{"id":126,"date":"2015-04-17T01:32:18","date_gmt":"2015-04-17T01:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/digifolio.me\/andrewcaplan\/?p=126"},"modified":"2015-04-17T03:40:41","modified_gmt":"2015-04-17T03:40:41","slug":"rowdies-den-sports-bar-with-a-kick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digifolio.me\/andrewcaplan\/2015\/04\/17\/rowdies-den-sports-bar-with-a-kick\/","title":{"rendered":"Rowdies Den: Sports bar with a kick"},"content":{"rendered":"

Published in The Crow’s Nest April 2015<\/em><\/p>\n

It started as a normal workday.<\/p>\n

Like the day before, waitress Jessica Armor arrived at Midtown Sundries for her shift.<\/p>\n

But when she arrived, a closed for business sign hanging on the door told her and the restaurant\u2019s other employees that they were out of a job.<\/p>\n

Not long after, Tampa Bay Rowdies owner Bill Edwards bought the building and transformed it into the Rowdies Den sports bar.<\/p>\n

The Den, at 200 First Ave. S in downtown St. Petersburg, recently held its grand opening party on April 4 in hopes of attracting locals before, during and after Rowdies home games.<\/p>\n

Armor, 19, said Edwards offered to let all the servers keep their jobs, but only her and one other waitress accepted the proposal. She also said there is a noticeable difference between her previous and current employers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe business here is just better,\u201d Armor said. \u201cIt\u2019s just more upbeat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like the million dollar renovations to his soccer club\u2019s Al Lang Stadium, Edwards spared no expense with the Den.<\/p>\n

Throughout the bar, there are 32 flat-screen televisions, including a 65-inch TV where customers take control of their favorite soccer players with Fifa on Xbox One. There are beer pong tables and an electronic version of the drinking-game favorite, electronic dart boards, and pool and foosball tables. But the biggest addition is the 120-inch projector, where fans can watch Rowdies soccer games during the season from almost any seat in the house.<\/p>\n

Manager Mike Mauro said business has been \u201cslamming\u201d since its opening. Located a couple of blocks from Al Lang Stadium, fans flooded the Den after the sold out home opener on April 11.<\/p>\n

Mauro said Ralph\u2019s Mob, the team\u2019s official independent supporters group, is expected to show up often throughout the season with at least 100 people at a time.<\/p>\n

To keep fans coming back, the Den features live music every Friday and Saturday night. And after every home game, a rotating group of four Rowdies players is expected to show up to interact with fans.<\/p>\n

Mauro also said the kitchen and menu are completely new and that Edwards invested more than $100,000 in the kitchen alone.<\/p>\n

The menu offers alcoholic beverages like \u201cRalph\u2019s Mob juice\u201d and the \u201cWorld Cup margarita\u201d. On Mondays, the restaurant offers students with a school I.D. select buckets of beer and \u201ckick in the glass\u201d pitchers for $10. Customers can also take advantage of specials throughout the rest of the week on days like \u201cTaco Tuesday\u201d and \u201cWine-Down Wednesday\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Rowdies Den menu contains \u201cgame-day food\u201d like burgers, fries, pizza and chicken wings. Several staff members said that the \u201cfifty-fifty balls\u201d were one of the top sellers and worth the $8. The order comes with six bacon-wrapped tater-tots stuffed with blue cheese and served with a side of fra diavolo ketchup.<\/p>\n

And if customers are feeling extra \u201crowdie,\u201d they can throw down $10 on the \u201cRowdie Reaper\u201d wing challenge for a chance to win an authentic Nike team jersey and get their picture on the \u201cWall of Fame.\u201d<\/p>\n

Customers have 10 minutes to chow down on six boneless or regular wings drenched in the Rowdie Reaper sauce, which Mauro said contains ghost peppers.<\/p>\n

To increase the heat, there is a five-minute cool-off period where the customer must sit and endure the burn without anything to drink. Only two people have completed the challenge, according to Mauro.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had one guy do it; his whole neck turned red,\u201d Mauro said. \u201cDon\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every night before 7 p.m., the Den offers a $5 burger on its menu. USF St. Petersburg graduate Adrian Arabitg believes students should take advantage of the deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I was a college student, I\u2019d come here for sure,\u201d Arabitg said. \u201cGood deals, fun environment, good place to bring some friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Den is open 11 a.m.-3 a.m Monday through Friday, and opens an hour earlier on the weekend. If customers are unable to find parking in front of the building, they can park in the Rowdies Den garage for $5.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
(Photo Courtesy of Mark Wolfenbarger)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Published in The Crow’s Nest April 2015 It started as a normal workday. Like the day before, waitress Jessica Armor arrived at Midtown Sundries for her shift. But when she arrived, a closed for business sign hanging on the door told her and the restaurant\u2019s other employees that they were out of a job. Not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-126","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"czr-hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digifolio.me\/andrewcaplan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digifolio.me\/andrewcaplan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digifolio.me\/andrewcaplan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digifolio.me\/andrewcaplan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digifolio.me\/andrewcaplan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/digifolio.me\/andrewcaplan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":150,"href":"https:\/\/digifolio.me\/andrewcaplan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126\/revisions\/150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digifolio.me\/andrewcaplan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digifolio.me\/andrewcaplan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digifolio.me\/andrewcaplan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}