Bobby V's kicks it up a notch as menu goes beyond typical sports bar fare

Feb. 9—WINDSOR LOCKS — Located on Schoephoester Road, just down the road from Bradley International Airport, Bobby V's Restaurant may be attached to the Winners off-track betting parlor and offer sports betting, but it also offers an elevated sports bar menu.

If You Go

Address: 11 Schoephoester Road, Windsor Locks, adjacent to Bradley Airport

Hours: Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sunday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Menu: Wings, burgers, sandwiches.

Miscellaneous: Sports and horse wagering available

Contact: 860-627-5808; www.bobbyvsrestaurant.com

Named after the acclaimed former baseball player and New York Mets coach Bobby Valentine, Bobby V's opened as part of a renovation to the facility about 10 years ago, said Dan Hall, general manager of the building that houses Bobby V's Restaurant and Winners.

The $4 million upgrade was intended as an update to the sports bar concept, Hall said.

"They had an eye on sports betting being legalized down the road and making horse racing more accessible to a younger generation," he said. "Typically 18 year olds are not coming in to bet on horses. They thought if they made it a sports bar and mixed the sports with the horse racing, it would be more approachable to that next generation of people."

Sportech owns Bobby V's, an English company that has exclusive licensing to operate off-track betting televisions in Connecticut, Hall said. They own a second Bobby V's in Valentine's hometown of Stamford, and the horse and sports wagering venue Sports Haven in New Haven.

There were some bumps along the way of getting Bobby V's turned into a space that is family-friendly, where they could legally have children in the building, Hall said, eventually choosing to remove horse racing televisions from portions of the dining room.

"Half the dining room is open to all ages," he said. "It wasn't good. We'd have a party of 12 adults and one 4-year-old and we'd have to turn them away."

The sports bar area and patio alone have about 85 televisions, Hall said. When adding Winners' televisions, there are about 200.

Along with the elevated sports bar concept is an elevated menu.

"It's going to be sports bar food, but when we can we'll use local ingredients," Hall said. "You go to a sports bar the menus are going to be similar. You're going to have wings, you're going to have nachos, you're going to have burgers. We don't run from that. We have that. But we're trying to make really good nachos. Our burgers, they're big burgers. We try to raise the quality of the food over what you traditionally get at your average sports bar."

What Chef Bobby Murphy and his team do, Hall said, is use local produce as much as possible and avoid buying frozen foods.

"If we can get local vegetables in the summer, we'll do that," Hall said. "Our mozzarella, we're cutting cheese, we're breading that, we're making that our own, instead of just buying frozen mozzarella sticks. Our chicken tenders, we're bringing fresh chicken in, we're cutting those, we're battering those, we're frying those ourselves. The same with the fish."

He said that initially they tried buying frozen chicken tenders, but found the cheap product wasn't good enough and the expensive ones didn't offer enough of a profit.

"We made the switch about two years ago to hand battering the chicken ourselves and it is much easier than we thought it would be, and it tastes great," he said.

Another recent decision, he said, was to trim down the menu after reopening from the government-mandated COVID-19 shutdown.

"I thought we were spreading ourselves too thin," he said. "The menu was too big. You've got to have enough on there, something for everyone, but you don't want too much."

Still, that doesn't stop new things from popping up on the menu.

Hall said they test recipes in the specials menu and if they become popular, they'll transfer them over the main menu.

A recently added item is Cheeseburger Rangoon, fried wanton with a cheeseburger inside topped with diced pickles and onions, and "V" sauce.

"It tastes like a Big Mac," Hall said. "They've been really popular."

Other recent additions include Ancient Grain Panzanella Salad, with ancient grains, spring mix lettuce, roasted root vegetables, cucumbers, red onion, cherry tomatoes, lightly-toasted bread, and basil vinaigrette; fish and chips with freshly battered cod; the Cubano sandwich, with slow roasted pork loin, honey ham, yellow mustard, pickles, and Swiss cheese served on a grilled grinder roll; and the stuffed peppers dinner, with ground beef and basmati rice-filled pepper served over linguine, marinara, and covered in mozzarella.

An always popular item at sports bars is the 24-hour dry-brined chicken wings. Bobby V's offers 10 flavors with seven sauces and three dry rubs that come with their homemade blue cheese and ranch dressings.

"Buffalo is going to be your most popular," Hall said. "Sticky Soy, they really like that one. Garlic parm is really popular. Garlic Buffalo's a new flavor we added recently. It's an even mix between them all."

Though flavors may get spicy by name like habanero mango, he said things don't get too hot.

"There's no wing on here that's going to bring tears to your eyes," he said.

Popular dishes, Hall said, include the nachos, the apple walnut salad, the Old School Burger, and the Philly Cheesesteak.

"I really like our Bobby's Barbecue Burger," he said. "We have these thin crispy buttermilk fried onions, bacon, barbecue sauce. That's my favorite."

For coverage of local restaurants, cultural events, music, and an extensive range of Connecticut theater reviews, follow Tim Leininger on Twitter: @Tim_E_Leininger, Facebook: Tim Leininger's Journal Inquirer News page, and Instagram: @One_Mans_Opinion77.