Nightlife in Lebanon

Sharky's Billiards and Grill caters to billiards buffs with a plethora of Brunswick Gold Crown nine-foot pool tables and a menu of delectable eats. Under the ambient lights of the pool hall, players challenge each other to games of 8-ball, 9-ball, and stick-ball, an exciting and totally illegal fusion of billiards and baseball. Stay fresh during your two hours of play with a cheeseburger and fries ($6.50) or a platter of chips and salsa or cheese dip ($2), then knock back a cold bottled or draft beer ($2 for domestic, $3 for premium) to maintain laser-like focus during daring bank shots. Aside from showing off its top-of-the-line pocketed tables and laid-back atmosphere, Sharky's entertains customers with pumping music and karaoke parties.

At Icon Nightclub, droves of partygoers dance to pumping tunes on one of the city's most expansive dance floors. Revelers can energize themselves for late-night shimmying with drinks or sharpen multi-tasking skills by simultaneously dancing the funky chicken and the Harlem shake. Premium sips help foster an air of refinement, and imported beers help drinkers cultivate a sense of worldliness through hoppy osmosis. On Thursday and Saturday nights, Cadence lights up the club stage with rhythmic jams that earned the group a top 10 spot on America's Got Talent and vehement shushes from the nation's librarians.

Grilling masters at The Blue Bull Bar & Grill fire up a flame-kissed menu of burgers and sandwiches. Hand-pattied burgers such as the signature Blue Bull burger, a 2/3-pound beef patty stuffed with crisp bacon and blue cheese ($8.99) and the Ozark Mountain barbecue burger, a 1/3-pound beef patty crested with bourbon barbecue sauce, caramelized onion, smoked bacon, and melted cheddar ($6.99), overwhelm ordinary hands with flavors so big diners need giant foam fingers to hold them. Hand-breaded classics including the pork tenderloin sandwich ($7.99) and the chicken tender platter ($6.99) add quantifiable crunch to meals, perfect for pairing with a Boulevard draft beer or 1 of 14 specialty martinis such as the Expressotini or Bubblegum.

RyMac's Rub and Pub charms diners with its 1920s-inspired ambience. The dining room's cobbled interior imitates period buildings, with false doors and windows inlaid with portraits that depict life in bygone decades. The flavor of the epoch even finds expression in menu items, which fuse the recipes and ingredients of various cultures into dishes that can only be called American, such as the Irish nachos or the light bulb sandwich. The bar, also encased in stone, brazenly snubs prohibition with nine different tap beers at any given time.

The Moxie is a central hub for independent and classic cinema, specializing in celluloid of the funky, offbeat, and arty distinctions. The diverse film list includes thought-provoking flicks that span the genres and ages, with everything from Rubber—a recently screened modern flick about a villainous tire—to vintage film noirs such as Humphrey Bogart's The Big Sleep (showing Saturday, May 14), to the all-penguin remake of Citizen Kane (tickets up to an $8 value each). The deal’s combo package also delivers cinematic sustenance via two fountain soft drinks (a $3.50 value each) and two popcorns (a $3.25 value each) from the theater’s cinebar. Though most theaters use popcorn to meet the state-mandated liquid-butter minimum, the Moxie elevates kernel-cooking to an art worthy of its film selection, topping morsels with 13 distinct flavors, including barbecue, ranch, jalapeño, and apple cinnamon.

Freezing Missouri winter winds howl outside Tropical Liqueurs' fogged-up windows, but inside, the atmosphere is decidedly beach-like. Palm trees and nautical knickknacks decorate the lively interior, but the true stars of this tropically themed watering hole are the frozen-drink dispensers, which churn with colorful, fruity potations. Bartenders load large styrofoam cups with potent slushies made from creative combinations of juices, liqueurs, and fruit purées. They rotate drink selections regularly, spotlighting a toasted-almond concoction one week—packed with coffee liquor, amaretto, and vanilla ice cream—and a daiquiri with fresh strawberries the next. Icy potations in hand, visitors turn their attention to games of pool or flat-screen televisions, which broadcast local sports games or horror movies where local sports games come to a temporary halt when the mascot turns out to be an actual tiger. During warmer months, visitors loll in the sun out on the wooden patio and enjoy the beverages that Inside Columbia hailed as a "Columbia staple" when it dubbed Tropical Liqueurs the Best Place for a Girls' Night Out in 2012.