Mike B.
Yelp
Looks like I got lucky (har har) enough to be the first person to upload a picture for this stylish new dive bar in the increasingly attractive to foodies West Bottoms! For such a new opening, Lucky Boys seems to know exactly what it is and who it's for. It's fairly dim inside, so you know you're in a cool bar in a hip, industrial part of town, but not dark enough where you can't see anything or it diminishes how much attentiveness obviously went into the decor and artwork. This place has real personality and automatically made me feel like I was somewhere I fit in, could hang out and relax every night, have some unpretentious beers (and I do love me some pretentious beer...so that's saying something), play some pool, and order some kickass food while I'm at it.
And let me be one of the first to tell you, the food does not play second fiddle to everything else going on here. They have a small and focused menu, which I think is exactly what you have to do at this kind of establishment. Do a few things and do them better/differently than anywhere else in town. Lucky Boys's Louisville Chicken Sandwich does exactly that and immediately gets put on the shortlist for best sandwich in town. The sandwich is huge...definitely not skimping on the incredibly tender chicken or mountain of slaw piled between two fresh (Farm to Market, I think?) potato buns. The chicken itself is spiced perfectly. Nobody else in town was doing hot chicken as good as you can actually get in Kentucky or Tennessee until Lucky Boys opened their doors. If for nothing else, I would visit again just to have this beauty; however, the rest of the menu definitely sparked my interest. I've already had several other food-loving peeps tell me the catfish is to die for, and being from Minnesota, I'm intrigued by the poutine, as well (crazy hard to find in KC). It's also worth mentioning that the fries were bomb. It would be easy to have them just be meh as a side to the incredible sandwich, but I would have happily nommed on these by themselves. Service was surprisingly attentive, as well. Our bartender was quick, friendly, and knew his drinks and the menu like the back of his awesomely tattooed hand. You can bet I'll be back in the West Bottoms soon to sip on some Tallgrass/Boulevard, have another chicken sandwich, and bring some friends, so I can sample the rest of the menu.
On a side note, the TV was playing Back to the Future 2 while I was in. Brownie points fo sho.