By Erin Randolph erin@dmcityview.com

Like Hooters, but without the T&A

Hooters touts itself as being family friendly despite the fact that its waitresses spill out of their tops and short shorts. But perhaps the real family friendly alternative to Hooters is The Chicken Coop, 1960 Grand Ave. in West Des Moines, a restaurant/sports bar located in a strip mall near Limey's, a Bar Fly alum.

The Chicken Coop, like Hooters, is known for its wings (our personal favorite flavor, based on name alone, is "buck nasty hot," which is about as nasty as The Chicken Coop gets). Its walls are covered in wood and metal, its napkins are really paper towel rolls that sit at the tables and the seating, at least in the separate bar area, makes one feel, well, a bit cooped up.

The Bar Fly and Drinking Assistant Brian head out to the sports bar on a Saturday night, where we meet up with Drinking Assistants Drew and Germ, who have already commandeered the pool table at the back of the room. We order our $2.75 domestic bottles and settle into a high table in the back, as family types squeeze into too-close-together tables in the center of the bar to eat, drink and watch the first game of the World Series.

"It seems like a bar you'd find at an airport," says Drew of his sterile surroundings. "It's Hooters without the tits and ass."

Except, of course, for the tits and ass that are being displayed on one of the six big screen televisions that outline two of the bar's walls. A sports program has ended, and possibly in an attempt to appeal to its male clientele's second love, women in barely there clothing (in fact at one point there's a little bit of aereola showing) are posing for photographs, GQ-style. The program name, "Trashy Lingerie," says it all.

Meanwhile, we're trying to conduct a 50-cent pool game on a pool table placed way too close to the back wall. Call us crazy, but we expected more from a sports bar than to have to hold the cue nearly vertical when the white ball falls too close to the rail. The other side of the table, of course, is too close to tables where families are eating dinner, thereby forcing us to forego shots in favor of not having to ask people to move. Or in other words, it's like trying to play pool in a chicken coop.

By 10 p.m., a lot of the families have parted ways with the suburban take on Hooters, and so we decide to head to more familiar surroundings. Thankfully Limey's (and its entertaining waiter/bartender Patrick) is nearby. If we decide to head back to The Chicken Coop, it'll be to test out the wings. We hear they're pretty good.

Bar notes

Wellman's Pub will host local band The Jensen Connection on Saturday from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. (and the bar's open late for daylight savings) in conjunction with its Halloween costume contest, which will award first through third prizes. Also, starting Nov. 1 drink specials have changed. Tuesday becomes "Two"sday, with $2 domestic bottles from 7 p.m. to close, Wednesday becomes "Wells"day with $2 wells from 7 p.m. to close, Thursday becomes "Three"sday with $3 call drinks and import bottles from 7 p.m. to close... The Des Moines Parrothead Club is sponsoring a Halloween pub crawl, complete with a chartered bus to be stocked with coolers and snacks that will visit several drinking establishments throughout the night. The crawl will start at 6 p.m. at Trophy's and will end up back at Trophy's at 1 a.m. For more information, contact hawkmarc@yahoo.com. CV

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