we stayed in was literally down the alley from The Varsity Club, so it was easy access to that bar, along with a number of other ones along Lane Ave. near the Ohio State University campus (see map). 

The Varsity Club celebrated their 50th year of existence in 2009, and boasts one of the largest tailgate parties before and after Ohio State home games.  Located just over a quarter mile from Ohio Stadium, the streets and alleys around The Varsity Club are packed with people of all ages on game day.  It's truly a spectacle to see.  Here's a picture of a pre-game crowd in the alley way on the East side of The Varsity Club complements of my friend, Jay Christensen and his great college football web site, The Wiz of Odds.

My friends, Scott Schroeder and Dave Heusmann are big on finding "the" bar when we go on the road for our football trips, so going to The Varsity Club was a no-brainer.  The original building has a bar area and a dining area with a number of tables and booths.  The bathroom is a little dinky and they put port-a-potties outside along the alley for the huge crowds they get on game day.  They have a patio out back that has a roof and some heaters when it gets sort of chilly out.  The patio also has a stage and they'll feature live music out there from time to time. 

There's memorabilia and pictures all over the walls of The Varsity Club.  Scott is a huge history nut when it comes to sports and I know he had a great time just wandering around and looking at all the old pictures of great Ohio State athletes from over the years.  Dave and I were up by the bar looking at a picture of a huge crowd and a lady walked up to us and said, "That taken was right back here in the alley at a game about 10 years ago."  It turns out the lady was a day manager at The Varsity Club. 

She told us some of the history of The Varsity Club, beginning in 1959 when the bar opened, the expansion and the subsequent tail-gate parties they put on since the 70's.  She said, "We get tons of alumni back each weekend there's a game and the crowd here skews a little more older than younger.  We get our share of college kids, but it's the alumni that pack it in on game days." 

One thing that's always struck me about The Varsity Club is the friendliness of the people there - both the workers and Ohio State fans.  We talked with a number of Ohio State fans the night before the game and it was interesting to get their perspective of how their team may do against Iowa.  Frankly, I think a lot of Ohio State fans feared the worst for Saturday's game.  But they also seem to have a kindred emotional dislike with Iowa fans regarding Michigan football.  I think that's what draws the two fans together. 

Dave, Scott and I were standing out at the outside patio bar having some beers and watching some sports on some of the flat panel televisions they had above the bar while the women enjoyed the relative warmth of the inside.  It was actually a very nice mid-November evening in Columbus with temps in the 50's.  It was getting later in the evening and we were trying to figure out where to go for dinner.  I had picked up a menu inside The Varsity Club to see what they all had.  It features some typical sports bar food - appetizers, salads, burgers and sandwiches, primarily.  I did see some people getting pizza and it looked pretty good.  But pizza was voted out by the group.  We were thinking of going to get ribs, but the same day manager that Dave and I had talked to earlier inside was the one who gave us the tip on going to El Vaquero.  We're glad she did. 

Both before and after the game on Saturday, we tried to get close to The Varsity Club.  We sort of walked over by there on our way to the stadium, but with the huge crowds down Lane Ave. and all around the bar, we decided it would be too much of a hassle to get in.  After the game, we'd driven over there, but we were having a tough time finding a parking spot that wouldn't get our rented SUV towed away.  Plus, we saw that the place was still overly packed long after the game was over.  We decided to cut our losses and go get dinner. 

I've always enjoyed The Varsity Club on my visits to Columbus.  It's sort of "ground zero" for football fans, but it has a great sports bar atmosphere, too.  But it's truly a monument to thousands of Ohio State alumni and fans.  And one that appears will endure for years and years.   

Westwood Tavern - Schaumburg, IL

One of my favorite places to go have a beer and something to eat when I would be out in the Schaumburg area in the Western suburbs of Chicago was the Prairie Rock Brewing Company, even though it had a been a few years since I'd last been there.  Two years ago, Prairie Rock Rock Brewing Co. went out of business and it was replaced by a upscale steak house/restaurant based out of Evanston called Pete Miller's.  I never went into Pete Miller's and, obviously, not a lot of other people did either as they eventually closed that location earlier this year.  However, this summer a new place went into the old Prairie Rock/Pete Miller's location - Westwood Tavern.  I took a couple guys who work for a dealer I call on in nearby Hoffman Estates there for some drinks and snacks recently.

Westwood Tavern, located on N. Meacham St. near Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg (see map), is what I would call an upscale sports bar.  It's actually takes up about half the space of what the old Prairie Rock Brewing Company had.  (A place called Wildberry Cafe - a restaurant that bills itself as a gourmet breakfast cafe - is located in the other part of the building.)  The interior is very classy, there's a large, three-sided bar as you walk in and there are a flat panel televisions throughout the main floor.  Upstairs is a large dining area that features big tables with linen table cloths.  It's definitely not your typical sports bar. 

But the most unique feature of Westwood Tavern are six booths on the main floor that have four beer taps that come up through the middle of the table.  People who sit at the booths have their choice of four different beers they can pour (as long as one of the four is either Miller Lite or Bud Light) and can choose from four other upscale beers from their beer list.  Westwood Tavern employs a computerized system for the six booths that measure the pours of the given beers that are sent to the taps at the table.  I'm still not quite sure how all that happens or how the changeover occurs if someone wants different beers from the previous patrons.  All I know is that I've never seen anything like it in my travels.  

Westwood Tavern was packed when we got into the restaurant.  The booths with the taps one of the guys was telling me about were all full.  In fact, it was going to be a 30 minute wait just to get a table.  We found a couple seats at the bar and my guests sat there while I stood until a seat opened up next to one of the guys.  

We were having drinks and the waitress asked if we wanted to take a look at the menu for some appetizers.  The top of the menu featured a number of sushi items including California and Spicy Tuna Rolls.  While there wasn't an extensive list of either sushi or even appetizers, for that matter, all of it sounded pretty good.

The entree list was pretty shallow with just four items - pot roast, ribs, a ribeye steak and a miso-glazed salmon.  One thing that caught my eye on the menu were mahi-mahi grilled fish tacos.  I'm a sucker for grilled fish tacos.  But the guys were talking about the flat bread pizza Westwood Tavern has.  In fact, as they were talking about it, one was brought out to a lady sitting next to one of my guests.  It did look good - it was very thin and rolled out in a somewhat oval/rectangle.  The one the lady had was the pepperoni flat bread pizza.  It was brought out on a flat wood board, topped with ample amounts of pepperoni and sprinkled with fresh herbs.  It looked pretty good.

The guys were more interested in drinking than eating food, so we ended up ordering a couple flat bread pizzas - one just pepperoni, the other with sausage and pepperoni.  Oh, well.  Fish tacos can wait until my next visit.   

When the flat bread pizzas were brought out, they were somewhat lukewarm like they'd been sitting for a while before they brought them out.  And while the dough was very moist and chewy, unlike most thin crust pizzas that are usually a little more crispy, especially around the edges, it had a somewhat disagreeable taste of wood to the dough.  It was like the dough had sucked up the wood flavor from the flat board it was served on.  I don't mind the taste of cedar in a salmon filet that's been cooked on top of a plank, but for some reason this was like they had gone down to Menards, got some boards off the shelf and that what's they served the pizza upon. 

Other than that, the toppings were fresh and tasty.  I had a few pieces and called it quits.  I just couldn't get past the woody taste of the dough.  It highly detracted from the overall taste of the pizza. 

Still, Westwood Tavern would be a place I'd go back to if I was in the area and wanted to catch a sporting event.  I saw their burger brought out to a guy near us and it looked interesting.  I still want to try the fish tacos at some point.  And it's a rather unique place with the beer spigots in the booths.  I'll go back, but I won't have the flat bread pizza. 

Chappell's Sports Bar - North Kansas City

A little over 4 years ago when I started Road Tips, I was still trying to find my direction and voice as to what I was trying to accomplish with this blog.  One of the very first entries I had was on Sports Illustrated's Top 25 Sports Bars and the ones that I'd visited out of that list.  (You can read that entry here.)  One place that I'd been into a number of years ago, but hadn't visited for a long time was Chappel's Sports Bar in North Kansas City (see map).  I was in the area not long ago and decided to go have lunch there.

Jim Chappell (right) settled in North Kansas City, MO in the early 70's and ran an insurance agency while dabbling in politics.  Chappell was a budding collector of sports memorabilia during that time and he entertained thoughts of opening a restaurant/bar that would house some of his collection, plus be a neighborhood gathering place to discuss local, state and national politics.  In the mid-80's, a building directly across the street from Chappell's insurance agency became available.  In 1986, Chappell opened his sports bar, hoping to run it on a part-time basis.  However, it soon became a full-time job for Chappell, who subsequently sold his insurance agency. 

Chappell has entertained sports figures, politicians and common people at his restaurant which he has literally turned into a sports museum that happens to serve food and drink.  The amount of memorabilia that he has in the place is staggering.   They have over 1000 football helmets from college and professional teams, including some vintage helmets from the 50's and 60's.  He has a large collection of historical Kansas City professional team memorabilia, including old Kansas City Monarchs jerseys and pictures, old Kansas City Athletics memorabilia and a few things from the old Kansas City Kings professional basketball team.  Of course, he has a a ton of items featuring the Kansas City Royals and the Kansas City Chiefs.

The bar features a number of jersey's from professional and collegiate football, basketball and baseball teams.  Chappel has signed baseballs from Babe Ruth, Dizzy Dean and Ty Cobb.  He has the 1974 World Series trophy that was won by the Oakland A's.  It turns out that former A's owner Charlie Finley and Chappell were good friends.  There are tons of old sports trophies, sports pennants, newspaper clippings, and autographed pictures.  Here are the jerseys from two of my all-time favorite baseball players - Stan Musial and Warren Spahn.  It had been over 15 years since I was last in Chappell's and the amount of memorabilia that he has picked up since has grown exponentially.

In addition to a lot of Kansas University, Kansas State University and University of Missouri sports items on display, I was surprised by the amount of Iowa Hawkeye memorabilia in the place.  I certainly didn't remember seeing much Hawkeye stuff in there before, or I possibly didn't notice.  I didn't know until I did some research on Chappell's that he grew up in Keokuk, IA before heading off to Drury College (now Drury University) in Springfield, MO in the mid-60's.  Turns out that Chappell was a huge Hawkeye fan growing up and still is to this day.

It was just after 1 p.m. when I took a seat at the bar at Chappell's.  There was just one seat open as I walked in.  But it was obvious that it was occupied by someone as there was a half-filled glass of pop and some paperwork.  However, an older gentleman next to the empty seat said, "You need a seat?  I'm getting ready to leave."  I took his seat and ordered up a beer and a menu.  I was looking through the menu and the guy occupying the seat next to me came back to sit down.  Turned out it was Jim Chappell himself.  He was holding court at the corner of the bar talking with a couple older guys in having coffee or early afternoon drinks.  A guy and his teen-aged son came up to Chappell before they left and the guy introduced himself and his son to Jim.  Jim said, "Is this your first trip to our place?  Well, c'mon, let me show you around."  And just like that he was up and shepherding them around the place.  I would have liked to have a guided tour, as well, but I certainly didn't have the time.

Chappell's menu is long and diverse.  Of course, they have the usual sports bar fare of appetizers, burgers and sandwiches.  But they also feature steaks, a large amount of salads and some low carb items, as well.  I was torn between the reuben, which was one of Chappell's featured sandwiches, the blackened chicken sandwich, or the mushroom/provelone cheeseburger.  I decided to go with the cheeseburger and I got a side of cole slaw to go along with it.

Jim Chappell came back to his seat after showing the father and son around for about five minutes, finished his pop and said to his friends, "Well, I'm going to work out, fellas.  I'll see you a little later."   Chappell is in his early 60's, is tall and lean and looks to be in great shape for his age.  I could tell from the short time he was near me that he really dug being Jim Chappell.  And I mean that in a good way.  This was his place, it was his stuff and he was damn proud of everything.

Chappell's burgers are 1/2 pound USDA ground beef, cooked to your liking.  My burger came out and it was thick and juicy with a good bun to go along with it.  While I can't call it one of the best burgers I've ever had, or maybe even put it in the honorable mention category, it was still good.  Definitely a very good burger compared to other sports bars that I've visited.  The couple of bites of the cole slaw I had were average, at best.  It's obvious the draw to Chappell's is the memorabilia, but the food is not that bad.

While there were a lot of televisions throughout Chappell's, I'm not certain this would be a place that I'd want to go to just to see a game.  The decor and memorabilia overpowers Chappell's televisions.  There's just a lot of very busy stuff on the wall that detracts from watching a game.  But if you're into sports history and memorabilia, and you're looking for a pretty good meal to go along with it, it's tough to beat Chappell's.  But plan on spending at least a couple of hours if you really want to look more closely at the things Jim Chappell has in his place.  It's truly a sports museum that happens to have a restaurant in it.

Good Bye to Ozzie's

The recent demise of Ozzie's sports bar in the Westport Plaza area of St. Louis was a personal blow to me.  It was one of my all-time favorite sports bars, anywhere.  I'd been going to Ozzie's since the mid-90's and for a long time it was a good place to get a pretty good meal, drink cold beer and to watch sporting events on one of the 50+ televisions they had throughout the bar.  But things had changed for the worse over the past few years for the place.  I thought the food began to suffer.  A couple of recent times I'd been in, the beer was nowhere close to being ice cold like I once remember.  Then the economy and competition in the Westport area caught up with Ozzie's and they were forced to shut their doors in late October. 

(To read my original post on Ozzie's, click here.) 

I was in St. Louis the week after Ozzie's shut down.  In fact, I was thinking about going there for lunch one day to grab a burger, but it turned out it would have been quite a trek in some heavy rain to get over there.  I ended up just getting a burger at a Fuddrucker's in South County.  I would have been devastated walking up to Ozzie's and finding the doors locked. 

For those of you not in the know, Ozzie's was named after the former St. Louis Cardinals and Hall of Fame shortstop, Ozzie Smith.   St. Louis restaurateur Ray Gallardo (who founded and owned the Casa Gallardo restaurants) opened the restaurant in 1988.  Smith decorated the restaurant with some of his numerous awards, along with other memorabilia from the Cardinals, St. Louis Rams and St. Louis Blues.  The place was an immediate hit with the people of St. Louis and a "must see" for Cardinals fans who would come from all over to see the Cards play in the summertime.  While the food wasn't all that great, it was more of the atmosphere that kept people coming back year after year. 

When I worked for a company in suburban St. Louis a number of years ago, Ozzie's was always one of the more favorite places for me to go to grab a quick sandwich or to catch a game that I wanted to see.  When we'd have sales managers from vendors come into St. Louis for meetings, invariably at some point we'd end up at Ozzie's.  I still run into guys at trade shows that I knew from years ago who bring up their visit to Ozzie's.  Ozzie's had a couple of private rooms that we'd take over from time to time and that, along with all the memorabilia throughout the place, made a lasting impression on some of the people we'd take there. 

Ozzie's menu was wide and varied, very typical of a high-profile sports bar.  They had a little bit of everything - appetizers, sandwiches, steaks, ribs, Mexican food, pasta.  While they didn't do anything great, it was adequate enough for what it was.  I did like their burgers and they had a dynamite blackened chicken sandwich.  And I did like their brisket sandwich, as well.  But most of the main entree choices were pedestrian, at best.   But the surroundings and memorabilia trumped the average food, in my book. 

The economic climate in St. Louis over the past few years has been deteriorating and that, undoubtedly, cut into Ozzie's bottom line.  But many people point to the establishment of Pujols 5 in Westport Plaza as the beginning of the end for Ozzie's.  Pujols 5 is named after the Cardinals great first baseman, Albert Pujols (left).  Before Pujols 5 opened up, Ozzie's management was told that it was going to be more of an upscale restaurant on the level of Mike Shannon's than a sports bar like Ozzie's.  Based on that information, Gallardo's management company signed a lease extension through 2015 and borrowed $150,000 to upgrade Ozzie's restaurant.   

It turned out that Pujols 5 (which I've not been to yet) was more like Ozzie's in terms of a sports bar and grill than an upscale restaurant.  At least, that's what Ozzie's alleges in a lawsuit that was filed last spring against the owners of Westport Plaza.  Ozzie's claims that with over 40 hi-def televisions, a menu that is more similar to Ozzie's than to Mike Shannon's, and the fact that they advertise themselves as the "newest and hottest of America's sports restaurants," Pujols 5 was, indeed, a sports bar and it violated the lease agreement.   

Westport Plaza's owners countersued Ozzie's for non-payment of rent.  As Ozzie's closed up, the lawsuit against Westport Plaza was dropped, but the countersuit against Ozzie's goes on.  Ozzie's held an auction after they closed to sell off some of the memorabilia, fixtures and equipment.  The owners of Westport Plaza now claim the auction was not authorized due to their lawsuit against Ozzie's management.  I'm sure it's going to get more messy as time goes on.  Stay tuned. 

With revenues falling and Pujols popularity helping drive people to the restaurant named after him, Ozzie's began to slip.  The food was noticeably more weak than I remember during the first few times I'd gone to the restaurant.  On our annual trip to St. Louis to see the Cardinals a couple years ago, we stopped into Ozzie's for a cold beer before the game.  But we were served slightly below room temperature beer.  I'd noticed the previous few times that I had been in, the beer coolers weren't very cold.  It just didn't seem to be the same place I'd once remembered. 

Sports bars come and go.  Some last longer than others.  Ozzie's lasted longer than most.  It had a good thing going for a number of years.   Unfortunately, they were overshadowed by a bigger name in St. Louis sports these days and that, undoubtedly, led to their demise.  However, the name Ozzie Smith will continue to live in the hearts and minds of St. Louis fans for years and years, even if his namesake restaurant will not. 

(Update - Ozzie's has reopened at a new location in downtown St. Louis (see map).  I've yet to make it into the new Ozzie's, but plan to during an upcoming trip to St. Louis.)

The Highlander Pub and Grille - St. Louis

One thing I've noticed over my years of going to the St. Louis area is the volatile nature of many of the Krieger's Sports Grille locations.  Volatile, in that they seem to go out of business quickly after they've opened up a location.  During a recent quick trip to St. Louis, I was looking forward to getting into the Hampton Inn-Forest Park and grabbing a quick meal at the Krieger's next to the hotel.  Upon my arrival, I was surprised to see the Krieger's was now The Highlander Pub and Grille.  Well, let's say I was surprised and not surprised, given the history of Krieger locations. 

The Highlander Pub and Grille bills itself as an authentic Celtic experience.  Although it's very similar in layout and design to the old Krieger's, they're doing their best to make it look like an Irish bar.  They still have the large projection screens behind the bar, and there's still televisions all around the place like Krieger's had.  But the walls are all a nice dark forest green and they also now have some Irish decorations throughout the place.  It still wasn't all that convincing to me.  

I took a seat at the bar and was greeted by a 40-something bartender by the name of Karen.  I asked her when the Highlander changed from a Krieger's and she said,  "It wasn't all that long ago.  Krieger's shut down earlier this year (2008) and we soft-opened in the summer." 

She gave me a menu and I started to look through it.  She asked me if I wanted a wine menu and I said I wasn't going to have wine that evening.  I ordered up a Smithwick's on tap for the meantime. 

Then for shits and grins, I asked for the wine list anyhow, just to see what they had to offer.  Actually, I was pretty impressed with what they had.  They had a pretty good selection of wines, primarily from California, that ran from about $15 bucks a bottle up to $90 a bottle.  I thought to myself, "Well, this is certainly NOT Krieger's any longer."  I'm not certain Krieger's had any wine other than a couple three different house wines for people who didn't want beer or mixed drinks. 

Actually, the menu looked even better than what Krieger's had to offer.  OK, so this wasn't Krieger's.  I had to get that out of my head.  It's a new restaurant.  No longer Krieger's.  Oh, they still had the same St. Louis-style pizza on the menu that Krieger's had.  But as Karen told me, "We still have pizza only because we have these big pizza ovens and pizza making equipment in the kitchen." 

She said they have a late-night menu at The Highlander which features their pizza.  She said, "We were beginning to get a lot of people coming in after a Cardinals game to get something to eat.  The pizzas are big with the late-night crowd."

Not only does The Highlander have the usual Irish bar food - sandwiches, burgers, appetizers and salads - they also have some pretty interesting main entrees.  And the prices didn't seem to be all that bad.  They had steaks, pasta, seafood, pork chops, ribs and chicken dishes.  One thing that they continued to have from the old Krieger's menu is a Cajun-seafood fettuccine.  I remember getting that at the old Krieger's and I remember that it wasn't all that bad. 

After a few minutes, I decided to try something they called Chicken Flamingo - a full chicken breast rolled in Italian breading and grilled.  It's topped with a white wine, lemon and butter sauce and served with broccoli and provel cheese.  Not only did it sound interesting, it sounded absolutely yummy.  I had a choice of potato or rice and she told me the twice baked potatoes were very good that evening.  I couldn't pass that up.  I also got a small house salad with provel cheese, pepperocini, tomato and pimento, then topped with The Highlander's sweet Italian dressing.  It was very similar to what you would find at any restaurant on The Hill. 

After eating the very good salad and getting another Smithwick's, Karen brought out the Chicken Flamingo to me.  It looked just awesome swimming in the creamy white wine, lemon and butter sauce.  And one bite into the chicken told me that this was so much better than what Krieger's ever had to offer.  It was very, very good.  The chicken was tender, but not dried out like you can get from direct grilled chicken.  There was a hint of a burnt taste to the bread crumbs, but it didn't detract from the overall taste of the chicken and sauce combination.  And the twice-baked potato was as good as advertised.

Karen stopped by about halfway through my meal and asked how things were.  I said, "This is a spot-hitter."

She laughed.  "Spot-hitter!  I like that," she exclaimed. 

When I finished my meal, Karen asked me if I wanted to finish off the meal with some dessert.  She was tempting me with Key Lime Pie or a Turtle Cheesecake, but I'd had enough.  I didn't want to have to go to bed completely stuffed.  I was satiated and ready to wind down for the evening. 

With tip, my bill for my meal and three beers came to a little over $35 bucks.  Karen took good care of me and she was rewarded handsomely.  I was very surprised about the food and service at The Highlander Pub and Grille.  It was much better in both aspects than Krieger's ever was.  It was a pleasant surprise, to say the least.

Macaboos - New Castle, IN

Earlier this year, we were stuck in New Castle, IN for an evening, thanks to the fact that all the hotels within a 30 mile area around Indianapolis were filled due to the Indianapolis 500.  Or, I should say, hotel rooms in the Indianapolis area that were $99 a night on Friday night were suddenly $249 the evening before the race.  And there were people willing to pay that kind of money for those rooms.  I wasn't.

New Castle is an interesting town.  It's approximately 45 miles to the east of Indianapolis (see map).  The largest high school gymnasium in the nation is located in New Castle.  The Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame is there, as well as the New Castle Correction Facility, which holds 2500 inmates. 

New Castle was also home to a large Chrysler metal forging facility, which I'm told, employed close to 3500 people at one time.  However, Chrysler laid off a number of workers and eventually sold it a few years ago to Michigan-based Metaldyne, which, in turn was bought by a Japanese company three years ago.  Today, it employs between 500 and 600 people.

New Castle is also the home to Steve Alford, the former University of Indiana basketball star, who also was an Olympian in 1984, and who also was the head coach for the Iowa Hawkeye basketball program for eight years before running the program into the ground and leaving for the University of New Mexico in 2007.  (End of editorial comment regarding Steve Alford and University of Iowa basketball.)  One of the hotels in New Castle is the Steve Alford All-American Inn.  No, we didn't stay there.  We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express (which, as I write, is no longer a Holiday Inn property), next door. 

But there was this cool high-top sneaker between the hotels.  The other one was over by the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.

Now, other than all that, there doesn't seem to be much of anything socially redeeming about New Castle.  We saw some very scary looking people with questionable upbringings in the short time we were there.  Plus the fact, other than an Applebee's, there's not much in the way of fine dining in the town.

We asked the front desk clerk if there was any good place to eat and she gave us a copy flyer on a place called Macaboo's located just south of the city.  It was a new sports bar/restaurant and I immediately vetoed that venue as a place to eat.  However, after driving around for a bit, then checking the Yellow Pages, and then asking a couple of the local yokels regarding a place to eat, it appeared that Macaboo's WAS the center of haute cuisine in the greater New Castle area.

Here's the conversation I had with a lady at a gas station/convenience store:

Me: Is there any place good to eat around here?

Lady: Now, what do you mean by good?

Me: You know, a place to get a good steak.  That type of thing.

Lady: Well, there's Applebee's...

Me: No, we don't want to do Applebee's.  We're looking for more of a steak house, supper club-type thing.  Is there something like that around here?

Lady: Well, do you want to drive for a bit?

Me: Well, as long as it's not 30 miles out of town.  We'll go back to Indy if we have to drive that far.

Lady: Well, there's this new place a few miles down the road.  I forget the name of the place, but I hear it's pretty good.

She turned to the girl working with her and said, "What's the name of that new place that opened up a couple months ago?"

Girl: The one outside of town?

Lady: Yeah, the one down by the Interstate.

Girl: Gee, I don't know.  Macabee's, Macadoo's, somethun' like that.

Me: You mean Macaboos?

Girl: Yeah, that may be it.  I don't know.  I haven't been out there, but I hear it's good.

Lady: Yeah, that's the place.  It's a little bit of a drive, but it's good food.

I'm guessing that "driving for a bit" for this lady was something less than a 10 minute drive.   Going to Indy was probably a two-day trip to her.

So, after initially vetoing Macaboos as a dining destination, we suddenly found it to be the ONLY place to eat in New Castle - other than Applebee's which was the absolute last ditch choice should this Macaboos turn out to be a complete truck stop diner.  We drove out south of town and found Macaboos just past the Interstate exit for New Castle (see map). 

We got out to Macaboos about 8 p.m.   It appeared to be a very nice, stately dark wood building just south of Interstate 70 (see map).  Ryan Ogle of Greenfield, IN bought the building that houses Macaboos about two and a half years ago.  After a few construction delays, the Macaboos bar opened in January of this year.  And the steak house opened two months later.   

There's a large central area as you walk in with a hostess stand just inside the door.  On the left side is a large bar area, and on the right is the dining room.  It's definitely rustic and "Old West" in its decor.  And there's a number of flat panel screens throughout that are showing the current sporting events. 

We were seated in a booth and our waitress brought out our menus.  Macaboos wasn't anything fancy, but considering what we witnessed in New Castle, it was a five-star eating establishment. 

I'm not going to belabor the point of this entry any longer.  Cindy had a chicken breast dinner with some potatoes, I had a very "iffy" New York strip steak with potatoes.  The steak was pretty thin, compared to other New York strips I've had at restaurants and at home.  But it tasted fine and wasn't over-cooked. 

I did take pictures of the place, but found out that my camera was set to "Manual focus" and not "Automatic focus".  I had pictures of the front, a couple interior shots and a shot of a soon to be opened outdoor party area next to the bar.  For New Castle, Macaboos was THE place to be. 

So, if you ever end up in New Castle, Indiana - and I hope you don't have to - there's really only one place to eat (other than Applebee's) and that's Macaboos.  But don't expect an "out of body" experience with the food.  It's serviceable and good, but not outstanding. 

(Update - not long after this post was published, the owners of Macaboos filed for bankruptcy and shuttered the place up in October of 2008.  The building sat vacant for nearly three years before John Montgomery bought the building and contents and opened up Montgomery's Steakhouse in August of 2011.)

Champps Americana - Schaumburg, IL

Champps Americana is a chain of upscale sports bars that began in the Twin Cities in the mid 80's.  Their focus has been on burgers, beer and sports since day one.  I hadn't been into a Champps for quite sometime, but I recently decided to stop into the one in Schaumburg, IL for lunch after visiting one of the Tweeter stores located next door. 

Champps started out in St. Paul in 1985 when Dean Vlahos opened the first location.  Vlahos grew the business to over 30 locations about ten years later.  Vlahos then sold the company to a corporation that became known as Champps Entertainment, Inc. located in a Denver suburb.  Champps Entertainment then grew the restaurant base to over 60 locations in 22 states.  Earlier this year, the Daka restaurant group, known as Unique Casual Restaurants, Inc. which also owns the majority of the Fuddrucker's restaurants in the nation, bought the chain from Champps Entertainment.  And I do like Fuddrucker's, so they have that going for them.

You'll mainly find most of the Champps American restaurants near large shopping areas.  The one in Schaumburg is just down Golf Road from Woodfield Mall (see map).  If you're heading east on Golf, it's easy to get in and out.  But if you're heading west on Golf, it's probably best to take a left on Meacham or Plum Grove and come around through the back on American Lane.  Traffic at times on Golf Road can be a pain in the ass, especially if you're trying to make a left turn with no stoplight. 

Now, I'm going to tell you that I broke two of my cardinal rules with my visit to Champps.  One - I don't like to eat at national chains that are cookie cutter venues; and Two - I ordered the Cuban Sandwich and I wasn't in Miami.  But it was in the middle of the afternoon, I wasn't feeling all that peppy.  I needed food and something to drink and Chammps was right next door to where I was. 

I sat at the bar and watched some of the Cubs game on one of the many televisions in the restaurant.  The bartender gave me a menu and I ordered up a Coke as I still had some calls to make that day.  It was around 2:30 and there were a handful of people in the bar area, many having late lunches or finishing up with lunch meetings.  There was a die-hard Cubs fan across the bar from me, dressed in a Cubs jersey and shouting, "Oh, yeah, baby!" when the Cubs did something good on the field; or he would shout, "Oh, man!  What are you thinking?" when something would go wrong.  He was taking a regular season game a little too hard.

Burgers are what made Champps famous and they have five to choose from on their burger menu.  But I wasn't really looking for a burger during that visit.  I took a look through their specialty entree and pasta menus, but thought that would be too much food for that time of day.  Although I have to say the Cajun Shrimp Penne Pasta and the Peppercorn Chicken sounded pretty good.

I went to the sandwich menu and took a look to see what they had.  Hmmm... Tuna melt.  No, not up for that.  Gyros?  No, come on.  A place like this can't make a good gyro.  Reuben.  Naw, I've been eating a lot of Reuben's lately and I'm getting burned out on them.  Hmmm...  What's this?  Pulled pork sandwich topped with Tabasco onion rings and served on a sesame seed bun.  Crap - I just had barbecue the night before.  It did sound good, though.

But my eyes kept darting to the top of the sandwich menu where they were showing a picture of the Havana - a traditional Cuban sandwich of pulled pork, ham, swiss cheese, dijon mustard and pickles pressed together on a small loaf of sweet bread.  But my brain kept saying, "Hang on a minute.  You KNOW you've never had a good Cuban sandwich outside of Miami."

The picture made it look so good, though.  It LOOKED like the Cuban sandwich I'd had in Miami in the past.  And those things are just incredible.  I kept looking at the descriptions of the barbecued pulled pork sandwich and the Havana.  Barbecue - Cuban Sandwich.  And I don't know what made me blurt out, "I'll take the Havana" when the bartender finally asked me what I wanted.  I knew well before I took the first bite that I'd regret my choice. 

About 10 minutes later, a waitress brought out my Cuban sandwich.  It looked good and definitely smelled good, but the comparisons to the Miami Cuban sandwiches stopped there.  Oh, the roasted pulled pork and ham were fine.  I like the combination of the pickle slices and dijon mustard.  But the bread - which literally MAKES Cuban sandwiches great - was nowhere near as good as the soft sweet bread I've had in Miami. 

Now this is what a REAL Cuban sandwich looks like, picture courtesy of Taste of Cuba and Off the Broiler.  The Chammps Americana Havana sandwich - and other Cuban sandwiches I've had like this outside of Miami - are made with a panini-style bread which is then heat pressed.  It's not that same.

Oh, well.  It was still edible, but I literally kicked myself when a guy down the bar from me ordered the pulled pork sandwich.  It was served open faced with the spicy onion rings on top.  God!  And I'm sitting there eating some northern version of a Cuban sandwich.  

For a chain, Champps is OK, nothing that I would call special.  It's like a lot of other sports bars that have popped up over the past 20+ years.  The food is good, but not great.  The beer selection is good, but not great.  And the ambiance and atmosphere is also good, but not great.  It would be a good place to go watch a game with some friends and to get some serviceable food.  But it's not a place that I would seek out to have a meal at anytime soon.

InPlay - Des Moines

InPlay Sports Bar is located just south of the nearly new Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines (see map).  For years, concert goers, sports fans and conventioneers had to either trapse all the way from Veterans Memorial Auditorium to the downtown area of Des Moines to get a drink.  Not any longer - InPlay is a three minute walk from the main doors of the Wells Fargo Arena.

InPlay is a franchise based out of Urbandale, IA (a suburb of Des Moines).  There is also an InPlay in Omaha, and there was an InPlay in Peoria, IL that recently closed up.  It's very similar to a Dave & Buster's or a Jillian's where they mix food, sports, and games geared toward adults.  They market themselves to corporations or groups, and they have a family theme to the place, as well. 

Michael Stessman is the managing partner and you can usually see him around InPlay most of the time.  This InPlay opened in June of 2007.  The one in Omaha opened later in the year. 

I stopped into the InPlay one evening around 5:00 p.m. for a sandwich and a beer.  The place was nearly full with people who were waiting for the evening session of the Iowa Boys State Basketball Tournament.  I got a seat at the bar and ordered up a beer.  They had a special price on 16 oz. draft beers from 3 to 7 p.m., so I took a Bud Light. 

Actually, the bar area is called The Stadium Bar and Grill.  They have a lot of flat panel televisions playing sports in high definition.  That's where they serve the food, as well.  I got a menu and it had the usual sports bar food such as appetizers, burgers and sandwiches.  There were a few main entrees, but I wouldn't trust a place like this for steak or pork chop. 

The gentleman seated next to me had what appeared to be an Italian Grinder - Des Moines style (similar to the Gizmo's that I love so much).  I asked him if that what it was and he said, "Yes, and it's very good."

I told the waitress I'd get that with some fries. 

I looked around the place and it's a two-story establishment with some area downstairs that I didn't go into.  But it featured arcade games, a rock climbing wall, pool tables and other things to keep people busy while taking more of their money.  It wasn't as large or roomy as a Dave and Buster's or a Jillian's, but for Des Moines it was probably OK. 

I noticed there was a large meeting room near the bar area that was being used for some hospitality room.  It looked kind of nice in there with televisions on the wall and some nice wood paneling. 

I went back to bar after about five minutes and began to talk to the man next to me.  He was in town to see the basketball tournament and he said to me, "Man, this is great.  Before, you'd have to walk all the way down to the Marriott to get a drink between sessions.  Now, it's a one block walk and I can be back in my seat in 10 minutes after I leave here." 

My sandwich showed up and it was good.  Not outstanding like the Carl's Gizmo's are at the Iowa State Fair, but still very good.  It had a good flavor to it, it was nicely proportioned with the right amount of mozzarella over the seasoned ground sausage and beef.  It could have used a little more taste kick to it, but I was happy with it. 

I don't know if a place like InPlay will make it.  Given its close proximity to the Wells Fargo Arena and Vet's Auditorium, I'd say it's got a good chance of doing so.  Even if it's just for a quick drink before or after a show or event, InPlay has a pretty captive crowd.

(Update February 2012 - Somewhere along the way, InPlay became All Play.  But now it's become the new home for the Des Moines branch of Buzzard Billy's.  Buzzard Billy's original location on Court Street was closed after flooding there last year.  They're still working on the changeover and I've heard that they were going to keep some of the arcade games in the place, but I'm not certain if that's correct.)

Las Vegas Hilton Superbook

This is one of my favorite times of the year - NCAA conference basketball tournaments followed next week with the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.  I plan to be in a sports bar watching many of the games going on at the same time in the next couple of weeks.  It's been a while since I've talked about sports bars.  I've been to a lot of them in my day and this is one category that I've been somewhat neglecting.  Today, I want to tell you about the Superbook sports book and bar at the Las Vegas Hilton.

The first time I went to Las Vegas in 1987, I was walking through the Riviera one evening after finishing with appointments at CES. I happened to spot a 40" big screen television with six 25" televisions in a row above the big screen TV, each had a college basketball game on them.  I sat down and started watching all the games, my head literally spinning watching one game and trying to keep up with two others. 

Soon, a cocktail waitress came up to me and asked if I'd like something to drink.  I thought, "Whoa!  You're going to bring me a drink while I get to sit here and watch all these games?  No way!" 

I was just introduced to the concept of the Las Vegas Sports Book - an area that most hotels/casinos have where you can go and bet on the horses or on games, and - hey! - courtesy of satellite feeds from all over the nation, they've got them on TV for you right there!

I don't think I moved for 45 minutes.  I was in sport junkie la-la land.  I would have stayed there all night had we not had to attend an event for Monster Cable at Caesar's Palace.  I reluctantly downed my beer and headed to Caesar's.   

That evening, we finished up with the event and I wanted to walk around Caesar's Palace.  I wandered around toward the back side of the casino and I found an even LARGER sports book.  The Caesar's Palace Race and Sports Book had three 10' projection screens with a host of smaller 40" screens - all tuned to different sporting events.  It made the sports book at the Riviera seem like a corner beer joint in comparison.  I was just mesmerized watching west coast basketball games, both collegiate and professional.  And I had pretty cocktail waitresses bringing me beer.  I was in heaven. 

The next year, on a Sunday, I was at the Las Vegas Convention Center for the Consumer Electronics Show and I had some time to kill so I wanted to watch a little of the NFL football play-offs.  The Las Vegas Hilton is connected to the Convention Center and I walked over there to see if I could find a television that had the game on. 

I found a little circular bar area that was next to the casino floor that had three televisions, each of them had the game on.  I thought, "Man, if this is all the Hilton has, this is pretty disappointing."  Even the Riviera had it beat. 

I was standing there watching for a moment and I kept hearing this cheering coming from another area toward the back of the casino.  I slowly wandered back there and came into this absolutely huge room with BIG projection screen televisions that were showing the NFL game, college basketball and horse races, filled with people seated in dozens of chairs and at tables.  I had found the Las Vegas Hilton Sports and Race Superbook.  It was like finding the Holy Grail of sports bars, which back then was a pretty new concept.  But even today, the Superbook dwarfs other sports books in the Vegas area.

It turned out, the Superbook had just opened a few months before.  I was told that it replaced a sports book that was a fraction the size of the Superbook.  It was pretty damn impressive.  And it still is today.      

The Las Vegas Hilton Superbook boasts the largest floor area of any sports book in Las Vegas at over 30,000 square feet.  It seats over 300 people and has the most televisions of any other sports book.  It also has a huge 12' by 15' screen surrounded by smaller projection screens and a number of plasma televisions.  Even years ago, it was one of the first places to have the huge 55" rear projection televisions.  It was always on the cutting edge of sports book technology. 

There used to be a great little snack bar that served great burgers and hot sandwiches.  During CES, I'd always sneak away to the Superbook to have lunch.  It was always the highlight of my day.  But about six years ago, they closed down the little snack bar and remodeled it into the Superbook Deli.  It's nothing more than a downsized version of Subway.  I was pretty disappointed, and I still am.  The used to have very good food at the old place.

The other thing that has changed over the years is the price of beer in the place.  It used to be that a beer would cost a buck or $1.50, tops.  But, if you were betting on a game and had your betting slip, you drank for free.  There were times I'd just throw $20 bucks on a game and sit there and drink for free. 

This year after having dinner at Casa Nicola, I was a little wound up from having an espresso after dinner.  I decided to wander over to the Superbook just to look at the betting lines on upcoming games, and catch a little sports on the televisions.  Most of my colleagues, save for one guy, are not that much into sports.  So, getting a chance to watch a few games is kind of a treat for me when I'm in Vegas.

I sat at the bar and ordered up a beer.  It wasn't anything special, just a Bud Light.  The bartender handed me my beer and said, "That will be four and a quarter." 

I said, "Excuse me, how much?"

He said, "$4.25."

I about crapped as I pulled a 10 dollar bill out of my pocket and handed it to him.  I usually tip the bartender on the first beer, but this time I took my change and pocketed it.  I knew I wouldn't be drinking here for long.

(As an aside, one thing that has changed drastically over the years that I've been coming to Vegas is the price of beer and mixed drinks.  There used to be a time when .99 cent Heineken was prevalent all over town.  Today, even Bud Lights are going for over $4 bucks.  I bought a margarita for one of my colleagues and a premium Mexican beer - on tap - for myself at one of the restaurant/bars at the Hilton.  The bill came to $17.00.  SEVENTEEN BUCKS!!  Holy shit!) 

But what they're wanting you to do, at least in the casino and sports book, is to bet.  Then you'll get free drinks.  I'll tell you, if I were to put $20 bucks down on a game just to drink free, at $4.25 a beer they'd lose money on me, EVEN if I lost the $20 buck bet.

Whereas many of the other sports books in casinos throughout Las Vegas make you walk directly through the casino to get to the book area, the Superbook is so big that it has its own entrance and parking lot.  This allows the really degenerate gamblers easy access to come in and place bets on events.  Seriously, I can't think of any other sports book in a Vegas hotel/casino that allows outside access to the sports book.  Possibly Caesar's, but I haven't been there in a while.

My big dream in life is to someday fly to Las Vegas with a couple of friends for the first weekend of the NCAA men's basketball tournament and sit in the Superbook and do nothing but watch games.  I understand that the Superbook is usually crammed full of people during the big sporting events - Super Bowl, Kentucky Derby, New Year's Day bowl games, etc.  I'm sure the NCAA tournaments would be similar.  But, man, would it be fun. 

I've been to a number of other sports books in Vegas over the years.  I do like the sports book over at the Mirage, but nothing compares to the Superbook at the Hilton.  Even with $4.25 beers, it's still the biggest and best there is.

Dave and Buster's - Addison, IL

Dave and Buster's is a chain of what I would categorize as a "Chuck E. Cheese for adults".  Not only do they feature a full serve restaurant with pretty good food, as well as a full service sports bar, they have a number of games and such geared for adults.  It's a pretty cool place if you've never been to one. 

I've been wanting to write about Dave and Buster's since we went out to Indianapolis last fall and had dinner at Jillian's, an adult playground very similar to Dave and Buster's.  But I hadn't been to a Dave and Buster's for a while.  That is, until I was in Chicago recently and staying out in Addison.  There's a Dave and Buster's near the hotel I was staying at (see map), so I went over for dinner.

In the 70's, two guys - Dave Corriveau and James "Buster" Corley - owned two separate establishments side by side in an old train station in downtown Little Rock.  Corley owned a restaurant - Buster's - and Corriveau owned "Slick Willy's World of Entertainment", a 10,000 square foot emporium of pool tables, video games and pinball machines. 

The two saw that they shared a lot of the same clientele and wondered what it would be like to have the two places under one roof.  First of all, they wondered how big that roof would have to be.  After working on rough designs and plans for a year, Corriveau sold Slick Willy's for seed money and the pair moved to Dallas to hunt for a location.

The first Dave and Buster's opened in Dallas in 1982 in a 40,000 square foot former warehouse.  The place was an immediate hit with the young adults in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.  They tweaked the concept over the next few years and opened a second - equally large - location in Dallas in 1987.  Seeing that location go over in huge way, both Corley and Corriveau wanted to expand their concept to other markets.  The only problem was the lack of capital to do so.

In 1989, Edison Brothers, Inc. - a St. Louis-based corporation who owned women's apparel and shoe stores around the nation - bought controlling interest of Dave and Buster's, and the expansion was on.  They built new locations in Houston, Atlanta and Philadelphia and looked to expand even more.  But the expansion was a drain on the Edison Brothers company, whose clothing and shoe stores were not doing well.  Edison Brothers spun Dave and Buster's off in 1995 to a number of investors.  Today, Dave and Buster's is traded on the NASDAQ exchange with Dresdner RCM Global Investors of San Francisco the largest investor.

In 2005, Dave and Buster's bought nine of the Jillian's locations in the U.S. Today, there are 49 Dave and Buster's locations in 18 states, Canada and Mexico.  They've also licensed the Dave and Buster's name to corporations in Great Britain and Asia.

The first Dave and Buster's I went to was in suburban St. Louis a few years ago.  We actually went in for the food, but ended up playing games in their "Million Dollar Midway" full of arcade games, simulators, and sports-themed games.  They also had a great billiards room with very expensive pool tables.  It was really quite fun.

When I first started to go to Chicago on a regular basis, I ate at the Dave and Buster's in Addison a couple three times.  It really wasn't bad - in fact, it was quite good.  They have a full menu of good entrees from steaks, pasta, seafood, chicken, ribs and sandwiches.  Pretty much about anything your heart desires you can find at Dave and Buster's.

I got into the place about 8 p.m. and went to the "Good Sports" bar area.  It was a Tuesday night and it was pretty dead in the place.  The bartender told me that she didn't know why it was so dead that particular night.  She said, "You could hardly move in here last Tuesday night, it was so packed."

I got a menu and a beer and looked things over to see what I wanted.  One of the good things about Dave and Buster's is that they do have a varied menu and if you walk in not exactly knowing what you want, you can usually find something pretty good to eat. 

I thought about getting something I've gotten before - the Cajun Shrimp Alfredo, large shrimp sauteed in a Creole spice mix and served with a spicy Creole sauce with tomatoes and mushrooms over linguine.  It's very good. 

I thought I'd try their steaks that night, however.  I went with the Peppercorn Ribeye - a 12 oz. ribeye topped with a soft boursin cheese and herb combination, and their "frazzled onions" (thin onion rings).  They then top that with a peppercorn sauce and serve it with a side of mashed potatoes.   OK, I'll try that. 

After about 20 minutes, my bartender brought my steak to me.  I gave it a try and it was good.  Very good, in fact.  Surprisingly good.  The steak was moist and tender, cooked to a perfect medium rare.  The boursin cheese was not overpowering.  I was a little worried about that.  As much as I like blue cheese, when it's put on steak, it almost overpowers the taste of the meat.  And the peppercorn sauce was good, too.  It had that forward peppery taste that I really enjoy. 

Having eaten at a Dave and Buster's four or five times now, I have to say that I've never gotten a bad meal any time I've been there.  And the food is surprisingly good.  Plus, it's a fun atmosphere at Dave and Buster's.  Go for the food and stay to play some games in the arcade area.             

Joe Senser's Grill and Bar

Joe Senser (left) is a former football player with the Minnesota Vikings.  His professional playing career spanned four seasons and he had some marginal success while playing tight end.  These days, he's more well known as being the color commentator for the Vikings radio network, and for owning Joe Senser's Grill and Bar with four locations around the Twin Cities.

Joe Senser's was named as one of the 25 top sports bars in America by Sports Illustrated.  (To see my post on the ones I've visited, click here.)  Each location has a number of large screen televisions and all the sports packages available via satellite.  They also have pretty good food for a sports bar, actually some of the best food at any sports bar I've been to.  It's definitely a step above chicken wings and burgers you'll find at the majority of sports bars.

Oh, the menu at Joe Senser's has chicken wings and burgers.  But they also offer a number of eclectic appetizers such as Bacon-wrapped Tenderloin Bites, Margarita Chicken flatbread and something they call Homestyle Pizza Spirals - sausage, pepperoni and mozzarella wrapped in a twisted pieced of dough.  They're very, very good. 

They also feature a number of steaks and chops, including Maple Mesquite Pork Chops - pork chops glazed with a maple syrup and cooked over mesquite.  Those are great, too.  And they also serve good ol' Minnesota walleye - either broiled or pan-seared with parmesan cheese.  Also very, very good. 

And surprisingly, they also have some very good pasta dishes.  Their seafood fettuccine alfredo is very good, but I really like their Shrimp Carbonara - chunks of shrimp along with cheese stuff tortellini in a white cream sauce, along with Applewood smoked bacon and topped with generous amounts of mozzarella cheese.  Then it's baked until the cheese is melted across the top.  Oh man!  My stomach is doing back flips just writing about that.

The other thing that makes Joe Senser's unique is the amount of imports and micro-brews on tap and in bottles.  The selection would rival what one would find at self-proclaimed "beer bars". 

On my last trip to the Twin Cities, I stayed at the Hampton Inn just across the parking lot from the Joe Senser's in Bloomington (see map) and I decided to go there for dinner one night.  And I ordered the Shrimp Carbonara.  And it was typically outstanding.  I'm watching four or five Major League Baseball games on a number of televisions, the NBA playoffs are on a few others, a cold beer is in front of me, and I'm having a great meal.  It doesn't get much better than that when you're on the road.

Joe Senser's also has some pretty good lunch specials during the day.  One day I was in there, they had an outstanding meat loaf lunch special; and another time I was in there for lunch they had a hot beef sandwich - a heaping amount of slow-cooked shredded roast beef served on a large slice of homemade bread and covered with a wonderful gravy.  It was just killer.  The only problem is that they don't have it every day.  I'd go back every day I was in the Twin Cities for lunch if they had the hot beef sandwich available each day. 

Most places that I encounter that classify themselves as a sports bar usually only has three or four television sets, a normal selection of domestic beer with a couple three imports thrown in, and mediocre food at inflated prices.  Joe Senser's is the antithesis to that stereotypical sports bar.  Good food at good prices.  The beer selection is eclectic and cold.  And there's a lot of entertainment to choose from on the multitude of televisions. 

As you can probably tell by now, I really like Joe Senser's.  It's one of my all-time favorite sports bars.  It's a must stop when I get to the Twin Cities.

The Chancery - Milwaukee

I had a lunch meeting with one of my Milwaukee area dealers and his wife recently.  He was working at a house in the south Milwaukee area and he suggested we meet up at The Chancery off of I-894 at 27th St. (see map).

The Chancery is a family oriented sports bar that has seven locations in the greater Milwaukee area.  Each location has their own specific decor and theme. 

The Chancery is owned by Joseph DeRosa, who opened the original Chancery in Racine, WI in 1972.  One by one, Joe opened more Chancery restaurants around the Milwaukee area and eventually started the DeRosa Corporation to oversee The Chancery restaurants, as well as a number of other restaurants.  DeRosa's corporation also owns Eddie Martini's, an upscale steakhouse; Sticks and Stones, a fine dining restaurant; and Jose's Blue Sombrero, a Mexican restaurant on the site of the original Chancery in Racine.

From 1988 to 1997, DeRosa also owned the historic Smith Bros. Fish Shanty in Port Washington, WI.  (See my review of the Fish Shanty here.) It's one of my very favorite seafood restaurants.

As I mentioned, each Chancery has its own unique decor.  The one on S. 27th in Milwaukee has kind of a ocean side fish shack motif.   In fact, the menu has a number of shrimp, seafood and Cajun items to choose from.  But the menu also has a number of burgers, sandwiches, and salads to choose from, as well as main entrees such as steaks and pasta.

As I waited in the lobby of The Chancery for my dealer and his wife to show up, I couldn't help but notice a letter from a law firm in Atlanta who was representing the singer Jimmy Buffett.  Evidentially, the Chancery used to have an item on their menu called "Cheeseburger in Paradise", obviously named after Buffett's famous song.  It was a "cease and desist" letter telling them they had to change the name of the burger because Buffett owned all rights to the name "Cheeseburger in Paradise".  Since it was conspicuously hung in the lobby area, you could tell that Joe DeRosa was happy to get a letter like that.

And there was no "Cheeseburger in Paradise" on the menu.

I also noticed they have a chart against the wall for children under 12 to stand next to to see how much they would pay in pennies to eat on given weeknights.  If a kid is 41 inches tall, they pay 41 cents.  51 inches, they pay 51 cents.  Etc., etc. 

And I looked around the spacious bar area at The Chancery as I waited.  They had a large selection of beers on tap behind the semi-circular bar.  And they also had a lot of televisions throughout the bar area, as well. 

My guests showed up and we ended up going up some steps into the dining room, across a balcony area, then down some steps to a side room where we sat in a circular booth.  The tables were spacious and the seating was roomy. 

Although I dearly wanted a beer, it was a business lunch, so I just went with water - although they did have a pretty good selection of beers to choose from.  After going over some business things for about 45 minutes, we decided we'd better order some lunch. 

My dealer got a grilled chicken sandwich, his wife got a seafood quesadilla and I got the reuben with a side of their onion straws.  When the waitress brought the food about 20 minutes later, it was evident The Chancery was famous for their big portions.  My reuben was piled high with corned beef and sauerkraut; my dealer's chicken breast looked like it was about 12 oz. in size; and his wife's quesadilla was huge.  There was no way we could finish our lunches.

My sandwich was very good.  The corned beef was tender and flavorful.  And I really liked the onion straws.  They were light and flavorful, as well.

The Chancery was a good deal - with tip the bill for the three of us came to just a little over $30 bucks.  There was too much food, however.  I didn't take my leftovers with me since I was traveling.  But as a place to get a good sandwich that seems to be kid friendly, it's a good value.

State Street Brats - Madison

While in Madison recently, I decided to go downtown and have lunch at State Street Brats - a literal institution for Wisconsin students and government workers for years.  State Street Brats was named one the Top 25 Sports Bars by Sports Illustrated a couple years ago.  (Read my entries on the ones on the list that I've visited here, here and here.) 

State Street Brats is famous for their "red brats" - a grilled bratwurst, then split down the middle and served on a homemade bun.  Red brats are different from their "white brat" counterparts as they are made with beef and grilled, while the white ones are made out of pork and boiled in beer.  Both are very good.

Red brats were invented in the early 1930's by George Bishop.  Bishop's beef brat was embraced by two young guys - Seymour "Shorty" Kayes and Walter "Lammy" Lamm - who were just starting their first restaurant on State Street in Madison, The Log Cabin.  "Shorty" and "Lammy" are widely credited as bringing the Red brat to Madison.

In 1953, "Shorty" and "Lammy" moved their business to a larger building down State Street - the present day location of State Street Brats (see map) - and renamed it The Brathaus.  In 1989, the Brathaus' name was changed to State Street Brats.  And a lot of old Madison-ites still refer to the place as The Brathaus.

Present day owner Kelly Meuer (right) keeps up the tradition that "Shorty" and "Lammy" held dear to their hearts when they owned the business.  State Street Brats is still a packed place before and after Wisconsin football games, and is always busy during lunch and on weekend nights.

Since State Street Brats is on the State Street pedestrian walkway (only buses and delivery trucks can use the street), there's no parking available immediately around the place.  However, there's a parking garage off of Frances St. that is directly behind State Street Brats that's easy to get into and out of. 

The interior of State Street Brats is dark in the day time, and full of kitsch, memorabilia and, of course, televisions.  There are a booths and long tables to sit at on the main floor of the place.  It's kind of fun to just grab a beer and look at the stuff they have on the wall.

The menu is pretty basic - brats, sandwiches, burgers, salads and some Mexican food.  They have something like 15 beers on tap at any given time including a handful of seasonal beers brewed in Wisconsin.  There's no wait staff at State Street Brats, so you order at the service counter at the bar. 

It had been a couple years since I was last in State Street Brats, and a lot longer since I'd had food there.  It wasn't quite as busy as I walked in just before the noon hour.  I took a quick look at the menu and went and ordered a double red brat and a glass of Capital Brewery's Maibock beer.  As I said, they grill the brats, slice them down the middle and then serve both of them on a homemade bun. 

One of the bar guys brought my double red brat out to me in a basket.  They have a condiment counter, but I opted for just some German mustard as not to kill the taste of the brat.

And it was very good.  I don't know if I like them better than the pork or "white" brats they serve, but they're a unique taste - more like an all-beef hot dog.  And with the cold Maibock, it was a great lunch.

Total bill for the double red brat and the beer was $10.75.  Sort of expensive, but it was good.  Still, just going to State Street Brats is worth it.  There's a lot of history and tradition in the place and it's certainly not to be missed when you travel to Madison.         

Krieger's Sports Grill - St. Louis

I had to travel on a Sunday night to St. Louis recently.  It turned out that it was opening night for the St. Louis Cardinals and I didn't want to stay downtown with all the people there.  I ended up booking a room at the Hampton Inn - Forest Park.  Since I got there kind of late, I went next door to Krieger's Sports Grill for dinner.

Krieger's first opened in 1991 in suburban Chesterfield by Brian Krieger and his partner, Vito Churco.  Krieger ran the day-to-day operation and Churco was the business and marketing guy.  A year later, they recruited Churco's cousin, Sal Alu, into the business.  The three are still in charge today.

In 2002, Krieger's began to franchise locations throughout the St. Louis and southern Illinois area.  There are now 9 company owned locations and 5 franchisee locations, including one in Des Moines.  They're looking to expand franchises into Kansas City, Wichita, Springfield, MO and other mid-sized cities in the Midwest. 

Krieger's has a pretty extensive menu.  They're mainly known for their St. Louis style pizza - thin crust with fresh toppings covered with Provel cheese.  But they also have good burgers, sandwiches, and appetizers, along with main entrees including pasta, steaks, chicken and ribs.

The Forest Park location next to the new Hampton Inn is the newest of the Krieger's restaurants.  I don't know if it's a franchise location or not, but it appears similar to the other Krieger's I've been in.  It seems to be bigger than most of the other Krieger's though.  And the crowd it gathers - at least on a Sunday night - is a decidedly younger crowd.

I settled in at the bar to watch the baseball game with a packed house of younger adults.  Like the other Krieger's there's tons of televisions throughout the place and there's a projection screen above the bar.  I sat and ordered a beer and a menu from the very busy wait staff behind the bar.

A guy seated next to me was having a Krieger's cheeseburger, which smelled and looked very good.  But a girl on the other side of me was sharing a Krieger's St. Louis style pizza with her friend.  I was torn.  I hadn't had a good St. Louis style pizza for quite a while, but I wasn't certain I wanted a pizza that evening.

Now, St. Louis style pizza is an acquired taste.  The crust is cracker thin, and the Provel cheese is more creamy than the rich, stringy texture of mozzarella.  (For my previous observations on St. Louis style pizza and other pizza places in St. Louis, click b.)  I had a former colleague who I worked with in St. Louis call St. Louis style pizza as "cheese on a cracker". 

But I like it and that's what I ordered.

Actually, Krieger's St. Louis style pizza is OK - not the best I've had - but it's consistently OK.  And this one was no exception.  The toppings - sausage, pepperoni and mushroom - were a little sparse, but the cheese was creamy and the crust was crunchy thin, just the way I like it. 

With the Cardinals getting spanked by the New York Mets at the new Busch Stadium just down the road, the crowd began to dwindle out of Krieger's by about 9 p.m.  I couldn't eat a whole small pizza, so I had the girl put it in a box for me to take back to my room.  I ate the remaining three pieces on my way to Springfield the next day.

Krieger's is the one of the best sports bars in St. Louis.  Their menu may not be as eclectic as what you find at Ozzie's, but the food is still pretty good.  I've drank many a beer at various Krieger's around the St. Louis area and I'm sure I'll drink many more.    

(Update - This particular Krieger's is now the Highlander Pub and Grill.  See my entry on that place here.  There are only two Krieger's left in the St. Louis area - one in St. Louis and what is, I believe, the original Krieger's in Chesterfield.  I've been to the one in Chesterfield probably two or three times since this entry was made in 2007 and it's still pretty much the same above average food and service.  It's a great place to catch a sporting event.)

Arena Sports Grille - Elmhurst, IL

I'm really starting to like Elmhurst, IL when I go into Chicago.  It has kind of a small town feel to it, but it's smack dab in the middle of the Chicagoland metro area.  There's a number of good places to eat and drink in Elmhurst.  And a place that I have known about for a long time, but never visited until recently, is the Arena Sports Grille on Lake Ave. (see map).

From the outside, the Arena doesn't look that big.  There's been tons of cars in the lot every time I've gone by, but this one time I decided to go in and have a beer and a sandwich and check the place out. 

I found that it's a lot larger on the inside than it appears from outside.  They have nearly 50 televisions throughout the place, a pretty good menu featuring the usual sports bar fare - wings, burgers, sandwiches, etc. - and they also have a selection of steak, seafood, and chicken. 

Arena Sports Grille has a pretty good variety of beers to choose from.  Except this has to be the only bar in the Chicago area that does not serve Anheuser-Busch products.  That's right, no Bud Light, no Budweiser, no Michelob.  Nothing at all from A-B.   I just thought that to be very strange.

The Arena features a series of bar and food specials through the week.  They have a large are full of pool tables.  And they carry virtually all of the sports packages shown on satellite television today.

When I was in Chicago recently, I'd had a long day and decided to stop into the Arena to get some dinner and catch some basketball on television.  I sat at the bar and ordered up a beer and a menu.  Unfortunately, the music was so loud in the bar it was almost unbearable to sit in the place.  Thankfully, they were playing classic rock tunes and not hip-hop. 

But there was a lot of basketball on.  College games, pro games - there had to be 15 to 20 different games on.  But one of the other problems I had was that I was close to a Duke supporter.  He was obnoxiously loud as he was cheering the Blue Devils on against North Carolina.  He got so bad that one of the floor managers had to come over to settle him down.  Thankfully, he moved to another area of the bar soon after that.

I had hoped to get the roast pork dinner special that night, but the bartender informed me that the specials only went to 8 p.m. (it was about 8:15 when I got in there).  So I ended up ordering a Prime Rib French Dip sandwich with cottage cheese. 

It wasn't bad.  In fact, it was pretty good.  I didn't care for the grilled onions on the sandwich, nor the creamy horseradish they served with it.  But the meat was flavorful and tender, and the bun didn't over-power the taste of the meat. 

Other than the music being too loud in the place, and the obnoxious Duke fan that was seated near me for a short while, the Arena Sports Grille is everything one would be looking for in a sports bar.  Good selections of food, beer, and viewing choices.  And when you get tired of watching the game, you can always challenge your friends to a game of pool.  It's one of the nicer sports bars I've been in.   

The Letter Club - Omaha

Thanx to Chuck Ellis who informed me the Letter Club has closed their doors. 

I wrote about the abundance of great sports bars in the Omaha/Lincoln area in a post over a year ago.  I don't know if I've been to an area that has such a large selection of very good sports bars.  The Letter Club in Omaha (see map) may have set the bar a little higher for the other sports bars in the area. 

The majority owners of The Letter Club are former Nebraska Football players Aaron Taylor and Scott Frost, and former Nebraska Baseball player Aaron Bilyeu.  Actually, the official name of the place is The Scarlet and Cream Letter Club - after the colors of the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

I met up with my buddy, Chuck Ellis, at The Letter Club one evening during a recent trip to Omaha.  Actually, The Letter Club is located within the new Village Point shopping center and is within sight of the new Hilton Garden Inn on the far west side of Omaha, the hotel that I stayed at during my visit. 

The main room of the bar/restaurant looks a little industrial, but it has two 25 foot diagonal projection screens on either end of the main room.  And there are another 40 televisions of all sizes located throughout the place, including 13" televisions at each booth. 

And all through the place was Nebraska Football memorabilia.  We had to take a quick look at some of the stuff before we sat down.  And we had to look at more of it before we left. 

Chuck and I sat at the bar and had a few beers.  Since he had already eaten that evening, I grabbed a menu from our bartender, Amanda.  The menu consisted of normal sports bar food with appetizers, burgers and sandwiches along with some main entrees consisting of steaks, seafood, pasta and chicken.

It wasn't busy at the bar, so Amanda clued me in as to what the best sandwiches were from the grill.  She convinced me to try the Oskie Chicken Sandwich - a grilled spicy chicken breast topped with a slice of corned beef and a generous slathering of chipotle mayo sauce.  It came with seasoned fries, but for a buck more you could substitute onion rings.  I went in that direction.

I wish I'd gotten the seasoned fries (even though I might not have eaten the seasoned fries, either).  The onion rings absolutely sucked.  They were inedible.  Chuck, who heads the meat department at an Omaha area Hy-Vee, said that it looked like they were the pre-made frozen variety.  Whatever they were, they were horrible.

But as bad as the onion rings were, the Oskie Chicken sandwich was outstanding.  Amanda certainly didn't steer me wrong on the chicken.  It had a great taste sensation to it.  I don't eat enough chicken sandwiches on the road, but I will come back to The Letter Club and get that sandwich again.  It was very good. 

The Nebraska football program has a storied past and a lot of great memorabilia is on display at The Letter Club.  Along with the abundance of televisions throughout the place, and the good food (though don't go for the onion rings), and a nice selection of beers, The Letter Club is a great addition to the already large number of very good sports bars in the Omaha/Lincoln area.    

Playmakers - Fargo, ND

Named one of the 25 Best Sports Bars by Sports Illustrated magazine, Playmakers in Fargo, ND is one of the best sports bars/entertainment complexes I've ever been in. 

Situated on the west side of Fargo (see map), Playmakers is a sports bar, casino, night club, and show venue all rolled into one.  It is truly amazing and is something to see.

Playmakers is owned by Lee Swanson, Jr., a Fargo area man who has built his fortune with Swanson Health Products, a large vitamin mail-order company founded by his father in the 60's.  Swanson also owns a number of gentleman's clubs around the Fargo area, as well.

My dealer in Fargo installed a whole house audio/video system into Lee Swanson, Jr's luxury loft apartment in downtown Fargo, so he has inside privilege to getting behind the scenes at Playmakers.  After he took me on a tour of Lee's loft, he took me over to Playmakers.   

Swanson opened Playmakers in the 80's, primarily as a sports bar.  In 1991, Swanson opened "The Pavilion", which was nothing more than a large pole barn attached to Playmakers primarily used for live musical acts and boxing events.  A couple years ago, Swanson sunk millions of dollars into The Pavilion to update it.  And how.  The Pavilion gave way to "The Venue" 

The Venue is pretty nifty - it's a large area that will seat 500 people, or accommodate up to 2000 people for standing room only for small concerts.  It has it's own permanent stage with high tech lighting and a state-of-the-art P.A. system.  It has a main bar area in the back side of the main floor, and a more formal bar area upstairs in the balcony area.

The Venue has a number of private "sky-boxes" in the balcony that are either owned or can be rented out for events and concerts.  There's a mezzanine of tables and chairs on the front side of the balcony that are terraced for optimum viewing. (My dealer said he saw a recent Bruce Hornsby show from those seats.)

There's also a nice little lounge area in the back part of the balcony, called "The Sky Box Lounge" that includes a pool table and comfortable seating, along with large screen televisions.  For Fargo, it's pretty classy.  Actually, if it were in Chicago, it would still be pretty classy.   

There are two 16 foot projection screens on either side of the stage, along with a number of plasma screens along the wall to allow people to see the performance.  My dealer said that he bid on the plasmas, but the bid went to the people who put in the P.A. system.  He said, "Lee told me that he just felt it would be more prudent to keep the number of sub-contractors to a minimum.  To be quite honest with you, I'm glad I didn't get the job."

The main sports bar/casino at Playmakers is one of the nicest I've ever been in.  With 4 large screens, a number of plasma panels and individual 13" LCD monitors in each booth, there's no way a person could miss any of the action on TV.  The casual, yet classy atmosphere of the sports bar area makes Playmakers one of the most unique sports bars I've ever seen.

Off to the other side of the sports bar area, there's "The House of Rock", an upscale nightclub/dance club area.  The club features diverse music selections - everything from rock to country to hip-hop to 50's and 60's.  The decor is funky and art-decoish, and it looked like it would be a fun place.

We were there in the middle part of the morning before the bar/restaurant opened up, but I checked out the menu and it looked like it was a little more than just your standard sports bar food.  My dealer said, "Oh, yeah.  They have steaks and seafood here.  The food is wonderful.  My wife and I come here quite a bit to eat."

Fargo is one of those cities that is surprisingly nice.  In my visits to the area, I've gone away with a more positive image of the town each time I've left.  And Playmakers is one of those places that helps make Fargo truly surprising.  It may be the nicest sports bar complex I've ever been in.   

Brewskys - Omaha/Lincoln, NE

Brewsky's is a small chain of pretty nice sports bars in Lincoln, NE.  I happened to meet a buddy at the Omaha location (of which I didn't know existed) for a few beers and some appetizers one evening. 

Brewsky's started in 1990 in Lincoln when two brothers, Jim and Jon Mumgaard, and a buddy, Brian Kitten, opened the first location in the downtown area near the University of Nebraska campus.  The concept of Brewsky's as a sports bar with good food caught on right away. 

In 1992, the owners hired a chef, Ed Janousek, to upgrade their already good food offerings.  Janousek, who was named a Nationally Certified Executive chef in 1997, oversees a wide and varied menu that includes both standard sports bar food as well as aged steaks, pork chops, gourment burgers and my favorite, an albacore tuna salad sandwich with melted cheese. 

In 1994, Brewsky's opened a second location on the north side of Lincoln.  They expanded to SE Lincoln in 1999, Omaha in 2001, and opened a fifth location in the Haymarket Square area of Lincoln in 2005.   

I've now been to three of the Brewsky's locations and each offer pretty much the same thing - a lot of televisions, good food, a great selection of beers and a very nice selection of single malt Scotch whisky.  Each Brewsky's has advanced satellite packages and offer nearly every sports channel available.  I understand the Brewsky's locations are packed for NFL games on Sunday. 

On a recent visit to the Brewsky's in Southeast Lincoln (see map), I had lunch there.  I didn't really know what I wanted that particular day.  I was sort of burned out on burgers, a reuben didn't sound all that good to me.  I was having a lot of problems trying to figure out what to have when the waitress came over and asked me if I was ready to order.  I sort of hemmed and hawed for a moment and I finally asked her, "What do you like?"

She said, "You like tuna?"  I said I did.  "Our tuna melt is pretty tough to beat."  I ordered the tuna melt with fries.

And she wasn't kidding.  The tuna melt was full of very good tuna salad.  It had an ample amount of American cheese melted on top.  And the slices of the whole wheat bread were thick and had a nice grilled taste.  It was simply one of the better tuna melts I've ever had.  And it's usually tough to find an outstanding tuna melt sandwich anywhere.

There's something about the sports bars in Omaha and Lincoln - they're all very good.  There's a lot of competition in the market and they all have to keep up with one another.  I think the food at Brewsky's is probably the best compared to the other sports bars in the area.  If you're a sports junkie and need some good food to go along with your sports, Brewsky's is the place. 

Jillian's - Indianapolis

Jillian's is one of those places that is tough to categorize.  Although it's a sports bar with a full menu and a number of great beers and mixed drinks to choose from, it's also a destination for fun and play mainly geared for adults ages 25 and older. 

We were in Indianapolis a few days ago with our friends, Scott and Marcia Schroeder; and Dave and Pat Heusmann.  It was a Saturday night and the St. Louis Cardinals were playing the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series and Scott wanted to go somewhere that had food, beer and a lot of TV's.  Dave, on the other hand, doesn't care for baseball, but wanted to watch college football that night.  Me, who likes both college football and baseball, had to come up with a place that was appealing not only for the guys, but for our wives, as well.

I had a lot of options for sports bars in downtown Indianapolis we I settled on the Jillian's near Conseco Fieldhouse.

Jillian's motto of "Eat! Drink! Play!" has been in effect since the first one was built in 1988 in Boston during the height of the billiards craze that was beginning to sweep the nation.  Nearly each Jillian's features a full menu restaurant, sports bar, private party rooms, a specialty restaurant, a dance club, a bowling alley, a billiard area, and all kinds of amazing video simulation games and old favorites that are geared to an adult crowd.  Here's a map of the three floors of the Indianapolis location.

After 8 p.m., most Jillian's game rooms and bowling alleys are only open to patrons 21 and over, keeping the rug rats out of the way when you're trying to impress your wife or girlfriend at how well you're able to blast alien warships out of the sky.  It's nice to not have some little 12-year-old smart-ass show you up by getting 100,000 points after you'd just got your all-time high score of 7200 points.       

Jillian's is a lot like Dave and Buster's, a similar chain of adult-themed restaurant and gaming areas based out of Texas with over 40 locations across America.  In fact, nine of the Jillian's were acquired by Dave and Buster's, Inc. through auction when Jillian's parent company - JBC Entertainment - filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection over two years ago.  Dave and Buster's also acquired the rights to Jillian's name and the "Eat! Drink! Play!" motto.

The Indianapolis location, as well as 17 other locations, are owned by Jillian's Billiard's, Inc., of Louisville, KY.  Dave and Buster's, Inc. has rolled all but three of the acquired Jillian's locations into Dave and Buster's.  The remaining three - outside of Atlanta, in Houston and in Phoenix - will become Dave and Buster's shortly.       

But for the meantime, the one in Indy was going strong.  We had to wait about 45 minutes for a table in Jillian's Video cafe, the restaurant was that busy.  But that was OK - the girls sat at the bar drinking and talking, while the guys stood and watched a variety of college football games and the baseball game. 

When we finally sat, we were still able to catch the sports action on the 40" television sets they have throughout the restaurant.  The guys were happy campers and the girls were just happy to be getting something to eat.

The menu at Jillian's Video Cafe is standard sports bar fare - nothing outstanding, but nothing bad.  I went with the Buffalo chicken tenders - small cuts of chicken breasts cooked in hot and spicy buffalo wing sauce.  Cindy and Marcia went with the grilled lemon chicken over fettuccine.  Pat had the chicken breast with a side of garlic mashed potatoes, Dave had the Philly cheese steak sandwich and Scott had the peppercorn encrusted blue cheese burger. 

My dinner was OK, they gave me a lot of spicy chicken tenders.  (A tip - get the hot sauce and not the extra hot on the chicken tenders.  I like hot but those were bordering inedible.)  But they were a little cold as they probably sat under the warming lamps waiting for everyone else's dinners to come up. 

Cindy and Marcia really liked their meal, as did Pat.  Dave devoured his Philly cheese steak and said it was great.  Scott sort of picked at his burger, but when I looked up after I tried to finish all of my chicken tenders and he was just finishing off his burger.  He said it was good, as well.

After dinner, I took everyone up to the arcade on the second floor and Scott and Marcia watched the rest of the baseball game, while the rest of us watched Dave play some of the machines.  It was kind of nice not having a lot of little kids running around in the place, but at the same time it was rather busy with all the activities going on. 

I took Dave, Pat and Cindy up to the bowling alley on the third floor and they were having "glow-bowling" - bowling with fluorescent balls and pins under black lights.  One of the neat things about the bowling alleys is that they have four 80" projection televisions on the wall above the pin boxes so you can watch the game while bowling at the same time. 

Jillian's is a neat place, but I like Dave and Buster's better for both the food and the entertainment.  There's a Dave and Buster's near where I stay at in the Chicago area and I'll have to go in and have dinner there sometime soon and report back on that.   

(Update January 2012 - Jillian's in Indianapolis filed for bankruptcy in 2011 and closed in October of that year.  There is now a Tilted Kilt in Jillian's old location.  I don't know if they still are using the arcade and the bowling alleys on the upper floors.)

Shoeless Joe's - Rosemont, IL

Shoeless Joe's in Rosemont, IL is located next to the Best Western O'Hare just north of O'Hare International Airport and next to Allstate Arena (see map).  I'd been hearing ads for the place on sports talk radio stations on my trips into Chicago.  I was in Chicago recently and I was in the neighborhood and it was late in the day.  I was tired, I was thirsty and I was hungry - good combinations for me when I want to relax. 

Shoeless Joe's is named after the former great Chicago White Sox player, Joe Jackson.  The owner, Joe Macchiatelli, opened Shoeless Joe's (along with Butch Navarro) about 12 years ago and the place is filled with a large number of White Sox memorabilia.  It's rather interesting to find a White Sox-themed bar on the northwest side of Chicago. 

Shoeless Joe's is not a huge place, but it has over 30 televisions, along with four projectors and screens, and from what I saw, at least 5 or 6 plasma HD monitors.  They have 25 satellite receivers so they can show virtually any game in any sport at any time. 

I sat at the bar and the bartender was right over.  I took a beer and a menu and watched a couple of the games on the televisions.  Their menu is pretty varied, going from standard bar food like chicken wings, burgers and sandwiches, to steaks, chicken marsala and ribs.  They also serve pizza, too, but I sure didn't see anybody eating one. 

I got the Italian hoagie sandwich - about the only thing that I really miss from Pizza Hut was their hoagie sandwiches.  The one at Shoeless Joe's was similar to the old Italian hoagies I loved to get at Pizza Hut.  It was salami, cappacola and pepperoni on a good sized toasted Italian hoagie bun, topped with mozzarella cheese, lettuce, tomato slices and Italian dressing.  It came with a load of fries, as well.

The sandwich was very good.  The bread was toasted perfectly, there was a lot of meat and ample toppings.  I thought the Italian dressing was a little weak and I asked the barmaid for some extra dressing.  It didn't help.

I'm not big on fries, but I have to say that the fries at Shoeless Joe's were some of the best fries I've had in quite some time.  They were cooked perfectly.  Light and fluffy, but had a little crispiness to 'em, too.

With four beers and a sandwich, the bill - with tip - came to just over $20 bucks.  They must have had some beer special going on as each beer was just $2.00. 

But Shoeless Joe's was a nice place.  Good food, lots of TV's, good service.  I'll be back.

Time Out Restaurant and Sports Bar - Elk River, MN

I screwed up some reservations at a hotel and ended up in Otsego, MN one night recently at a Holiday Inn that I thought would be right next to Interstate 94, but it turned out that it was about 8 miles away from the freeway.  But right across the Mississippi River from Otsego is Elk River, a nice little Minnesota town that is growing right and left because of the urban sprawl from Minneapolis.

I didn't want to eat at the restaurant in the hotel, which I usually stay away from if I know there are other options available in the immediate area.  So I went up the road a couple miles to a sports bar that I found listed called Time Out Restaurant and Sports Bar.

Time Out is a nice place situated on the corner of a small retail complex.  It looks relatively new both on the outside and on the inside.  They have a number of 32 inch televisions throughout the place, a dance floor with a little D.J. perch, and a projection television and screen just off the dance floor. 

It also has all these words such as "Dance" or "Smile" or "Happy" made out of wrought iron that are hanging on the walls and ceiling.  It was strange, to say the least.  It was like they were trying to remind you to have good time while you're in the place.   

When I went in, I expected to see a number of baseball games on the TV - at the very least, the Twins on TV - but they had "Revenge of the Nerds II" on a couple TV's, some lame ESPN programming on a couple others and the rest of the sets had a random potpourri of non-sports shows on them.  Hell, even the NBA play-offs were on and they didn't have the game between Detroit and Cleveland on any of the TV's.  I don't think they even had a satellite dish, at least I didn't see any when I left. 

Then again, there weren't a lot of people in the place and there was only one bartender and a waiter and waitress.  It really appeared that no one was watching any of the TV's.  In fact, when I asked the bartender if she could change one of the channels to the Twins game, she had to go in the back to find a remote control.

Time Out had a full menu that featured pastas, steaks, burgers, sandwiches, and interestingly enough, pizza.  Something kept calling me back to the pizza when I was looking at the menu.  I thought, "Geez, I'm going to have pizza tomorrow night with my guys in St. Cloud.  I'd better get something else."

Do you ever get that feeling in your stomach that only one thing will taste good?  That was how I was feeling with the pizza. 

Their specialty pizza was called the "Elk River Pizza", which featured my favorite combination of toppings - Italian sausage, pepperoni and mushroom.  I asked the bartender if the crust was thin and she said, "Well, it's not thick, but it's not thin.  It's good." 

And it was good.  Surprisingly good.  The sausage was good and spicy and in big chunks.  There didn't seem to be a lot of mushrooms and pepperoni on it, however. 

They also had one of my favorite beers in the world on tap - Summit Extra Pale Ale.  And the prices were very reasonable for beer - $4.50 for a 23 ounce glass. 

It turns out that Time Out Restaurant and Sports Bar has a second location in Blaine, MN, a suburb in the far north area of Minneapolis.  The menu at the Blaine location is similar to the one in Elk River with a few variations. 

I don't know if I'll be staying in Elk River/Otsego area any time too soon, but I'd go back to Time Out, if just for the food.  I didn't think that it was too much of a sports bar rather than an entertainment complex.  But it was still a lot nicer than other sports bars I've been in. 

ESPN Zone

The ESPN Zone is ESPN's answer to the ever increasing number of sports bars and restaurants that are popping up every where across the nation. 

The first ESPN Zone sports bar opened in Baltimore in 1999 and I visited it in May of 2000.  At the time, it was pretty neat, by far the best sports bar I'd ever been in.  There were televisions every where, there was information every where.  For a sports fan, it was pretty amazing.

ESPN Zone Baltimore

And it's for kids of all ages, too.  There's a monster game room upstairs in the ESPN Zone that has all the current cool games from video to table games, from shooting baskets to throwing footballs at targets.  However, kids under 18 must be accompanied a parent or guardian. 

They have a special V.I.P. area with a lounge and special recliner seats.  And, of course, just to pry more money out of you, they have a gift shop area, as well. 

The food is OK and overpriced.  The beer selection is OK, as well.  But what brings you in and sucks you in is the modern industrial decor with tons of games on for you to watch.

The one in Baltimore is down in the Inner Harbor section near Oriole Park at Camden Yards stadium (see map), which is, by the way, the best baseball stadium I've ever been in.

The other two ESPN Zone's I've been to are in Las Vegas and Chicago.  There's eight ESPN Zone's altogether.  The ones in Las Vegas and Chicago are about the same as the one in Baltimore.  Except the one in Las Vegas is in the New York New York hotel and casino, and is literally just next to their sports book area.

ESPN Zone in downtown Chicago on E. Ohio

As I said, the ESPN Zone can get a little pricey.  My friend Scott Schroeder and I sat in the one in Chicago a couple three weeks ago watching the Iowa/Michigan State basketball game while Cindy and Scott's wife, Marcia, were out shopping.  We were there for about two hours and our beer tab - just our beer tab, we had no food - came to over $50 bucks.  We did drink some beer, but certainly not enough for us to be getting close to being gassed.

The ESPN Zone's are neat places, but there are a number of other sports bars that are a much better value.

(Update - The ESPN Zone in downtown Chicago is now closed.  It closed in 2010 and was replaced by a Brazillian steakhouse.)

Ozzie's - St. Louis

Located in the famous Westport Plaza shopping and entertainment area of west St. Louis, Ozzie's (see map) isn't as much of a sports bar with pretty good food as it is a shrine to the former St. Louis Cardinal Hall of Fame shortstop, Ozzie Smith. Ozzie's has loads of televisions, loads of memorabilia and loads of food on their menu.  It's a great place to spend an hour just looking around at all the stuff.

Ozzie Smith - #1 in your program and #1 in your heart.

You'll see a number of trophies and memorabilia from Ozzie, himself.  There are a couple of his Gold Glove awards on display. I believe he won 13 of 'em, so there's a few more rolling around somewhere.  There's bats, balls, plaques, pictures, headlines and other things that not only Cardinal fans would like, but baseball fans in general. 

Ozzie's has a big dining area and a spacious bar area.  The bar is a large square with televisions at about every viewing angle.  If there's a game on, they'll have it.

The food is not too bad for a sports bar.  They do steaks, ribs, pasta, the usual sports bar fare of burgers, and other fried food and appetizers.  They have an adequate beer selection (but I think Ozzie's needs to turn the temp on their coolers down about 10 degrees - the last couple of times I've been in there the beer has not been as cold as I would like). 

Ozzie's is definitely suitable for the whole family.  They have party and private rooms available.  There are video games if you don't want to watch sports.  But take the time to grab a beer and walk around and look at the memorabilia before or after you eat at Ozzie's.  It's one of those places that keeps you coming back.

Update - Ozzie's has moved to a new location in downtown St. Louis (see map).  I've been meaning to go to there on visits to St. Louis, but have not made it in yet.

Omaha Sports Bars

I first walked into a place in Omaha called "The Scorecard" in 1987.  I was out there for business and I was staying at a hotel just down the street.  I thought I'd go in for burger and a couple beers, but I soon found out that it was more than than a burger bar.

Behind the bar were two televisions showing two separate major league baseball games.  Above the bar were two more television showing TWO OTHER baseball games.  I sat down at a little table and I looked over to my left and on the wall was another television showing ANOTHER baseball game.  I was in heaven!

I'd been to Griff's in Houston a couple times before, but that place - at that time - was no where near the television and sports haven The Scorecard was.  It was more of an Irish bar that just happened to have some TV's hanging around the place.

As time went on, The Scorecard quickly became my home away from home.  I got to know a lot of the regulars in there, one of the bar managers, Randy, became a good friend.   Beer prices were higher than most other places (a whopping $1.75 a bottle back then!), but as Randy told me one time as he swept his hand around the bar, "Where else can you go and get all this?"

When the 1988 and 1989 NCAA basketball tournaments were played, I made sure I was in Omaha and planted at one of the choice seats at The Scorecard to be able to catch all the first and second round games.  Like I say, I was in heaven. 

As time went on and I quit traveling to Omaha, I longed for a place like The Scorecard in Davenport.  Halftime Sports Bar came about the closest, but they closed down a few years ago.  When I started to travel to Omaha again in 1999, one of my first stops was to The Scorecard.  Only it wasn't The Scorecard any longer.  It was now D.J.'s Dugout.  It looked the same, a little more tired, but it was about the same as it was before.  Food was still the same sports bar fare, and they had the same set up for televisions.  Compared to places I'd been in from the time I first walked into The Scorecard and when I went back in when it was D.J.'s Dugout, there were many others that had passed them by.

One of those places was not far from D.J.'s - The Ice House in NW Omaha is a larger place with more TV's - including individual 13" monitors in the booths on the east side of the restaurant.  If you want to watch what you want to watch, you can sit in one of the booths. 

The food at The Ice House is similar to D.J.'s Dugout, but The Ice House has pretty good calzones and pizza.  Not great pizza, but edible. 

The Ice House had two locations in Omaha when I first started going there, but they closed up their Ralston location on the far south side of Omaha a few years ago.  These days, The Ice House also has live entertainment some nights in the form of bands or comedians.  They also have a great Tuesday night celebration where it's a $5.00 cover charge and $1.00 beers and call drinks.  That REALLY brings the girls out.

Another place that is good to watch not only the sports, but watch the girls, as well, is The Arena on N. 90th in north Omaha.  The waitresses are all "Hooters" type girls who wear tight short t-shirts and shorts or tight pants.  The food at The Arena is standard bar food, but I do like their hot beef sandwich there, as well as a sandwich called the Nebraska Club - corned beef and roast beef piled high.   

One of the other places I like going in Omaha is Pauli's on Leavenworth just east of 42nd St. (see map).  Pauli's bills itself as the home bar for the College World Series held each June in Omaha.  It's a much smaller place than D.J.'s Dugout and The Ice House, but it seems to be more friendly and more intimate.  Pauli's definitely does not have the amount of televisions the other two places have, the food is regular bar food, burgers are good, not great. 

I understand there's a Pauli's now out at Eppley Airfield.  That would be a great place to hang while waiting for a plane in Omaha.

I'll never forget the feeling I first got walking into The Scorecard and looking at all the baseball games on TV at one time.  Since then, I've found some much better sports bars, but I'll never forget The Scorecard.

Major Goolsby's - Milwaukee, WI

Located in downtown Milwaukee, next to the US Cellular Arena, up from the Midwest Airlines Convention Center and down the street from the Bradley Center, Major Goolsby's is probably more of a sports bar that happens to make good burgers than a burger place that is a sports bar. 

The walls are a museum of Milwaukee sports history and it's always fun to look around the place.  They have tons of TV's to watch games and lots of great beers to choose from. 

But the draw for me to Goolsby's is their burgers.  1/3 pound char-broiled burgers cooked over an open flame pit.  There's really not much to 'em - they don't have a load of condiments to put on (mustard is in packet rather than in bottles).  But, oh, man!  Are they good!

We first had a Major Goolsby burger at Summerfest, the annual music festival held on the Milwaukee lake shore, a few years ago.  The burgers at Summerfest are as good as the ones they make downtown.  And after a full day of drinking beer, they're great to pick up on the way out of the grounds for the ride home. 

Sports Illustrated's Top Sports Bars

Sports Illustrated listed their top 25 sports bars in America in a February 2005 issue.  Turned out that I'd been a number of them.  Some of them I thought were pretty neat and worthy of the mention, some were sort of surprising that they even made it on the list.  And there are a few I've been in that I would have put on this list before a couple others that made it.

Here's my take on those that I've been in:

Major Goolsby's - Milwaukee.  Right across from the U.S. Cellular Arena (formerly the Milwaukee Arena) and down the street from the Bradley Center.  Great burgers and good beer selection (see my review in "Burger Joints").  My cousin told me that former U. Wisconsin-Milwaukee basketball coach Bruce Pearl went in there after every home game, win or lose, to have a beer and a burger and to hob-nob with fans. 

It's a good sized place and I've only been in during the middle of the day to get a burger and a beer, but I understand it can be standing room only before and after games downtown. 

McDuffy's - Tempe.  It's just west of Sun Devil Stadium.  Tons of TVs and tons of games.  Good sized place.  I went there in 1993 to watch an Iowa basketball game when I was down visiting my sister.  Actually, I went to the Vine in Tempe first (owned by Joe Kennedy, who owns the Vine's in Iowa City), but they didn't have the game on satellite (they only had cable).  The girl behind the bar said, "Oh, you're looking for a game on satellite, go to McDuffy's..."  So I did.

The Cubby Bear - Chicago.  Been to both of them - the one in Wrigleyville and the one up north in Lincolnshire.  I used to stay at the Hampton Inn and Suites just caddy-cornered from the one up in Lincolnshire so I know that one very well.  But their bloody mary's before a game across from Wrigley are a must. 

Griff's - Houston.  Went there a couple times when I lived in Houston in the mid-80's.  Actually, a buddy from Newton who was living down there took me to the place after an Astros game one night and I went back and had lunch there another time when I was working over by the Galleria.  More of an Irish pub, if I remember right.  I remember the burger being good, though.

Chappell's - Kansas City.  Now Chappell's is a neat place.  If you ever get a chance to get to Chappell's it's worth the trip.  They have so much sports crap in there, I've been there a couple three times and I don't know if I've seen everything in there.  It's fun to just grab a beer and wander around the place.  It's kind of down in the bottoms north of downtown KC where a lot of other good restaurants are.  The food is pretty good for a sports bar.

Majerle's - Phoenix.  Right down town about two blocks from America West Arena and three or four blocks from the Bank One Ballpark, aka the "BOB".  My sister took me in there for drinks and appetizers when I was down in Phoenix in 1993. Majerle's had a lot of NBA memorabilia in there and some good pictures.  Not very big, from what I remember.  But a fun place. 

Rusty's - Manhattan, KS (see map)   I about crapped when I saw Rusty's on this list.  I remember my exact words when I saw them listed, "Holy shit! They've got Rusty's in here!" 

Rusty's is in Aggieville, the mid-campus down town equivalent to Dog Town over in Ames.  Rusty's was right across the street from The Sound Shoppe, the place I used to call on in Manhattan. 

I went there almost every time I went to Manhattan.   I really don't remember it being a sports bar, any more than the Fieldhouse or the Airliner in Iowa City could be called sports bars, but it was sure fun, nonetheless. 

Man, I had so many great nights in Manhattan. I may have to make up an excuse to go out there sometime this spring. What a great little town Manhattan is...

State Street Brats - Madison.  It actually says "The Tavern" on the sign out front, but everyone knows it as State Street Brats.  Been in this place so many times I can't even begin to count them up. 

We were in there after the Iowa football win a couple years ago for a beer.  I just had to go in there that night.  I wanted to go back in after we had dinner across the street when Iowa beat Wisconsin again in 2005, but the line to get in was long - too long to stand in just for a beer.  The red brats at State Street Brats are great and the beer selection is wonderful.

Joe Senser's - Bloomington.  There are actually three Joe Senser's around the Twin Cities (Bloomington), (Roseville), (Eagen), but I usually stay at the Hampton Inn next to the one in Bloomington and have eaten and drank in there on many occasions. 

In fact, I was going through receipts this morning and there was a receipt from Joe Senser's the last time I was up for a hot beef sandwich (which is outrageously great) and a couple beers while watching the American and National League play-offs - at the same time.  Good sized joint, lots of TV's.  I like sitting at the bar and watching two or three games at one time. 

Orlando Ale House - If this is the same one that I'm thinking of, I had lunch there with my buddy, Pat Clarke, a TV sportscaster in Orlando, when I was down there three or four years ago.  But I think this one was up in Altamonte Springs. 

I remember it was called the Ale House, but I don't remember it called Orlando Ale House, unless there's more than one.  It was a pretty good sized place, though.  Lots of TV's and the food was very good, from what I remember.  Of course, Pat knew everybody and everybody knew Pat. 

He also took me to Sam Snead's in Orlando - an unbelievably neat place if you're in to golf.  And good food, too.

Two places on the list that I wish I'd gone to but didn't know about them - The National Sports Grill in Anaheim and Playmakers in Fargo.

The National Sports Grill has three locations in Orange County.  I was at Angel Stadium when I was in So. California on business last January.  I mean, I was in the parking lot, looking at the two big red Angels hats at the front entrance of the stadium.  I wish to hell I'd known about the National as one of their restaurants is literally in the shadow of the stadium. 

Regarding Playmakers, it's not like I never made the effort to go.  I asked my dealer, Rod Shafer of Arctic Audio up in Fargo about Playmakers and he said, "Oh, God, Will.  The place is huge.  They've got a sports bar and a little concert hall and a casino and a big room for receptions.  It's a neat place.  I forgot you're a big sports fan.  When you come up this summer we'll go out there for lunch."

So I go up in May and Rod and I go over to the place for a sandwich.  He kept saying, "Oh, man.  You'll love this place.  It's really cool."

We get to the door - locked.  They weren't serving lunches any longer.  Rod said, "Well, that had to just happen.  I wonder if they do that for the summer months."  The place didn't open until 4 p.m. and I wasn't going to stay around town that long.  Next time I go up, I'll spend the night and head over.

The ones I visited were all pretty neat places, but I've seen a number of others that I'll comment on later.