Wouldn't it be easier for a bar to just stick to the frozen pizzas?

"Yeah, but a lot of people don't like that, either," says Johnson.

"Of course it would've been easier, absolutely," says O'Neil. "I don't know if we would stand out above the crowd as much."

Says Scholl, "I think there's a wide rainbow of expectations, and there are places that fill the expectations of all people. A lot of people expect poppers and burgers, and there are places that do that well."

Planning the perfect bar menu

Neither Johnson nor O'Neil say they gave much thought to pairing specific foods to their drinking patrons.

"When I'm planning a menu (I) just think about the setting and what people are thinking about eating in general and right now. That's why you see macaroni and cheese and sliders on every menu from bar food to wine bars," says Johnson.

Says O'Neil, "We just brought on a new entrée called the 'Black Magic Marinated Bistro Steak.' It's a hanger steak marinated in Guinness beer and finished with a Guinness-inspired demi-glace. It's food and drink, I suppose, but you'd have to eat a lot of them to get a buzz."

Johnson, whose menus run the gamut, says he doesn't necessarily see a trend moving toward more healthy bar food, but his vegan and vegetarian food have been extremely popular.

"Vegan stuff has worked really well for us, and we had no idea that it would take off as much," he says. "I'm not a vegan -- we really did it because many of our employees are vegans, and they were begging us to do it. I was skeptical, but if it works, we'll keep it."

Back to basics?

Considering the scope of his menu, it's ironic that Johnson's most popular item at the Palomino is the chicken sandwich, though the hushpuppies -- he doesn't know of another bar that sells them -- does really well, too.

Says Johnson, "We would love it if we could sell more ribs or vegan riblets or chicken fried steak -- that's what we anticipated -- but we sell a lot more burgers and chicken sandwiches.

"It's funny because people will say, 'I totally love your fried chicken and I always get it,' but we sell like three or four orders a week. It's true, it's really good, but we don't sell that much of it."

Same goes for 4th Base, where with a nearly endless menu, people could eat anything -- but it's the burgers that are still the big draw.

"Our signature meal is burgers and fries," says Scholl. "They're good. For $6.50 for a cheeseburger and $4 for a basket of fries, you can have a nice meal."

O'Neil says he tries to strike a balance between the different genres of cuisine.

"We've got a lot of restaurants that cater to a higher crowd of eating," says O'Neil. "Our niche is right in the middle. We try to decorate it a little with our service and try to be a little funkier and more down to earth.

"We added a spicy bean veggie burger, but our real bread winner are burgers, nachos and provolone sticks, beer battered and deep fried.

"You can have your half-pound Angus cheeseburger and eat it, too," he says.