Spider Kelly's

Makeovers are usually designed to make their subject look less sporty; like when Little Giants' "Icebox" lost the cleats and became "Becky", or when Dennis Rodman lost the sneaks, and also became Becky. For an Arlington bar going the other way, check out the new Spider Kelly's.

Closed for a months-long rebirth and now open just in time for the Tournament, the formerly sit-down, slim galley bought out the three adjacent storefronts and transformed into a sprawling bastion of athletic boozyness; its all-new massive, wrap-around diamond plate main bar's ringed by 25 flatscreens, dart boards, pool/shuffleboard tables, and arcade rigs like Golden Tee and Big Buck Hunter, which everyone agrees is way more exciting than Little Lindsey Hunter. The similarly overhauled menu's flaunting new apps like crab cake or pulled pork sliders; chicken Caesar and buffalo chicken wraps; and entree heartiness like spicy jambalaya, 1/2 or a full rack of dry-rubbed BBQ ribs, and a homemade meatloaf whose "tomato-sauce glaze" will match that of your eyes post-ingestion. For spirited spiriting, there're 13 drafts (they were previously bottle-only) from Lagunitas IPA to Legend Brown Ale, plus nine spankin' new cocktails, like the Maker's/pineapple juice "Bourbon Cruiser", and the street address-evoking "Sex On Wilson", a citron/limoncello/cointreau joint garnished with a lemon twist and never getting called again, because you just gave it up, you just gave it right up!

Every Thurs (including today to coincide with the Tourney), Spider'll be dishing $2 Miller Lites, $3 craft beers and $3 margaritas/mojitos; they've also kept the original bar's table-filled dining room intact, meaning more relaxed noshers can ride the pine while making their stomachs over into full-sized Giants.