I’ll be honest. It’s probably not fair to assess the crowd at a college bar when there aren’t any students around to influence your appraisal. But looking around at the fraternity banners hanging from the wall of Mavericks Bar and Grill in Arlington, I can guess at least what the bar hopes its crowd is like.
It’s the middle of what should be the lunch rush, but it’s raining outside, and the place is sparsely populated. I’m sitting at the bar, a long stretch of polished granite pierced at regular intervals by the roof’s support piers, on which are fliers for an end of the semester party. Apparently, various unnamed prizes are to be awarded. I’d ask the bartender, but he’s busy. Along with a bunch of distributor deliveries to deal with, he’s got about 10 people scattered throughout the place in different stages of their lunch breaks. That doesn’t sound like much, except for the fact that you could probably park a Learjet in Mavericks, and it takes the guy a full minute to make the rounds.
Behind me is another granite bar top, dividing the room into a dining section and the bar. Beyond that other bar top is square cocktail seating that gives way to a pair of billiards tables near the far wall, the one hung with the frat flags. It’s also hung with a projection screen, at the moment blank and empty.
Above the back bar, between a pair of TVs showing SportsCenter, is an episode of Family Feud. The bartender finally gets a second to take my order: a Miller Lite bottle and some chicken strips. As soon as he turns around, I hear Steve Harvey instruct the mom of one family to “name something with skid marks on it!” I hear a dude at the far end of the bar mutter “underwear.” After Feud ends, the Craig Ferguson-hosted Celebrity Name Game comes on. When a brunette contestant tells him she is from Sacramento, he goes, “Ah, Sacramento. The Paris of Northern California!” That’s kind of a funny joke, but I’m a little disappointed that she doesn’t say something like, “You’re hella funny, Craig!” Maybe she didn’t grow up there, because the excitement of a TV game show seems like the kind of circumstance that would inspire someone from Sacto to let the “hellas” fly left and right. In any case, I wish more bars would show the Game Show Network. I think game shows are awesome.
Or most are anyway. The name game doesn’t hold my interest. At all. I see a poster in the window facing Main Street, advertising a new Full Throttle energy drink flavor. The flavor? “Night.” What the fuck does night taste like? Blood? Moths? Ninjas? A 3 a.m. breathalyzer test?
Mavericks also has 10 beers on tap. This being a college bar and all, the selection is heavy on the macrobrews, plus Rahr’s Texas Red. That’s useful information. While tending bar at The Boiled Owl Tavern recently, I had a customer ask where he could find that beer on draft. Mavericks is the answer, my friend! You can also get semi-decent chicken strips there!
I don’t know if Mavericks Bar and Grill fills up with dudebros in pink Orvis shirts or not, but it’s certainly chill enough for afternoon beer sessions. Maybe after three or four adult beverages, shouting along with Family Feud might actually be fun. –– Steve Steward
[box_info]Mavericks Bar and Grill
601 E Main St, Arlington. 817-548-1442.[/box_info]
