6/18/2014 Update

After plodding through a mere three new QC Bars between March, April, and May, I’ve equaled that in the first 10 days of June.  Los Portales II (first one is in Iowa City) opened in what had been Carlos O’Kelley’s in Davenport.  I’m sure there was a little remodeling and painting, but with my somewhat spotty memory, it doesn’t look much different.  What is different is the menu, which is now ‘authentic’ Mexican, vs. what I considered the much tastier “Americanized” version that was O’Kelley’s.

Ubriaco’s Trattoria in the Village of East Davenport, on the other hand, has dressed itself up considerably compared to Mound Street Landing, with a new back bar, paint job (although I can’t say I like the color all that much, a little to the yellow side of peanut butter), and a good looking menu.  I’ll report back when I actually try the food, but great reviews from those that have eaten here.  

Brix opened 6/9, and I was there for lunch the next day.  They have done a lot of work on this place since they moved into this corner location that most recently was Wide Open, and it looks great.  Went back to try the pizza, and they address two of my biggest complaints about most QC pizzas:  They’re not shy on sauce, and they have real pieces of sausage, not the ground “sausage dust” that most have.  Maybe they’ll be around a little longer than any of the other half dozen businesses that have occupied the corner since I’ve lived in the Quad Cities.

Those three additions bring my total up to 525, and my What’s Left list down to 10.    

Other bar news:

-Broken Saddle Saloon is officially set to open on June 21st, but actually had a not so soft opening already.  Their first day they planned an unannounced opening from 7 – 10, but didn’t close until well after 1:00am. 

-Smokin’ BarBQ opened in Milan in where Bobbie’s was, and I’m assuming they didn’t knock down the bar.

-The Boat House in Davenport is currently being remodeled, and will reopen as Waterbar.  I don’t have an ETA yet.

-Rumor has it that one of my favorite bars is the Quad Cities, 129 in LeClaire, is looking at opening a location on Utica Ridge in Davenport, across from Pints.

-I had mentioned a couple posts back that Barrel House was looking to put a third bar in LeClaire, after being shut out of a possible Silvis location.  I had heard that it no longer looked likely, as the owner of the potential location was only willing to lease, and Barrel House wants to own.  However, seems they’ve found another location near the distillery (originally they were looking up the hill near the highway).

-Since mentioning a bar had gone in to the W. Locust Hy-Vee, I’ve been informed that Milan and Rock Island also have opened Market St. Bar & Grills.

-Casualties since the last post:  Big Shots in Moline somewhat surprisingly closed.  That’s the third place to fail at that location (along with Rubikon and Tailgater’s), right next to Bier Stube. I’m told that the space has already been purchased, though.  The sign on the door at Blu Shamrock in Cordova says they’re “closed for the summer”, also somewhat odd.  I haven’t confirmed this, but it also looks like The Body Shop and RPM Sports Bar inside in Rock Island are also closed.  Not sure what to make of The Hat on W. Locust in Davenport – for over two months, the same “closed for one week to remodel” sign has been on the door.

Stats

In the 5 years from May 1, 2009 through April 30, 2014:

I visited 400 Quad Cities area bars, 282 for the first time.  I also went to 184 different bars out of town.

Out of the 400, 210 were only visited once.  100 I’ve gone to at least 4 times, 45 I’ve been to at least 10 times, 9 with 50 or more stops, and 4 with (yikes) 100 or more.

Where you would be most likely to find me over the last 5 years:

It's On The River	Port Byron
Rick & Kathy's	Silvis
Harley's	Moline
G's Riverfront Café	Port Byron
Bon Air	Moline
Fargo	Moline
Governor's	Bettendorf
Duey's	Port Byron
P. K. Dugan's	Silvis
Caddy's	Bettendorf
Doc's Inn, The	Silvis
129	LeClaire
Blu Shamrock	Cordova
Paddlewheel	Bettendorf
Parkside	Moline

TRENDING - Where you would be most likely to find me over the last 6 months:

It's On The River	Port Byron
G's Riverfront Cafe	Port Byron
129	LeClaire
Governor's	Bettendorf
Rick & Kathy's	Silvis
Fargo	Moline
Harley's	Moline
Jimmie Lee's	Port Byron
Osaka	Davenport
Steel Head Tavern	Moline
Duey's	Port Byron
Pub 1848	Moline
Smoking Dog Pub	Rock Island
Bier Stube	LeClaire
Doc's Inn	Silvis

Due to turnover, the 525 total QC Bars I’ve been to actually only include 430 locations.  52 locations I’ve visited twice under two different names, 9 have been three bars, 7 have had 4 changes, and one has been 5 different bars.   

There were 127 bars that opened within theses 5 years.  36 of those are now closed, plus 29 that were open prior to 5/1/2009.  4 have moved, but 2 have opened in their place.  Actually, that’s a good (in my world) indicator of growth in the Quad Cities – 60 more now, net 12 per year.

Bars since the May 21 post ( * - new to my list):

It's On The River Re-Fresh Governor's (Bettendorf) * Brix Go Fish Harrington's Bier Stube Leclaire 129 Farraday's Valley Inn Caddy's Duey's Steel Head Tavern River House Jimmie Lee's The Edge * Wide River Winery (Clinton) The Doc's Inn Smoking Dog Pub * Ubriaco's Trattoria Peacock"s Harley's * Los Portales II Steventon's Rick and Kathy's P. K. Dugan's Howard's Tap (Albany) Manny's Too (Fulton) Wide River Winery Osaka (Dav.)