Brad's Place is the kind of great little neighborhood bar you find all over the midwest. Not so much here in the valley, and certainly not in Ahwatukee. Hidden away to the left of a Safeway on 48th and Elliott, small, very low key, it's not fancy, and it's decorated up like somebody's overambitious home rec room. The kind of place where even with MNF on a group of people can stake out a corner of the patio to watch a sitcom together over drinks. And I love that there is almost always a hockey game on and almost never basketball.
I've been stopping in here about once a week after work for the past 9 months, and I suppose I'm a regular since by the time I sit down Julie has usually set a beer down for me. She really is one of the hardest working people in show business.
Foodwise, I haven't ordered much since I get there pretty late. The steak sliders are excellent. That they use King's Hawaiian Rolls for the bun puts them over the top. Their bacon wrapped meatloaf is good as is their spaghetti. And the cheese curds are the real deal, likely imported from Wisconsin.
They do trivia, and it's usually packt. And they generally have some sort of live music on Friday and Saturday nights. All they're really missing is having Old Style, Schmidts or Stroh's on tap. I almost don't want you to "discover" the place