The Writings of Phoenix

SPORT PEPPER’S BAR/GRILL    

      Sport Pepper’s, located at 1606 E Bell Rd, Phoenix 85022, 602-482-4433 is my absolute new favorite hang out! It is  a first class neighborhood sports bar,  a family oriented restaurant and a cool popular hot spot that you (or I) would drive across town to meet our friends at on a  Saturday night, all rolled up into one unique place.

      Frank and Toni became the new owners of Sport Pepper’s on October 30^th, 2008. At any given time you can find one if not both of them, behind the bar, shooting a game of pool (Frank) with a customer, in the restaurant, or just chatting it up with the regulars, that they have come to know on a first name basis. In fact Frank and Toni make it a point to know everyone and I am sure they will know your name by the time you leave the bar; it’s like the Cheers of our generation, friendly and fun and where they are always glad you stopped in.

      Lots of Sports bars serve food and usually while “men” are engrossed in watching a multitude of sporting events flashing across the screens, the quality of the food they are scarfing down is of little or no consequences to them. Sport Pepper’s has put a screeching halt to that mentality, as I hear their sport fanatic patrons continuously raving about the food, specifically the Pepper’s Jumbo wings, Mega Nachos, and Sliders. The Sliders are melt in your mouth delicious, as are the build your own burgers (you can add anything from avocado to jalapeno’s) starting at $6.49. One of the appetizers I have not tried yet is the Pepper’s shrimp, ½ pound of shrimp dusted, fried and tossed in either wing sauce or chili pepper garlic sauce; it sounds scrumptious and smells amazing. When a Melissa (my favorite waitress) is taking Pepper’s Shrimp to a table, for a moment the aroma is deliciously intoxicating overwhelming enough to make you seriously consider tackling her, just to get a taste.

     If you can stop focusing solely on the appetizers and move down the menu they offer an amazing array of salads; Oriental chicken, Caesar chicken, Cobb, Chef, and my best friend’s absolute favorite the grilled chicken salad, topped with a delectable raspberry vinaigrette dressing. If she could get her hands on that dressing I think she would order a year supply!  Now, if you are more a sandwich entrée kind of person don’t worry they got you covered there too.  Offering quite an assortment of sandwiches from Philly Cheese steak , Reuben’s, Patty Melts, BLT’s, Clubs, and several  very tasty chicken sandwiches including the ROJO Diablo, fried chicken breast  dipped in wing sauce with mozzarella cheese. Entrée’s vary from the Teriyaki Chicken bowl, to the Pepper’s Grilled Fajitas (another intoxicating aroma dish mmmmmmm) to the Cajun Blackened Chicken breast, served on a bed of rice with sautéed veggies. Any choice you make is a win for your taste buds.

     I am going to add one last dish, that technically is not on the menu, but ohhhhh so yummy, I call it the “Toni Special “. The appetizer, so to speak is a whole tomato sliced on a plate topped with Pepper’s homemade salsa, then the entrée is a plate of (fajita) veggies cooked fajita style, it is absolutely mouth watering and I am sure if you request it, they will do their best to accommodate you. Tell them Phoenix recommended it….. Frank and Toni should love that!!!

     Since this is a sports bar, it would be remise not to mention, that ALL the sports packages you can possibly imagine can be viewed here. NBA, MLB my favorite NFL and all USC fights are accessible here .They have a wall of TV’s not including all the TV’s over the bar, you could be anywhere in the place and still not miss a single play in the game you are watching. On Sunday’s during the football games they offer $10.00 buckets of beer ( two people minimum), and on Monday nights during the football game they offer half price appetizers (all day) and $7.00 buckets of beer (again  two people minimum). So if you are a sports nut, it may behoove to gather up all your buddies, relocate out of your living room and make Sport Peppers your new sport viewing headquarters. Let them get the beer and do the dishes give your wife a break, in fact bring her along.

       My most favorite feature of Sport Pepper’s is the entertainment. I often go to see the Sluggo Boys play, one of my favorite fun valley rock bands, as they have become a regular to rock the Pepper’s crowd. I was in the bar the other night and saw a band called The Eleventh Hour; they were definitely worth checking out again.  On Friday nights they have DJ playing all the newest music through-out the evening for your dancing enjoyment.  Wednesday is Jam night, the club features a band and you can get up and play with them or just belt out your favorite tune while they back you up. Thursday night is LADIES night, featuring $1.00 drinks.   If Poker is your game, then you should pencil in Peppers on Tuesday nights, Wednesday or Saturday during the day hours, where the poker is plentiful and they offer monthly as well as year-end contests. 

      One last fun fact about Sport Pepper’s I want to share is  how  creatively organized their theme  nights and game nights are; for back to school all the staff wore school girl outfits  or professors, for the kick off of football season the staff dressed as referees, it’s entertaining, and original. On Valentine’s Day, the waitress’ wore red corsets and the entire bar played questions and answer sex games to win prizes, an absolutely ingenious form of entertainment to bring into a bar.

     On my scale of 1-5 forks, Sport Pepper’s would be a 6, off the scale, not only for awesome food, but for the all around atmosphere of the bar, it just makes you want to keep coming back, week after week.