Neon beer signs cast blue, green, and red light across the black ceiling, and tables populate with okra, mushrooms, and cauliflower starters—all deep fried to a golden crunch. An enormous projection TV broadcasts the latest game amid the pulse of a jukebox, and several flat screens promote revelry at the weathered wooden bar.
For more than 20 years, this casual sports bar has unleashed its signature third-pound burgers on Derby, topping them with everything from whole grilled-cheese sandwiches to chili and nacho cheese. After two-handing hot dogs or brisket sandwiches, guests can test their motor skills with the bar's free Xbox 360 with Kinect game base, or improve their coolness quotient by ordering the trendiest new summer drink: water on the rocks.
A lengthy lineup of traditional game-day fare and a sports atmosphere captivate fans at Fox and Hound - Bailey's, where the kitchen remains open as late as its neighboring fully stocked bar. Chefs cook until the wee hours of the morning and always until the bar closes, baking Bavarian pretzel starters, crafting towers of onion rings, and preparing hand-battered chicken tenders that are cooked until they are golden brown. They blend their own seasonings to sprinkle over grilled-to-order burgers, and draw from a diverse roster of cheeses and toppings to crown their wood-oven-inspired flatbreads.
While manning the bars, bartenders tap into a stash of libations, such as UV Whipped vodka and Patron Silver tequila, to mix their specialty cocktails. To further foster a sporting ambiance, high-definition TVs glow with sports games and custom music-video playlists, and guests partake in pastimes of ump bashing, billiards, or competitive people watching.
Gaslamp Grille & Lounge's expert flame wielders fire up a lunch menu of salads, sandwiches, and pastas within deco-inspired digs. Sink into the Grille’s signature seared tenderloin salad, which layers sliced tenderloin over mixed greens, crispy crostinis, and veggies beneath a canopy of blue-cheese dressing ($12.95), before moseying on toward meatier pastures with the Lamp Burger, a half-pound of port-wine-glazed ground tenderloin bookended by oven-dried tomatoes and an English stilton cheese ($10.95). The pork-belly capellini fuses pork belly with sautéed vegetables in a roasted-red-pepper sauce ($11.95), and the Cubano ($9.95) presses pulled pork, ham, and gruyere cheese in tin foil to seal in the juices and protect them from the invasive brain waves of extraterrestrials.
Thirty-three television screens line the walls at Heroes Sports Bar, a smoke-free, family-friendly establishment that offers a sports-themed menu of burgers, sandwiches, pizza, salads, and more. Cozy up with friends inside one of Heroes' green booths to share loaded potato skins ($6.99) or snag a spot on the heated patio to chew fried mozzarella stix ($5.99) by your lonesome. Really famished fans can try the sweet-pepper-bacon cheeseburger topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, cheddar cheese, and sweet pepper bacon ($7.99). Although today’s deal cannot be used toward alcohol, Heroes Sports Bar boasts an impressive array of draft and bottled brews for drinking and dowsing fantasy-football coaches.