Football Frenzy #14 at Lopez and Lefty's

Lopez and Lefty's

1759 S. Claudina Way

Anaheim, CA 92805

It's been a long while since we have been out to find the best place in OC to watch football. I looked it up, and we have not been out to watch football for close to three years. Yikes. Yes, we have been out on Sundays, but we usually try to stay pretty close to home, so the day is not a total waste after our game is over, and we can still get some things done around the house.

Of course, the real reason that we have not been as passionate about football recently is that my beloved Jaguars have been atrocious in the last three years. Not to turn this into a sports blog, but they have 12 wins and 36 losses in the last three years and have not finished higher than third, in a four-team division during that time. Yes, I can admit, my team stinks, and that's probably why I'm not as gung-ho about leaving my comfy apartment to watch them lose yet another game. This particular week I felt a little more confident about my Jags, and I wanted to give a sports bar that I have heard a lot of good things about a chance. So we headed up the 5 Freeway to Lopez and Lefty's.

I had heard about Lopez and Lefty's when it was written up in the OC Register as having one of the better burgers in OC, along with a nice piece on some of the best fries around. That was good enough for me to put this on our restaurant wish list.

We decided to meet my parents at this kind of odd location, which straddles the 5 Freeway and is just isolated enough, that tourists from the nearby Disney Resort District would have a hard time finding this restaurant in this largely industrial area. We arrived a few minutes before kickoff and were met with about a half-full restaurant. They definitely passed my first test when coming to a sports bar on a Sunday morning, when they asked which game we wanted to watch, and turned it on for us. Very organized, and made us feel very welcome.

The inside of Lopez and Lefty's reminded me of a more rustic Island's, with a surf vibe definitely going on here, with the numerous surfboards hanging on the walls, the lifeguard chair in the front of the restaurant, and the use of a VW half bus used as their logo. The setup here is pretty good, with numerous TVs hanging throughout the restaurant, and five TVs centered over their 15 seat bar. From our table, it was easy to watch numerous games at once. All this football had made me pretty hungry, so let's take a look at what had the guys over at the OC Register all excited about this place.

During Sundays for football, Lopez and Lefty's has a Bloody Mary Special ($5) going on. This was a pretty solid version, which I ordered spicy. They definitely made this with a little kick to it. For those who prefer, they also offer $10 Bottomless Mimosa's during football games as well. This bloody mary was a great way for me to drink my sorrows away, as the Jags continued their pathetic play on the field.

On Sundays, Lopez and Lefty's have a small breakfast menu, which runs from 10 to 1 pm. This Breakfast Burrito ($8.99) was one of six items on it. Katie selected this pretty basic version, which comes with eggs, bacon, cheese, and potatoes. They have a salsa bar in the back of the restaurant so you can add a little spice if you like. Katie liked this burrito, but it did have some temperature issues. The bite I had was fine, but this breakfast burrito was pretty pedestrian and needed some onions, hotter salsa, or avocado to jazz things up.

No breakfast for either my dad or I, as we went straight to the burger section of the menu. My dad swiped the burger I was going to have, the A.B.B.A. Burger ($13.44). No, this burger was not inspired by the 70's Swedish band, the initials stand for avocado, blue cheese, bacon, and aioli. This burger also came with plenty of lettuce, red onion, tomato, and a homemade pickle placed on top of the bun. My dad really enjoyed this pretty good sized burger, and he did manage to finish it all. The insides of the burger, especially the blue cheese, provided big-time flavor in his opinion, and he'd definitely get this one again. He subbed out the fries that usually come with their burgers and paid the one dollar up-charge for the onion rings. He's happy that he did.  These were a heavily breaded onion ring, which was made with red onions. I love it when restaurants use red onions instead of regular old brown or white ones. These are sweeter and provide for a better flavor. Get the onion rings for sure here, well worth the dollar.

Since my first burger choice was taken by my dad, I was left with my second selection, the Wake N Bacon Burger ($12.44). I'm a sucker for a fried egg on a burger, and it was included on this one, along with bacon, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, and red onion. I really enjoyed the inside of this burger, especially after I asked for some aioli to bring everything together. The beef was very good, and the other toppings really shined. The bun left a lot to be desired. It did a good job keeping things together, but it was too bready, and really detracted from the otherwise very solid burger. The fries were as advertised, they were very good. They had a nice crunchy outer shell and were pillowy soft inside. Just the right amount of salt and their ranch dressing was a great choice for dipping.

I really enjoyed our time at Lopez and Lefty's, and feel this is one of the better spots we have been to for Sunday football. I'm of course not ready to anoint them as the best place to watch football because I have lots of other spots that I want to check out before I make that claim. The burgers here were very solid, and the rings and fries were even better than that. I wish they had more in the way of a breakfast menu, and maybe some better drinks specials, but that's not enough to keep us from not coming back here. Yes, my Jags ended up losing the game we were watching here, but it's no fault of Lopez and Lefty's. We'll still come back for those rings, fries, and burgers.

Out of five golf tees, (because my father-in-law's favorite golfer is Phil Mickelson, who is left-handed, and thus has the nickname Lefty), five being best to zero being worst, Lopez and Lefty's gets 3 golf tees.

For more information about Lopez and Lefty's, head to their website here: https://lopezandleftys.com/