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Let's Eat

By STEVE PRISAMENT
Staff Writer
February 27, 2008

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Sports fans feel right at home at Tailgaters

GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP – Tailgaters Galloway Grille is by design a home away from home, a place for customers to feel comfortable – a place to feel like the owner of the joint.
“I knew I was going to spend a lot of time here,” said Aristotle Frangias, who with his wife, Ana, opened Tailgaters Nov. 18 at the site of the former Arrowhead restaurant and Dak’s steakhouse.
“I’m a diehard sports fan; I love all sports. What I wanted was a place that didn’t exist – a cozy atmosphere.”
He told people to bring in caps, shirts and pennants from their favorite teams, and he would hang them in the restaurant for as long as they could bear to part with them.
“It’s more like a clubhouse than a bar or restaurant,” Frangias said. “We have people who come by every day – sometimes just to say ‘hello.’ If you come here at 4 or 5 o’clock every night, you’re going to leave with your friends or with new friends.”
He said he designed the menu the same way – to his own taste.
“If it’s on the menu, it’s because it’s something that I love,” Frangias said. “Not just like – but love. I use Angus beef. The bread for the sandwiches is not just from one bakery, but from three different bakeries, from Atlantic City to Philadelphia. I want the perfect tastes that I love. Burgers are charbroiled, not on a regular grill.”
Originally from West Orange in Essex County, the Egg Harbor Township resident said his parents owned a restaurant and he has been in the food business practically his entire life.
In addition to three 50-inch and three 32-inch plasma-screen high-definition televisions, Tailgaters has a pool table, dart board, air hockey and Nintendo Wii.
“We have two happy hours,” Frangias said. “They’re Monday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. We have $1 off drinks and half-price appetizers.”
He said the facility can host private parties. It also has 12 beers on tap.
A Seton Hall University graduate (his wife graduated from Rider University), Frangias worked as a graphic artist for a company located in the Empire State Building.
“All this work on the menu is mine,” he said. “I do all my print; do all my own logos. My wife studied marketing. She’s marketing and I do the design work. We’re a great team. Without each other I don’t know what we’d do.”
He said they have adapted nicely to southern New Jersey.
“I like it down here. You can talk to your neighbor. People are all happy,” he said. “The customers – it’s more like I inherited a family. We’ve had all the Arrowhead and Dak’s customers back.”
His restaurant, he said, has been a success from the start.
“Knock on wood, so far, pretty good,” Frangias said.
Tailgaters isn’t just another sports bar. To boost his clubhouse atmosphere, Frangias said, he has a lot of fun things going on.
“Now that NASCAR season’s here, we do a free pool,” he said. “You get to pick a car number right before the start of the race. It doesn’t cost anything to enter, and you win a gift card. We have $1.50 Bud Lights during the race.”
And then there’s the food happening – the challenge to eat the gigantic Big Pittsburger.
“It’s a 1½-pound burger,” he said. “You eat the burger – the whole thing – and you get a free T-shirt that says you ate the burger.”

To comment on this story email steve.prisament@catamaranmedia.com.

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If You Go

Tailgaters Galloway Grille
337 W. White Horse Pike
Galloway Township, NJ
(609) 804-9000
Open daily 11 a.m. to midnight; 2 a.m. Thursday and Saturday nights.
Credit cards accepted
Gift cards available

Customer Favorites

American Burger ($6.49) Topped with melted American cheese with lettuce and tomato.
The Big Pittsburger ($13.99) A triple burger. Topped with lettuce, tomato and onion ring. A total of 24 ounces.
Buffalo Wings (2 pounds for $7.99, 4 pounds for $14.99) Chicken wings with choice of traditional spicy Buffalo or barbecue sauce. Served with bleu cheese or ranch dressing and celery.
Clam Chowda’ ($4.49) A New England specialty served in a bread bowl.
Five Cheese Ravioli ($10.99) Jumbo ravioli stuffed with five cheeses; finished with marinara sauce.
Steak ’n Cake ($16.99) New York strip steak and fried crab cake.