Let it be known, before I go any further: Bar Louie is a chain and I do indeed feel a little bit dirty writing about a chain bar, but Bar Louie is awesome and here is why.
I first heard about Bar Louie when I was on a job site in Ohio (Bar Louie is based in Cleveland). Everyone always talked about going and getting a hotel in Perrysburg (closest Bar Louie to where I was) just to go to Bar Louie for a night. I thought that either these people were crazy or this is one awesome bar.
Fast forward two years later, a Bar Louie opens in KC. I knew I had to go try it, even though it was an evil corporate restaurant chain. I checked out their twitter account (that since the grand opening has been essentially abandoned) and they said that they had dollar apps and dollar martinis during opening weekend. We went with a group of about 8 people, late at night, and each got our first app and first martini for $1 each. We had nearly half of the apps on the menu: traditional and boneless wings, spinach and artichoke dip, pot-stickers, and chicken nachos. Each and every one of the apps we had were delicious. As for the martinis, my wife got the cosmo, which was great and very strong. My inner ghetto child came out when I saw a martini called the "hypotizer", which was a martini made with hypnotic, also dangerous. We had a great night and after the waitress let us know about $1 burger night every Tuesday, we knew we would be back!
When we did get the opportunity to go back on $1 burger night, we hit the tail end of happy hour, so we were able to get 1/2 price draws to wash down the burgers we were about to indulge in. The rolling overhead doors were up and it was super nice outside. When you go for dollar burger night, you get the burger itself for a dollar, then you pick and choose your different add-ons and toppings for a small up-charge each. I personally got 2 burgers each with lettuce and guacamole, for $1.50 each. The bun was good, not a wonder bread bun, but more of a roll. The burger beat the crap out of a McDonald's dollar menu burger, not what you would expect from a $1 burger. The burger was a fat burger, grilled on the flat top, had the slight amount of crisp on the outside (from the flat top) but still juicy on the inside. The guacamole was fresh, not like the wholly guacamole crap that you get from the supermarket, they make it fresh in house daily. Great $1 burgers. The fries were irresistible too.
Third Bar Louie experience: Rock the Tot. A tater tot eating contest. I have only competed in a couple eating contests in my day, but it had been many years since I had won the pizza eating contest at Lazer 105.9 on the Merrill in the Morning show #humblebrag. I ate a lot of tater tots in 6 minutes (1lb 12oz), I was edged out by the guy who got second (1lb 14oz), but we were both hustled by the ringer Randy Santel (4lb 6oz). Randy not only won a giant trophy, the cash prize, and a year's worth of free loaded tots (although, in all fairness, 4lb 6oz is probably already a years worth of tots), but he also placed in the top 5 nationally. For placing in the top 5 nationally, he won a trip to Cleveland to compete in the nationals. Pretty sweet for an eating contest with no entry fee.
All in all, Bar Louie has such a good atmosphere, good food, and smoking deals, that I am able to excuse the fact that it is a chain.
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