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Uptown Sports Club


texasdago

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Went by today for lunch during the soft opening.  If you've passed by the building on E. 6th and admired all the paste art and graffiti, the renovation is really stunning.  What they have done inside is simply amazing.  Great food... kitchen is already running like a tight ship.  The vibe today was really upbeat - like you could tell everyone was very happy it was finally open (technically opened on Wednesday, official open is tomorrow).  Our group has the gumbo (get the gumbo!), wedge salad, veggie sandwich, shrimp sandwich, sports club sandwich and the fries.  Thumbs up all around.  Franklin was making the rounds and we talked to him for a while - seems really happy to see his vision come to fruition.  It's going to be a popular place... definitely got quite busy by the time we left.

https://austin.towers.net/inside-the-very-sensitive-renovation-of-east-austins-uptown-sports-club/

https://www.mysanantonio.com/food/article/franklin-barbecue-uptown-sports-club-17856672.php

https://www.austinmonthly.com/aaron-franklin-prepares-to-finally-unveil-uptown-sports-club/

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Whatever you want to say about it, he took a 40-year old turdburger that looked like a homeless Hilton (complete with dirt interiors and a hole in the ceiling) and turned it into a gem.  Props to him for that.  Apparently no one else took it on for the decades it was vacant.  

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That looks amazing, thanks for sharing. 

2 hours ago, texasdago said:

Whatever you want to say about it, he took a 40-year old turdburger that looked like a homeless Hilton (complete with dirt interiors and a hole in the ceiling) and turned it into a gem.  Props to him for that.  Apparently no one else took it on for the decades it was vacant.  

No one took it on because the asshole that owned the property wouldn't sell it.  I know Marco Garcia of Curra's took a run at it, among others.  I did the same back when I lived on the east side (I'm sure I told this story already on the old site).  I tracked down the owner just to inquire and was quoted a price of $2m.  I was a little stunned because it was on TCAD for $200K at the time. 

My revenge was to contact the county tax assessor and inquire why commercial property was being taxed at $200K when the owner thought it was worth 10x but they responded that they only re-evaluate values at the owner's request. 

Anyway, my vision was to go real low cost build-out (except for reclaimed wood floors, I wanted them to have that awesome pier and beam knock when you walked), no AC, no food, just cold beer sold by the bottle, TV's and floor fans (you'd sweat by design), kind of a C Hunt's or Rabbits but more enclosed (bear in mind this was 10+ years ago when most of that 6th street stretch of bars was very working class).  $1 off beers if you showed a 78702 DL's address. 

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2 hours ago, LCHorn said:

That looks amazing, thanks for sharing. 

No one took it on because the asshole that owned the property wouldn't sell it.  I know Marco Garcia of Curra's took a run at it, among others.  I did the same back when I lived on the east side (I'm sure I told this story already on the old site).  I tracked down the owner just to inquire and was quoted a price of $2m.  I was a little stunned because it was on TCAD for $200K at the time. 

My revenge was to contact the county tax assessor and inquire why commercial property was being taxed at $200K when the owner thought it was worth 10x but they responded that they only re-evaluate values at the owner's request. 

Anyway, my vision was to go real low cost build-out (except for reclaimed wood floors, I wanted them to have that awesome pier and beam knock when you walked), no AC, no food, just cold beer sold by the bottle, TV's and floor fans (you'd sweat by design), kind of a C Hunt's or Rabbits but more enclosed (bear in mind this was 10+ years ago when most of that 6th street stretch of bars was very working class).  $1 off beers if you showed a 78702 DL's address. 

That'd be better than what they turned it in to.

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17 hours ago, stc said:

$15 can of electric jellyfish? get the fuck out with that shit. 

I mean, they sell it for $20 a 4-pack at HEB. That's a 3x markup at $15 a can. You pay $10 for a six pack of Live Oak pilz at HEB and they charge $8 a can here, which is a 5x markup. The problem here isn't the markup. The problem is that Jellyfish is by far and away the most overpriced, overhyped and overrated beer in all of the land. 

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On 4/4/2023 at 8:35 AM, irishtexan said:

I mean, they sell it for $20 a 4-pack at HEB. That's a 3x markup at $15 a can. You pay $10 for a six pack of Live Oak pilz at HEB and they charge $8 a can here, which is a 5x markup. The problem here isn't the markup. The problem is that Jellyfish is by far and away the most overpriced, overhyped and overrated beer in all of the land. 

But it gets ya drunk!

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27 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

I'm curious what you mean by helpful - as in the service was good? Or providing good explanations of mixology, etc.

They knew the oysters well and the cocktails and knew the basic stuff that wasn’t on menu (made a great Negroni that wasn’t a straight 1:1:1).  


But ultimately helpful is probably a euphemism for able to manage their time to both get their job done for rest of bar, cover the orders from the tables, and hold a conversation with the dipshit (me) sitting at the bar asking questions.  

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  • 2 weeks later...

Took some friends on Saturday night around 8:30 or so... sat in the back patio and had another great meal.  Really like their shrimp sandwich.  Anyway, noticed the A/C was brutal inside and our friends commented on the noise.

BTW, Pinthouse went from $15 a can to $12.  Not that I'm ordering that but... 

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