Best Sports Bar In the Land Completes Expansion
By Trevor Phipps
March Madness is almost over, but the best part has arrived. The county’s “best sports bar” is one of the prime spots to go to have a beer, enjoy good food and watch your favorite game.
Russ’ Place in Divide was voted as the best sports bar in Teller County during the recent “Best of the High Country, 2019” competition, sponsored by the Mountain Jackpot Newspaper. This is a heavily contested contest that generates thousands of responses. And this impressive victory for the popular Divide hangout came as no surprise to locals who frequent the bar.
These days Tellerians are stoked due to the fact that the Divide sports watching capital has spruced up the interior of their bar and restaurant. “It was kind of a messed up little place and we just didn’t like being a dive bar,” owner of Russ’ Place Bob Kerr said. “It became time we kind of graduated to the next level. We wanted to spice it up a little bit and let people know that everyone is welcome here not just rough and tumble folks. We are just trying to have a nice, clean place where everyone can hang out.”
The remodeling project featured brand new chairs and bar stools including an addition to the center of the dining room. The new and improved feasting area at Russ’ now features a wall barrier separating a two sets of contemporary style booths. The remodel brought about the addition of more tables and chairs so that an increased amount of people can now fit inside the bar/restaurant comfortably.
“We decided to put in a divider wall that added some flow to the place,” Kerr said. “It’s more comfortable seating and it’s a little bit more fun to hang out for a longer amount of time.”
The sports bar also added more television sets for sports as part of their expansion. According to the owner, the restaurant has added four big screen TVs to their lineup for their customers to enjoy. Kerr believes that this will give more people an opportunity to watch their favorite football, baseball, or MMA match.
Part of the reasoning behind the remodel must have been due to the recent success Russ’ Place has experienced. Recently, many nights you go to the sports bar, the dining room is nearly full with customers. Many people in town that enjoy Russ’ also speak highly of the quality of the food.
“Most of our menu is all homemade and made from scratch every day,” Kerr said “We patty our burgers fresh, cut the vegetables fresh, all of the dressing are homemade, all of the chilies are made here, and we hand batter everything that you order that’s deep fried. We just want to make it fresh and get the mountains known for actually good cuisine instead of just being a dive place to hang out.”
In the beginning of this month, the infamous March Madness College Basketball playoffs started, an event that fills up the month of March with hundreds of basketball playoff competitions. Every day there are several good matches to watch and one gets to pick from a plethora of different sports games. Now that it is over the halfway mark, all of the matches are competitive since it is reaching the time where the tournament is at the top of the brackets.
Due to Russ’ recently being voted the area’s best sports bar and their impressive new remodel, the sports bar stands out as one of the best places to go and watch a game while enjoying good food and beverages. Sports fans and residents should head to Russ’ Place once their favorite team makes it to the final matches. And in the process or partaking in March Madness or other big games, they can see first-hand why Russ’ was voted as best sports bar in the land.
