Review – Beanie’s Sports Grill
We had been cruising the Ruskin/Apollo Beach region of Rt. 41 in search of some vittles. Our visit earlier that day to the Manatee Viewing Center had us peckish. I had a peculiar craving for seafood or beef but I was open to anything and thought we might find something unique and nifty along this old Tamiami highway.
Most of the restaurants we passed were either fast food, pizzerias, or riddles wrapped in concrete inside a strip mall. There were scant standout options. As we reached the crossing over the Little Manatee River, we decided we had explored far enough and pulled a u-turn to try an interesting looking spot we had just passed. If anything, it stood out.
Beanie’s Bar & Sports Grill had one of those exteriors that suggested whatever awaited inside was could be really good. Or really bad. The huge adjacent lot with signage for Beanie’s hints at a need to park many cars. But we like to take risks. We may find that diamond in the rough or we could foul out. Christa reassured me, “It can’t be worse than The Skillet.”
(The Skillet was a place that looked really promising from the outside but left us really wanting on the inside.)
In case you overlooked the ticket-house motif and yellow goalposts, Beanie’s is a sports bar. Make that, a “family sports bar restaurant”. Now, I’m not crazy into sports, and I don’t have children, but I do know some fanatics and I’m a former child, so I understand the differing dynamics of a family and those of a crowd of beer drinking sports fans. Personally, I’ve never understood the desire to merge the two, but I can understand the feelings of those men and women who find themselves with more than their own mouths to feed yet simultaneously need to watch the game and whack a few cold ones with a bunch of strangers.
Did I say I can understand it? I meant I can see that it happens. I don’t understand it. Regardless, family sports bar and grills are a thing, apparently. And Beanie’s Ruskin Family Sports Grill was open for business on an otherwise empty road. Best yet, they are a family run business, according to their website.
Beanie’s Ruskin Family Sports Grill
2002 S US Highway 41,
Ruskin, Florida
Phone: 813-649-1700
Hours:
Sunday – 12:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Monday – CLOSED
Tuesday to Thursday – 11:00 am-9:00 pm
Friday – 11:00 am-10:00 pm
Saturday – 11:00 am-9:00 pm
Happy Hour:
Tuesday to Saturday – 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m
Sunday – Open to Close
www.beaniesruskin.com
We were greeted with smiles and asked to sit anywhere. We chose a booth in the seating area adjacent to the bar. The table tops were all hand painted with the Beanie’s logo and those of various major league sports teams.
There’s a charm to a place when the owners, friends, and family make their own decor, logos, t-shirts and such. You feel like you’re engaging with real people, not a faceless corporation, and it fosters an expectation that the same love and effort will be present in the kitchen. Only, with sports bars, food can often be a tertiary priority.
The sign out front declared “Mother Cookin’ Good,” which I interpret as “Mom does the cooking and it’s good enough to pun the f-bomb.” Beanie’s menu hints at a Chicago influence and their Beanie’s Beef roast beef sandwich called out to me. I make a mean Italian style roast beef with fried peppers and jus, myself—and recently made twenty pounds of it for my Father’s 80th Birthday.
I was dying for the taste again, though having grown in the shadow of Philly, I had never had an authentic Chicago version. Done right, I’m sure I’d love it. Cut to the chase: Beanie’s Beef was just okay. It would do in a pinch, but the flavor came up short. I’m getting ahead of myself.
We looked over the cleverly designed menu with sports-themed categories and word plays on team names and personalities. They were all over the board, geographically and generally. I thought there was a Chicago focus, but now I’m not so sure. Hey, as long as it tastes great what do I care where it originated?
I think they just used terms that relate to foods, e.g., “Hoops” for baskets and names like Larry “BIRD” Chicken Strips and New Jersey “FISH” Nets and the “SHRIMP” Shack O’Neal, which is stretching just a bit. But it’s fun.
Imagine calling Shaquille O’Neal “Shrimp Shaq”. He’d pop your damned skull—Kazaam!
We chose to start with a large Beanie’s Famous Loaded Chips: “Our homemade chips covered in shredded cheese, scallions, diced tomatoes, bacon chunks, and bleu cheese or ranch dressing. Tastes just like a loaded baked potato!”
It didn’t—because potato chips–but they were delicious. So delicious, i only thought to take a pic at the end. We devoured the whole messy works in a matter of minutes. Our choice of ranch dressing was the right one, it was tasty and might have been house made. I ate it so fast I forgot to take a starting pic.
Round one was a hit and the iced-tea was refreshing and delicious. Hey, I was driving.
Our meals arrived and the Beanies Beef sandwich looked a little underwhelming. I immediately realized one reason why—there’s no provolone–no cheese to melt into the steaming wet beef. I overlooked that in the description. Do they not put sharp, aged provolone on their roast beef in Chicago? Oh, well. Let’s hope the roast beef stands on its own. A second reason was that each half was dwarfed by the jus cup.
A decent portion of thinly sliced beef filled a crusty roll, cut in two, and each topped with a wedge of green pepper. I pulled out a man-sized wad of meat and placed it between my cheek and gum. It was beef and it was seasoned–slightly–but that was basically it. There was no noticeable savory flavor, no herbs, like rosemary, or garlic.
I dipped into the jus and took a bite. It was wet, so it had that going for it. I took a sip from the cup—it tasted like water that had just boiled a Steak-umm. I imagine; I’ve never boiled Steak-umm. I took another bite with some of the pepper. Though the skin was blistered, it was nearly raw and bland. I added some giardiniera for some heat and tang. It was hot. I removed the bell peppers, salt and peppered the beef and finished both halves.
The beef was real beef, sliced thin and tender and the roll was nice, but that was it. The giardiniera was simply carrot slices and jalapenos in oil and the “marinated” peppers were an undercooked quarter of a bell pepper. If this was what a Chicago beef sandwich was all about, count me out. I’ll stick with their hotdogs.
Mother may have created the menu, but I suspect someone in the kitchen that day was straying from the SOP. I won’t condescend to advise mom, but in regards to the sandwich I received, an improvement could be made by frying sliced banana peppers (hot and/or mild) in olive oil until they get blistered and soft…
…roasting the beef with a rub of salt, olive oil, garlic, and herbs, and making the jus from the pan drippings with more herbs and salt. You can use bouillon (the paste kind), but you gotta make it strong and doctor it up with some garlic and herbs.
Herbs, dammit! Herbs! My kingdom for some herbs!
As it was, the bland jus was useless, the giardiniera was mediocre, the beef–while plentiful– was almost flavorless. The roll was nice, good flavor and chewy with a good crust. Maybe the kitchen had a bad day. I know how it can be when it’s slow. Perhaps at a busier time, they’re on their game.
I also ordered potato salad on the side and it was good deli-style potato salad. Nothing to write home about—or to the internet, for that matter. It tasted good and was adequate in quality and quantity.
Christa got the New Jersey FISH Nets: “Our hand-dipped seasonal fried fish served with homemade tartar or cocktail sauce.” She chose coleslaw as her side and tartar sauce to dip.
They arrived as a basket of six or seven pieces of fish fillet, battered and fried to a light golden brown. The coleslaw was a little 4 oz portion cup and it was decidedly meh. A tray of two pickle spears was included—bonus. She decided that whole shebang wasn’t bad, but nothing special–just your basic batter-fried fish. She could take it or leave it, but she wouldn’t necessarily make a return trip for it.
That about sums up our experience at Beanie’s: Not great, not bad, but nothing left lingering to lure us back later. Then again, it’s not us that they had in mind for their target market. This place is for those who like televised athletics. It’s a well-appointed bar with plenty to offer sports fans. The food, at least what we experienced, was serviceable and fairly priced, but we wouldn’t consider the place a food destination.
It’s more of a televised sports and alcoholic drinks destination–you visit when you want to hang with your friends to watch a game and drink some beers. And bring your kids. Oh, you’re hungry, too? Yeah, they’ve got a kitchen and the food will sustain you through a doubleheader.
If you want fantastic food that will linger in your noggin and lure you back for more, this might not be your place. I suppose most folks don’t go to a sports bar for fantastic food, whether it’s a family sports grill or not. They want cheap beers, attentive service and a lot of screens. Beanie’s has those three things in spades.
So here’s the rundown: Sports kitsch on the walls, clever homemade table tops, home plate and batters boxes inlaid into the vinyl tile, a full bar and a nice selection on tap that isn’t overwhelmed with wallet-shrinking microbrews. It’s a cool environment to catch televised sports events and if I lived within 30 minutes, I’d go often–if they aired rally racing and lumberjack competitions.
Unless this visit was a fluke, food seems to be an afterthought: solid but forgettable nourishment while slugging lite beer and cheering (or jeering) at flat screens. It’s a great place to hang out with your sports-loving friends, but I wouldn’t suggest it for a great meal. The service was pleasant and accommodating, the place was clean, and the mood and atmosphere were laidback and welcoming.
To be fair, I should give them another try to be sure this wasn’t an odd day. As it stands, I had a much tastier roast beef sandwich at Portillo’s. A chain should not be better than a solo operation. Especially not better than one that makes their own table tops and t-shirt designs. There’s love in Beanie’s. Maybe we’ll return another time to find it in the kitchen.
Thanks for reading!