Willy McCoys - Bloomington, MN

Up in the Twin Cities last fall, I was looking for someplace to go that would be showing playoff baseball where I could get a cold beer and some above average bar food.  I looked for places around the hotel where I was staying and I found a place that I wasn't familiar with - Willy McCoys.  I sort of cringed thinking that this was going to be one of those family-friendly "good-time-had-by-all" theme restaurants.  But then I found out that they had the Kona Big Wave Golden Ale on tap - my beer of choice these days.  I thought, "What the hell.  If the food sucks, at least they'll have baseball on TV and Big Wave on tap."  I took off to go find Willy McCoys in Bloomington.  

Tom DeQuattro grew up on the East Coast and got into the restaurant business at a very early age.  He was running restaurants in Michigan and in the Miami area in his 20's.  It was in Florida where he met Korey Bannerman, a former gymnast at the University of Minnesota who was a partner in a company called Premier Restaurant Management.  Bannerman convinced DeQuattro to head to the Twin Cities to manage a restaurant called The Lodge.  DeQuattro didn't know how long he would be staying in Minnesota, but it wasn't too long after he moved to the state he met his future wife, Tracy.  Suddenly, the Upper Midwest became DeQuattro's permanent home.  

DeQuattro and Bannerman became involved in other restaurants, most notably the former Whiskey River Saloon that had locations in Madison and LaCrosse, WI, and a restaurant called The Pub also located in Madison.  (They have also opened a couple of restaurants in the Naples, FL area.)  In 2012, they decided to take over a former restaurant location in the far northwest Minneapolis suburb of Ramsey and open a new concept restaurant that would be family friendly - complete with its own PlayStation area for kids - as well as a sports bar with a number of craft beers available on tap.  They called it Willy McCoys and it became an immediate hit.  Today, there are six Willy McCoys in the Twin Cities area.  The Bloomington location that I went to opened in 2015.  

Now, most theme restaurants like this usually have a made up name with a made up story behind the name.  But it turned out that there really was a Willy McCoy - William "Bill" McCoy, to be exact.  McCoy and his brother were sea captains and yacht builders in Florida in the early 1900's.  When Prohibition took effect in 1919, McCoy became a bootlegger, or as they were known in the Caribbean a "rum runner", who would fill his boats with cases of rum from Caribbean islands and bring them to the United States.  He became proficient at the task earning millions of dollars for his efforts and becoming the darling of criminal folklore in the early 1920's.  The federal government finally caught up to McCoy in 1923 sentencing him to 9 months of prison time.  After serving his sentence in New Jersey, McCoy went back to Florida and invested his ill-gotten gains in real estate, living there until he passed away in 1948.  

Since I'd been experimenting with the OMAD (One Meal a Day) Diet that has helped me lose over 50 pounds, I'd been eating usually late in the afternoon.  And it was just after 5 p.m. when I pulled into the Willy McCoys in Bloomington located in a strip mall on the southwest corner of West Old Shakopee Road and France Ave. South. (see map) 

The Bloomington Willy McCoys has a large and open space with a bar area in the middle.  Overhead garage doors opened to a patio, but it was a cool fall afternoon when I was there and they were closed.  The place was packed with an after work/early dinner crowd.  I took a seat at the crowded bar, a couple young ladies scooched over to let me have some room.  Major League playoff baseball games were playing on the sets hung over the center of the bar area.  

Amongst the dozen of handles on the row of taps I saw the distinctive ocean blue Kona Big Wave Golden Ale tap handle.  I ordered one of those up and started to take a look through the food menu.  The bar area had a tin ceiling about it and it was enhanced by a blue light around the edge.  

When the bartender brought me my beer, he actually brought two beers.  I soon figured out that happy hour at Willy McCoys meant two-for-one beers.  So, I suddenly had two pints of Kona Big Wave sitting in front of me.  And that really wasn't that bad of a thing.   

Looking through the menu, I saw number of typical items that you'd find at a similar family/sports bar - appetizers, burgers, salads, sandwiches, flatbreads, soups and a few entrees.  But they were actually pretty different and rather interesting compared to menus at similar restaurants.  Appetizers at Willie McCoys included pot stickers that were pan-seared in a whiskey ginger sauce, blackened beef bites, and a Southwest-style shredded chicken dip that was made with a creamy concoction mixed with diced tomatoes, jalapeños, onions and sweet corn.  

The crispy buffalo chicken salad topped with blue cheese caught my eye, as did the beef brisket sandwich.  The blackened mahi mahi tacos on the list of entrees were a large possibility, but I was sort of intrigued by the Juicy McCoy burger - Willy McCoy's rendition of the Twin Cities staple stuffed cheeseburger.  But I had a burger the previous evening, so I didn't want to get into that rut.  Quite frankly, they had a number of interesting things on the menu where one minute I'd decide on something, only to have that trumped by something else I found on the menu.  

The two bartenders let me think about the four or five dinner items I had to choose from over a couple of beers.  When I ordered up another Big Wave - it was still happy hour, so I got two more pints - I was ready to order.  I first ordered a cup of Willy McCoy's house-made wild rice soup - a Minnesota staple.   It was thick, creamy, very rich and very good.  I probably could have gotten a whole bowl of the wild rice soup and been happy with that for my meal.  

I ended up getting the Jambalaya sandwich.  It had crispy buffalo chicken, sautéed shrimp, and andouille sausage mixed in with peppers, onions and tomatoes.  It was served open-faced on French bread and was drizzled with a creamy and spicy Cajun sauce.  I got a side salad with ranch dressing instead of a choice of fries, tater tots, waffle fries, cole slaw or other side items.  

I concentrated on what was on top if the bread - the crispy chicken, andouille sausage and sautéed shrimp covered in the cream and spicy Cajun sauce.  The sauce was spicy enough where it caught my attention on top of the already spicy crispy chicken and andouille sausage.  But it wasn't overpowering where I couldn't enjoy all the different flavors on the sandwich.  It was actually pretty good.

As I was seated there enjoying the sandwich, an older gentleman came in and sat down next to me at the bar.  The female bartender had a drink ready for him and called him by his first name.  Obviously a regular, he asked the bartender what the special was that evening.  She said it was open-faced sliced turkey sandwich topped with the wild rice soup.  Now, they never told me what the specials were before I ordered off the menu and I would have DEFINITELY ordered that!  Not that what I had was bad - far from it.  But an open-faced turkey and creamy wild rice sandwich would have been a spot-hitter.  

When they brought it out to the gentleman next to me, I couldn't help but comment on the sandwich.  I said, "I like what I got, but that looks delicious."  He said it was very delicious.  He said that he eats there on a regular basis - "probably too much," he said - and the food is always consistently good.  

Going in to Willy McCoys for the first time, I was a little worried that it would be one of those theme-restaurants that I usually despise.  But I have to admit, the food choices they had on the menu made it very hard for me to make up my mind.  While I settled on the open-faced jambalaya sandwich and a cup of the house-made wild rice soup, the open-faced turkey sandwich topped with the wild rice soup special they had that evening - which wasn't offered to me by my servers - looked like a winner.  Not that I didn't like the jambalaya sandwich, it was a true spot-hitter.  I just wish I would have had the special options given to me that evening.  Nonetheless, Willy McCoys has a wide and varied menu and a number of great craft brews on tap.  I'm sort of surprised I hadn't known about this place sooner than my first visit this past fall.  

Comments

[Ron]

You certainly don't know the whole story Korey Bannerman

[Chris Robinson]

I’ve recently interviewed with Pat Rourke, GM at Copper Pint, Shakopee on Fri. 2/2/24. I appreciated him taking the time to speak with me re. my interest and background. I was impressed with Pat’s friendliness and also his thoughtful interviewing. Pat assured me after we finished that he would be discussing this positive interview with ownership on Mon. 2/5. I checked back with him today, 2/5, and he told me that he’d passed along my resume’ to you. Given my background, 15 years of bartending and 19 years of Restaurant/Bar management, I’m comfortable in saying that this business model is in my comfort/sweet zone. Mike Foss, a long time bartender at McCoys in Bloomington also is another reference that I’m calling to your attention. Mike was a Bartender for me when I managed TGIFridays in Bloomington, 494 & Hwy. 100. Folks, I love the food, casual environment, and capable and happy staffs that are the heart & soul of your operations. Please give my efforts to represent your fine brand a GO! It’s my sincere wish and intention to make this superior brand peoples first and long term lasting choice!
Kindest Regards, In Service,
Chris Robinson, (952) 693-6049