Quad Cities Bars

After a few delays, Gunchie’s has now opened their second location in Rock Island in what was the old Hunter’s Club (most recently, Dyce’s Sports Bar ).  Those of you that have been in their west Davenport location will be surprised.  The place is modern and full of exposed brick and fieldstone, and plenty of flat screens.  Though I haven’t had it yet, many people have told me they have the best pizza in Davenport.  I can foresee watching some college football here and seeing how the pizza stacks up against Bad Boy’z or Poor Boys . Spartan’s Pub actually opened almost three months ago in what was the Oceanside Lounge on Hickory Grove Rd. in Davenport, while I was still driving by where I thought it was going to be on Brady, just south of Kimberly (thanks to Rick Martin of quadcitiesdiningguide.com for the heads up).  As far as the place I didn’t get the sense that they’d changed much, though it had been a while since I’d been to the Oceanside.  St...

Barrel House opened its third restaurant / bar on Utica Ridge in Davenport, in what was 100 Montaditos.  No extensive remodeling from the miniature Spanish sandwich place that it had been, except to lengthen the bar (which was really just the cash register before), and open up the unused space on the south side.  The result is more like the original in downtown Davenport than the one in Moline with its expansive bar.  I knew Muddy Waters in Bettendorf had been sold some months back, but it took until July for them to change the name to Harley Corin’s .  Since that was the only change that I could see, I wondered why it had taken them so long.  It was explained to me that in changing the name, they wanted to step back from being known solely as a blues bar.  I asked who was scheduled to play in the near future:  Mercury Brothers, Avey Brothers, Zac Harris.  I guess there will be a transition time. Welcome back to a familiar name in Daven...

I fell a bit shy of my goal of getting to 560, as the bars I had hoped would open didn’t pan out as I had hoped.  I even put off posting for a month longer than usual so I’d have something more to write about (nah, probably just lazy).  However, I did make it to three new bars, bringing my total to 558 . Harrison St Pub in Davenport is roughly a third the size of the old Lumpy’s (the rest is now a tattoo shop).  It opened early May, and when I stopped in for lunch, they were bringing the tabletops in for the pub tables.  The wings were a little underdone, but the bartender was friendly so I figured I’d stop back after work someday.  I tried to do just that, and found that they’re only open until 5:00 pm, though she said that in July they’d be extending that until 8:00.  Odd. Also in Davenport, The Creekside Inn reopened as K & T’s Bike Rack (they also shortened the first name they had on a banner, Kutch & Tob’s Bicycle Rack, which was ...

On my last blog, I set a high bar (so to speak) with a goal of hitting half a dozen new bars for this post, and actually surpassed it by adding 7 to my list:   Under the Redstone Room is Falbo Brother’s Pizzeria .  I never thought much about Mojo’s , which preceded Falbo Bros, as a possibility to add to my list because I wasn't sure if it had an actual bar, so I didn’t give the new place much thought either.  It wasn't until I went with a group of friends to see Samantha Fish at the Redstone Room that I paid any attention and saw they did have a  bar, and not just beer as I think Mojo’s was.  They even have a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue up on the top shelf!  Not only that, but good hot subs and occasional entertainment at lunch, and those that have had it say their pizza is good. Moe’s Burger & Brews opened in Rock Island on just after St. Patrick’s Day, and it’s the only new bar for this post that I've hit twice.  When there the first ...