TASTE: How Do You Like Me Now?

Toby Keith’s restaurant a countrified slab of heaven

Max Jacobson

Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill isn't for a vegetarian, or for that matter a quiet conversation. But if you fancy country music, Southern cooking, the NFL and a buzz loud enough to shake the rafters, this new venue is probably the stuff of dreams.


The restaurant is on the second level of Harrah's and takes its name from a hit song, "I Love This Bar," from the golden throat of country singer Toby Keith.


That is, of course, Mr. Keith heard wailing away on the sound system here, a cavernous space dotted with dozens of TV screens. Free shots are handed out at the bar when the theme song is played, but on Sunday when I last visited, it was football and more football.


A good deal of the items on the menu seem to be deep-fried, just a few being their signature fried-bologna sandwich, a fried rock-shrimp and crawfish-tail appetizer and Shiner Bock battered cod: 12 ounces of beer-battered fish that is, according to the menu, "deep-fried 'till golden brown." Sure, bub.


So here I am, seated in a chrome-lined booth with a hubcap just above my head, wondering why all these yahoos (male customers, that is) are wearing baseball caps at a sports bar where football is essentially king. A bad joke by Jeff Foxworthy springs to mind: If you've ever financed a tattoo, you might be a redneck.


The décor seems a propos. The female servers are wearing football jersey halter-tops, mini-skirts and high-topped boots, and the walls are lined with celebrity shots of Keith, plus his various guitars and music memorabilia. It all looks like a scene from that camp classic film, Roadhouse, starring Patrick Swayze. Keith must be chuckling all the way to the bank.


Chuckling because after only a few months, this place has been doing a land-office business in the tradition of Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville just down the street at the Flamingo. Manager Constantine Pappas told me that he would do almost 1,200 covers (restaurant lingo for a customer at a table) that Sunday—mind-boggling numbers. Hey, give the people what they want and they'll turn out for it.


It is vaguely possible to eat healthy here, but as a young wag in my office pointed out, who would want to do that? I'm thinking about one of my favorite items on the menu, the avocado and grapefruit salad. It's amazingly well conceived and maybe even good for you, with ripe, green wedges of avocado, sweet pink-grapefruit sections and butter lettuce, dressed up with candied pecans and creamy poppy seed dressing.


In sharp contrast is the fried-bologna sandwich, a dish that could send a triathlete into cardiac arrest. Picture two huge, thick slices of grilled garlic Texas toast, swimming in butter, and coated on the inside with American cheese and onion. In the middle are thicker slices of fried bologna, browned nicely on the surface. Garnishes include a dill pickle and a couple of unripe tomato slices you couldn't spear with a fork.


One starter I like is fried rock-shrimp and crawfish tails with a spicy Cajun batter and a nice remoulade sauce on the side. The tortilla soup isn't all that bad, either, though it can be somewhat salty. It's a thick soup with plenty of diced chicken meat and the taste is fine.


The best sandwich is probably the Shiner Bock battered codfish, served on a soft potato roll with good coleslaw and tartar sauce. Have the sandwich with a bottle of Shiner Bock, a terrific micro-brewed beer from Shiner, Texas. One more sandwich I would come back for is the Southern fried chicken burger, made from ground chicken in a buttermilk breading. The pulled pork is popular here, but this one is too sweet for me.


Among entrees, the grilled New York steak is just fine, thank you, and not deep-fried, either. There is a workmanlike roasted half chicken and a choice of either baby back or barbecued beef ribs, both splashed liberally with the same sauce that renders the pulled pork too sweet.


Side dishes are a strong suit. The creamed corn is very nice, as are the country mashed potatoes, properly lumpy and fresh. Skillet-fried corn-meal-dusted okra is crisp and good, and there are even turnip greens, the ideal vegetable for sopping up steak juice.


At dessert, there are Southern specialties such as strawberry shortcake, in this case done with a biscuit, and sweet-potato pecan pie with Bourbon ice cream, which is so sweet that it will make your teeth hurt. As a bonus, desserts are served with hand-whipped cream, so if you are counting calories, don't.


If you love this bar and grill, you may be a redneck. Then again, maybe not.

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