Gil Riego Jr.
Nestled in the corner of Victory Boulevard and Valjean Avenue lies a little piece of South Africa and a sense of family – the Springbok Bar and Grill.
With seating available in the bar, patio or regular dining area, you’ll get a unique experience in any section.
Rugby shirts, landscape and wild animal portraits of South Africa line the northern wall of the dining area beneath the two giant plastic swordfish. On the west wall, there is a large high-definition television tuned into ESPN HD; the same goes for just about each of the other nine TVs in the building.
I went on a Monday evening, when they have the “Wings Blues ‘n’ Beer” deal. What you hear is what you get; for $9.99, you score unlimited Buffalo-style chicken wings, blues music and a beer. Being a lover of Buffalo wings, I stayed away from this to avoid the obvious bias. I opted instead to ask my friendly waitress, Limore, what else she would recommend.
“The Porto Chicken Peri-Peri is one of my favorites, but it might be a little spicy for some,” she noted.
All I heard was “spicy,” which I like, and wanting to try something completely different, I asked for an order of it along with water and an Amstel Light.
Food service was excellent and my waitress was tentative to whatever needed to be fulfilled.
I did not notice the blues band setting up in the background the whole time while ordering. Minutes after the server took my order, the band, 3 Man Posse, introduced themselves and started to play some acid-jazz blues music. It really set a relaxing mood.
The entree arrived and at first I was not sure what to make of it. I didn’t really look at the menu, since I did not intend to order something familiar.
Later, I found out it was a large boneless chicken breast coated in Peri-Peri sauce (made of Peri-Peri peppers from Africa) with steak fries and a house salad. I took off my jacket and glasses, and rolled up my sleeves. It was go time.
First off, the fries were delicious. Crisp, golden, soft, warm – everything you could want from a French fry. They were much better than fries in recent memory.
The chicken was moist, tender and oddly enough, spicier than expected. Who knew that Peri-Peri peppers were on the top three list of hottest peppers, underneath Thai peppers and most habanero peppers?
It wasn’t a “burning-in-my-mouth” hot. It was more of an “I’m-sweating-way-too-much-for-eating” type of hot.
After enjoying the main course, along with three large glasses of water to cool my mouth, I ordered the Shaka Zulu’s Mud Hut.
Chocolate cake with chocolate sauce, with chocolate ice cream on top?! This had to be good.
But it wasn’t just good. It was amazing, down to the very last piece when I wish I had ordered another one. If there had to be one word that described it, I suppose it would have to be, “Mmm…”
But the food is only half of the value of this establishment.
There’s a sense of closeness between the staff and regular customers.
After the food was finished and the check paid, I walked to the bar and ordered a Tokyo tea and had nice conversations with the manager, bartender and a frequenter of the place. Telling by the way everyone got along at the bar, this was a tight-knit group.
I could recount the stories, such as raising money to help a co-worker through hard times to running the L.A. Marathon for charity, but that would take away the feeling and emotion generated by hearing it from manager Rocky Guzman and bartender Sarah Brents.
If you ever have the chance, I highly recommend this place. Enjoy the food, drink, atmosphere, everything.
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A bartender mixes another drink at the Springbok Bar. (Nicole Ball)