Let’s begin with some full disclosure: The following spot isn’t quite hot. It’s more of a lukewarm-to-simmering spot that over the next two months or so should build to a solid, bubbling boil.
The simmering spot in question is Woody’s Bar in downtown Akron.
Yes, there is a bar called Woody’s on South Main, right next to the Diamond Deli, and frequent downtown visitors might recall that not too long ago the same space was Jimmy’s, and before that, I think it was some other dude’s name.
Well, forget those other guys, because now it’s Woody’s and it should take you approximately four seconds to figure out for whom the cozy, nearly completely remodeled bar is named and its new theme. If the signed Buckeyes helmet featured prominently behind the bar isn’t a big enough clue, then the life-sized wall decal of Buckeye coaching legend Woody Hayes should clear it right up. It’s a sexy little sports bar.
Oh, did I mention the “Ann Arbor Next Flush” sticker next to the urinal handle in the men’s room? I can only imagine the Michigan indignities that are colorfully illustrated in the ladies room.
For folks who may not appreciate a bar with that (very) lived-in dive look, feel and occasionally taste, Woody’s is all new. It still has that fresh smell and everything from the bright lights to the bar itself, which is covered in pennies, to the nine big-screen televisions strategically placed throughout the main area, the jukebox on the wall, down to the shiny industrial wooden floor, it’s all crisp and clean.
It’s so new that Woody’s is currently only open from 4 p.m. to midnight Thursday and Sunday, and 4 p.m. to closing time Friday and Saturday.
The 10 taps and the cooler feature a mix of the Big Domestics along with some regional favorites and mainstream craft brews, such as Great Lakes and Sierra Nevada basics and even a few seldom-seen, old-school brews such as Hamm’s. I mean, how often do you see cans of Hamm’s in a newfangled bar? Maybe Woody’s can dig up a few cases of Olympia or Schmidt’s from some distributor’s back room and jump-start a whole new “vintage beer” fad.
The bar staff is friendly and contend that so far the nascent Woody’s crowd is late-night loft folks and college kids, looking to have a few beers minus some of the noise and inebriated hustle and bustle of the larger downtown nightspots.
Over the next several weeks, Woody’s will be finishing up its modest kitchen, which will offer plenty of bar food favorites, i.e. several varieties of sandwiches, appetizers and fried things.
The NBA playoffs begin at 3 p.m. Saturday (Go Cavs!) and if you’d like to share the first win of the postseason with some (but not too many) fellow fans, you can be among the first to break in Woody’s as a Cavs Cave or whatever the pithy, alliterative nickname for a Cavs bar may be.
Malcolm X Abram can be reached at mabram@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3758. Follow him on Facebook at http://on.fb.me/1lNgxml or on Twitter @malcolmabramABJ .