GREAT GAMES AND GREAT GRUB IN THE SAME JOINT

October 29, 2005

“I do not like broccoli, and I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I’m President of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli”. – George Bush 

LUCKY STRIKE LANES

415 S. Teller St, 303/935-5793

www.bowlluckystrike.com/denver/denver.html 

   THE FIRST TIME G AND I walked into Lucky Strike Lanes at the fabulous new Belmar Center where Villa Italia rose and fell, we were blown away. Flabbergasted. Amazed. It was a sight to behold. Giant   

There’s a fella in Hollywood by the name of Bill Starbuck who’s the executive chef of Along Came Mary, a famous catering company that does all the big shindigs in that city of glitter and glamour. Bill designed the menu at Lucky Strike. I really don’t have a clue who this dude is and he’s never invited me to one of his shindigs. But while I like most of his menu for Lucky Strike Lanes, I think there’s some tweaking that needs to be done. Apparently Bill’s never been in a bowling alley.  But the quality of the grub and the execution by the kitchen is terrific.

The place is open seven days a week from 11 am to 2 am. The kitchen serves until 1 am every day. There is another Lucky Strike Lanes in the Denver Pavilions on the 16^th Street Mall. I presume what I say here goes for there as well, but I will probably never visit the other one cuz G and I go to the one in Belmar at least once a week and no need to go downtown. While I don’t list the prices, they are moderate.

 The menu is quite expansive and varied. Ain’t a sports venue anywhere that’s as got as much grub or the variety of grub that you will find here. Start with “small plates”. House-made skewers coated with spiced rubs or marinades and grilled to perfection. And I mean perfection. A half dozen chicken skewers, lime shrimp, and our fav, beef teriyaki. The latter comes with a generous portion of marinated filet with green peppers and mushrooms for a bit over ten bucks. They also offer a surf & turf sampler with both beef and shrimp and bill it as a signature dish. Next on the menu are “chicken bites”, a variety of boneless white chicken bites, fright light and crisp and tossed with your choice of sauce. These are great while attempting to knock down the stupid pins that they put about four and a half miles away from you. With a 275 pound ball. That your fingers get stuck in and you slide half way down the alley with. After the afore-mentioned bites comes the “specialties”. There’s a chicken trio which is a combo of bites, Asian skewers and some yummy traditional chicken tenders. Howsabout some “birds in a nest”? House-made tarts filled with herbed goat cheese and oven roasted mushrooms, topped with a sliver of roasted tomato and baked in the oven. They also offer house-made mashed potato rolls filled with cheddar cheese and bacon bits. Our fav in this category is the tomato & cheese s’mores. Oh my! Bite size sangies of roasted tomatoes, basil and melted mozzarella. Also a signature dish. This category also offers coconut shrimp as well as chicken “pillows”. The pillows are dumplings that are pan seared, then steamed, and served with a sweet chili sauce. Quite yummy. Quite.  Our other fav and the fav of our bowling-age grandkids are the bite size mac & cheese balls. I detest macaroni & cheese. Can’t stand the smell even. Even more than I detest the odor of popcorn. But these deep-fried suckas are really good. They‘re great finger food for eating on the lanes. No bowling alley would be without what Lucky Strike calls “spare snacks”: blue cheese chips, baked chips, onion rings, spinach and cheese dip, french fries, and house-made roasted garlic hummus. Good stuff. Just hold on, we’re getting to the real good stuff.  “Specialty salads” are surprisingly tasty. They range from the spicy fried chicken salad: crispy chicken drizzled with hot sauce on a bed of romaine and iceberg lettuce with bacon bits, corn, tomato, cheddar cheese, avocado and ranch dressing. They also offer a classic Cobb salad, an Asian salad, a Chicago (God help us all) salad, a classic Caesar salad, a classic Caesar salad with grilled chicken, a mixed baby greens salad and a dinner salad. The latter, while sounding like nothing, is what I have with my Big Bugger (it’s coming!) cuz the fries are just eh and the chips are good (G luvs ‘em) but not my thing. This little ole dinner salad comes with chunks of lettuce, tomato, carrots and other goodies and darn good dressings. 

Since I’m not much for pizza, and The Oven (7167 W. Alaska Dr, 303/934-7600) is right around the corner, we haven’t tried any of the pizza, but if the rest of the menu is any indication, these will be terrific also. There are seven of the lovelies: plain, pepperoni, BBQ chicken, roasted plum tomato, potato pie, grilled veggie, and Thai.  Heh heh heh. OK. “JUICY BUGGERS”. Yep, you guessed it. They are one damned good bugger. Hand-packed beef and turkey buggers, full of flavor. Cooked to order and probably in the Top Ten in Denver. But with all this good has to come a bit of rain. The bun. Somedays they have a good bun and somedays they serve a plain ole falling apart bun. I don’t know why it changes. Tell your W that you want the wonderful ciabatta roll. The other problem with the menu is that there’s no coleslaw, potato salad or other substitution for the not so good french fries or the potato chips. There just seems to be a variety of things missing from the menu that ought to be in a bowling alley. Not a lot. Just some.  But they got one great bugger. They also have a turkey bugger and an au poive tuna bugger. Not my kind of tuna, the real thing. A grilled tuna steak with cracked pepper and wasabi herb aioli. So good. “Toasted sangies” are really muh fav, overall. They got some super goodies. The flank steak sangie will blow your mind. Grilled to order, served with roasted garlic mayo, roasted tomato, arugula and crumbled blue cheese. Oh my! 2-die-4. Add to that a club sangie, turkey Brie sangie, BBQ chicken sangie, and several others including a maaavelous tuna melt and you have one hell of a menu. Dare I mention the sin of sins? Those things that make you crazy, get your heart racing, and send your cholesterol over the edge? I think they wrote a song about it. Goes something like, “If you got the room, honey, we got the chocolate”. LOL. Sometimes I really tickle me. Chocolate Insanity. Warm chocolate pudding infused with chunks of rich brownies topped with fresh whipped cream. OR perhaps the peanut butterscotch split Sundae. Or the killer of killers, the dessert made to go out the lanes and get your bowling ball all gooey inside the finger holes Or smear over the outside of the ball and roll down the lanes. Fresh baked chocolate chip cookies – 3 ways. With ice cream, without ice cream, in the Ultimate Sundae. And finally, a root beer float. Just like grandma usta make. Yummy yummy, go to my tummy and doncha dare tell Dr. Stan. There is one other item they need to deal with. Smoking. There are restrictions on smoking on the lanes and in the restaurant during the day and early evening. But they do allow smoking in the bar area and that smoke drifts. And it ain’t good for all the kids that are there until 8 pm every day. My hope is that the legislature will deal with this next session and put an end to the problem once and for all by banning smoking in all restaurants and any place that food is served. Denver almost did it last year, and many Colorado cities and a number of states have banned smoking with great success. Success in that restaurant sales has risen sharply cuz folks now eat out more often cuz they don’t have to worry about the problem. The stats from New York and California prove

that. So Governor Bill and all you legislators, let’s get the job done once and for all. 

   Cya.

In his real life Jay Fox is a CPA. He offers all kinds of good tax planning advice, financial calculators and the latest in tax news at his website: www.jayfoxcpa.com. He just writes this column for the money.