Nightlife in Brunswick

Every 20 years our government allows one business to turn every day of the week into a Friday with a series of special calendars printed on stone. Today's Groupon honors the restaurant gubernatorially ordained in 1993 with $20 worth of week-ending cuisine at T.G.I. Friday's for $10. Bring your family, friends, or a group of tourists that follow you because they think you're Jamie Farr to indulge in distinctly Friday fare at a restaurant renowned for delivering the euphoric feeling of having two consecutive days off work.

With a diverse clientele, hearty pub eats, and a broad selection of spirits and beers, "Scoundrels always feels alive," according to Patrick Mayock of Metromix Cleveland. While bartenders keep the libations flowing, cooks smoke slabs of ribs in-house, grill half-pound burgers, and bake pizzas in a brick oven. And nearly 20 sandwiches crowd the menu. Outside, the umbrella-covered patio makes for serene dining on a warm summer’s eve. But patrons can get rowdy inside by dancing to the beats of live bands, taking the stage themselves to sing classic karaoke songs, or acting like a bull in a straitjacket.

Across nearly three-fourths of the United States, AMF Bowling Co. reverberates year-round as families, friends, and competitors send bowling balls in search of upright pins careening down slick lanes. The company first established itself as an industry leader in 1946, the same year the sport introduced automated pinspotters.

Today, more than 20 million bowlers annually make AMF their battleground for wars against pins. As the largest owner and and operator of bowling centers in the US, AMF locations offer high-tech scoring technology, a classic design, and a menu stocked with American-inspired classics such as wings, pizzas, burgers, and beer.

Peppermill Pub and Grill combines fabulous fare, delicious drinks, and wonderful WiFi to create an all-around accommodating and alliterative experience for diners. The restaurant's executive chef, John Wright, brings his 10 years of experience at the fine-dining restaurant Chez François in Vermilion to tempt your taste buds, serving up a full menu of soups, salads, sandwiches, daily entree specials, and lunch-buffet bites for those on the go. Start with a savory order of sausage-stuffed banana peppers coated with homemade tomato sauce and cheese ($8.99), or a serving of fresh spinach and artichoke dip with hand-cut tortilla chips ($8.99), before letting your teeth traverse the table to a main dish. Peppermill chicken primavera is a house specialty, with grilled chicken, spinach, roasted red peppers, artichokes, and kalamata olives tossed with herbed olive oil ($15.99). People who like to disguise their protein as a bun will enjoy the inside-out burger, sneaking American cheese, lettuce, and tomato between two quarter-pound beef patties ($8.29).

Buckeye Lanes’ glossy lanes provide a place to foster camaraderie and healthy competition. Easily heftable bowling balls and bumpers accommodate children during normal business hours and birthday parties catered with hot dogs or pizza slices, which can be held in a person’s not-bowling hand. During Rockin' Bowl two nights a week, the alley morphs into a pulsing nightclub from midnight to 2 a.m. with orbs hurtling amid dimmed lighting and cranked up beats. In the snack bar and lounge, pool sticks thwack cue balls on eight billiards tables and patrons devour sandwiches or demolish karaoke tunes.

An old-fashioned pair of comedy and tragedy masks greet drivers pulling up to the marquee of Aut-O-Rama Drive-In. The vintage aesthetic is fitting for an establishment that’s been in business since 1965 and is now in its third generation of being operated by the Sherman family. Although the cinematic lot prides itself on being the first in the area to offer AM-radio sound, today, Dolby FM stereo bathes cars in field-filling acoustics as audiences take in a library of contemporary flicks. From the start of April to the end of September, first-run and well-worn films alike await vehicular cinephiles, who can munch on burgers, subs, and pizza, along with desserts such as ice cream and funnel cake.