The Stadium Grill &
Bar at inPlay
615 3rd St., 333-5050
Mon. - Thurs. 11 a.m. -
11 p.m.
Fri. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 2
a.m.
Sun. noon - 11 p.m.
Boston’s The Gourmet Pizza
Restaurant & Sports
Bar
12401 University Ave., Clive,
440-6051
Daily 11 a.m. - 2 a.m.
|
Sports
bar update
Sports bars arrived late in Des
Moines, but have been making up
for lost time. We now have such
places specializing in: specific
teams (Wrigley’s); English soccer
(Amici’s), NASCAR (Daytona’s);
horse racing (Champion’s); clean
air (The Game); bowling (Trophy’s);
family atmosphere (Legacy); clubbing
(Legends); hypothalamus research
(Hooter’s); and live jazz (Coach’s
Corner). Star Bar serves cutting
edge bistro fare and Coach’s Corner
stocks a liquor cabinet worthy
of top Washington lobbyists. Orlando’s
takes Fresh & Local to its
garden roots. Finding a niche
in this crowded market requires
serious creativity, yet two places
managed that this winter with
an assist from Drake basketball.
After a fire in Christopher’s
kitchen created a temporary vacancy
for Drake’s basketball luncheons,
The Stadium Grill & Bar at
inPlay (Stadium) substituted and
introduced Des Moines to a new
niche — the carnival arcade sports
bar. Stadium amenities include
more than 100 arcade games on
two floors, a private room with
four bowling lanes and a large
rock-climbing wall. I found the
place busy before an event at
the adjacent Wells Fargo Arena,
yet Stadium staff delivered on
a promise of prompt service. Pizza,
burgers, toasted ravioli and fried
pickles all satisfied a table
looking for something better than
concession food at Wells Fargo.
I returned to catch an obscure
lunchtime sportscast on satellite
TV when nothing was going on at
Wells Fargo. Excluding a dangerously
snow-packed sidewalk, the service
was still good. Waitresses gave
frank and expert answers about
the preparation of dishes and
immediately tuned in the game
I wanted to watch. I tried a decent
pork tenderloin, crisp and irregular
enough to appear hand made, plus
a Graziano’s grinder. My bun had
been sliced completely in two
creating an unnecessary mess,
but it still beat anything I could
have found across the street.
Boston’s The Gourmet Pizza and
Sports Bar (BGP) is a Texas-based
offspring of a Canadian chain
that knows how to seize opportunity.
They were the first place in town
to market the availability of
live Internet telecasts of Drake
road games, at a time when local
TV sports directors had yet to
figure out that the Bulldogs’
historic winning streak was worth
covering. During one such telecast,
I ate with some folks who had
never been to BGP but declared
it much better food than that
at Applebee’s, their previous
favorite restaurant. That’s a
fair assessment from my experiences,
too.
BGP offers considerable choice
(although their recently declared
corporate strategy is to simplify
and focus) with a menu that looked
like a high school notebook, complete
with subject dividers. While a
medium thick, chewy pizza offered
a semi-crisp crust and a gaggle
of possible combinations, it couldn’t
make me stop dreaming about simpler,
less expensive pies at a nearby
Red Rossa outlet. A calzone bled
oil on my hand. Ribs ordered with
sauce “on the side” came slathered
in sweet sauce. Burgers were treated
much like the pizza — overloaded
with toppings and melted cheeses.
French fries remained hot for
half an hour.
Service during a lunchtime sports-viewing
mission wasn’t up to Stadium standards.
As soon as I was seated, in what
I had been promised was a non-smoking
room, an employee brought ashtrays
to customers next to me. My complaint
fell on deaf ears, perhaps because
the rock and roll was so loud
I could barely hear myself speak,
let alone hear the game. I was
told I could move to a sunny room
with smaller TVs and no high definition.
At half time I drove to The Game,
where the no smoking rulebook
is only two words long.
Side dishes
The local chapter of the Alzheimer’s
Association hosts an intriguing
dinner March 15, in the venerable
confines of the Scottish Rite
Consistory. Some of the area’s
best restaurants, best farms and
best dairies are supplying the
meal. Area artists created mirrors
for the auction. Reservations
are $40 at 440-2722. CV
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