You deserve a good sports bar. A place where the wings have actually won awards, the burgers are eight ounces of serious intent, and someone named Jaime comes in every single morning to make the Reuben Rolls from scratch. That place, in Westchase, is Eddie’s Bar & Grill, which has just opened its fourth Tampa Bay area location at 12217 W. Linebaugh Ave.
Eddie’s has been making the Tampa Bay area considerably less boring since 1985, when a man named Eddie Turner opened the original location in Dunedin in a narrow sliver of a building across from the Gulf of Mexico. He made everyone feel welcome, served them great food, and the people of Dunedin did what communities do when something’s worth their time: they kept coming back. New ownership took over in 2016 and brought with it a remodel that transformed Eddie’s from a neighborhood staple into a full-blown regional institution.
The wings are the banner item, and rightfully so. Eddie’s won the Tampa Bay Wing Challenge, and there’s a plaque to prove it, which is exactly the kind of civic achievement that deserves more recognition than it currently gets. You can get ten for $14.95, twenty for $28.95, or fifty for $66.95, in sauces ranging from mild all the way up to something called Killer, which is either a warning or an invitation, depending on the kind of person you are…