A Cowboy Saloon With a Full Sushi Bar Just Opened in Farmingdale
Some ideas sound like they were invented during the last round of drinks. A cowboy themed bar with a full sushi bar in the back sounds exactly like that. But this one is real, it is from a restaurant group that has earned the benefit of the doubt, and it opens to the public today.
Luckies Bar and Grill opens its doors Wednesday, September 23 at 90 Adelphia Road in Farmingdale, and it is the newest concept from the group behind 618 in Freehold, Elizabeth's Italian, Mezcal: A Modern Mexican Steakhouse, and Jersey Freeze in Colts Neck, built in partnership with Esposito Construction. If you have been to 618, you already know the playbook: big rooms, big drinks, and a kitchen that takes the food as seriously as the cocktails.
The room itself is the headline. Cowboy hats and horseshoes greet you at the door, and the walls are covered in Western and Japanese murals by artist Raul Rubio, a mashup that somehow works, even in the bathrooms. There is a proper sushi bar in the back where you can watch the chefs work. The bar is loud, the music is loud, there are TVs on every wall, and the servers wear red and black flannels, switching to football jerseys on Sundays. This place is going to be packed for every big game. You can already see it.
The drink program is where the 618 DNA shows. The Dill Breaker is a pickle martini built for people who take their pickle juice seriously. The Pistachio Martini, the group's signature, is back and can be ordered as a cocktail or a mocktail. The High Horse is their take on the espresso martini. And owner Matt Borowski's favorite drink on the menu is the Japanese Old Fashioned, made with Suntory Toki whiskey, ginger, and Sichuan peppercorn, which is the kind of detail that tells you the people behind this actually drink. Some drinks arrive in cowboy boot shaped glassware, because of course they do.
Then there is the sushi, which is a real program, not an afterthought. Hand rolls, special maki, sashimi, nigiri, and full sushi boats. The Dragon Roll packs tempura shrimp, cucumber, avocado, and freshwater eel. The Veggie Fruit Maki stacks avocado, cucumber, carrot, mango, apple, and lettuce in an almost inside out roll that is prettier than it has any right to be.
The rest of the menu was put together by Chef Christopher Dutka, and it reads like a greatest hits of bar food done right. Start with the foot long mozzarella stick, which is exactly as ridiculous as it sounds, or the Yucatan pork tacos, the chorizo mac and cheese, or the pickle brined chicken nuggets. The burgers use Pat LaFrieda beef, including a Mushroom Burger with gruyere, onion jam, and truffle aioli. There is a shrimp po boy with Old Bay tavern chips, a Philly roast pork with broccoli rabe and provolone, Nashville hot chicken, bangers and crispy spuds, an eight ounce filet mignon, and Thai salmon for the people who insist on being reasonable at a cowboy sushi bar.
Save room for dessert, because the mega s'mores sundae is a whole production: two brownies, s'mores gelato, peanut butter hot fudge, graham cracker crumbles, and toasted marshmallow fluff. The banana mousse cookie butter cheesecake is the quieter move, and from everything I have heard, it is the one people order twice.
The daily specials are the real story for regulars. Mondays are half priced wings with $7 Stateside Vodka drinks. Tuesdays, kids twelve and under eat free off the kids menu. Wednesdays bring $7 sangria and house wine with half priced select sushi, which might be the best deal on this list. Thursdays are all day happy hour. Fridays are half priced flatbreads at the bar. Saturdays are half priced pistachio and espresso martinis. Sundays are $5 Miller Lite and Super Lyte beers. Happy hour runs 3 to 6 pm Monday through Friday with $10 apps, including some hand rolls.
Hours are 4 to 10 pm Wednesday and Thursday, 4 to 11 pm Friday and Saturday, and noon to 9 pm Sunday. Kids are welcome, with their own menu, which is very much this group's style.
Look, cowboy boots and sushi should not work. But the group behind this has a track record of taking big swings and landing them. Elizabeth's Italian was the buzziest opening in the state this year, and 618 has been a Freehold institution. I am betting Luckies is the same story. Pull up today.