Quad Cities Bars

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.  T...

May 1 st marked the 5th anniversary of counting the Quad Cities bars I've visited.  My original goal was to get to 300 (then 400, 500, 600) over the roughly 17 years I’ve lived in the area, but if you’ve been following along at home, you’ve read that I’ve had a secondary goal lately of trying to hit 400 QCA bars within the 5 years I’ve been tracking my progress.  This is part of what prompted me to go back to the Dew Drop Inn ;  that, plus based on our only other visit some 12 years ago, I had them on my Top 10 Worst Dives list and thought they should be afforded a chance to defend themselves.  As it turns out, my initial assessment was correct; it smells like a hundred yards of ass in there. I also revisited The Meat Market , the place that got me started thinking about all this.  Two changes in the 5 plus years since I went last:  they no longer smoke in the bar (the law went into effect some 9 months prior to my last visit, but that only seemed to ...

Because of only being open Thursdays through Saturdays, knocking the Last Chance Lounge at its new location on 17th St in Rock Island (former site of Rexie’s Gourmet House and, more recently, Club 573 ) off my list was proving to be a difficult task.  With a free couple hours owing to my wife having a girls night at the Circa on a Friday night, I finally was able to visit, and got to see Bob and Diana, whom I had met at their old location.  Made it just in time, apparently:  they told me that Mar 31st was to be their last day.  In addition to the Last Chance, I’m adding (with memory-tweaking help from friends), two blasts from the past, both in the Rock Island District.  Thanks to Kyle Born for reminding me of Bushwood (currently the Daiquiri Factory ).  I can’t exactly recall who reminded me of The Library (now The Smoking Dog Pub ), but I think that was the second bar I ever went to in the QCA; Steve’s Old Time Tap was the first.  Those thr...