Tapping into Eagles fever

Champps Restaurant & Bar waitress Tara D’Amato greets the couple who just sat down in her station at the height of Friday’s lunch hour.

"Are you ready for Sunday?" asks the male patron.

"Whew, it’s gonna be nuts in here!" the young waitress replies.

Sure enough, the Eagles weren’t the only winners in Sunday’s playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings.

Sports bars all over South Philly scored big with full houses. Beer flowed and the good times rolled among fans who stayed much warmer than their brethren did at the Linc. And the taverns are hoping for a repeat performance this Sunday when the Eagles meet the other birds — the Atlanta Falcons — for the NFC championship game. Then, in two weeks, the pubs will pack ’em in for the Super Bowl. (Of course we’re going to Jacksonville; don’t even think otherwise!)

The Eagles’ bye week gave Philadelphia fans — and local bars — a few more days to prepare for playoff season.

"I expect it to be very busy. I expect a full house — standing room only," Mike Skidmore, general manager of Champps at 2100 S. Columbus Blvd., said before the Vikings game.

A front office manager at the Holiday Inn at 10th and Packer, which houses Sportz Page, easily summed up how the bar was preparing.

"Buying lots of beer!" he said with a laugh.

To brace for the onslaught of Eagles fans, most bar managers planned to staff their establishments with a full roster. Counting cooks and hostesses, that amounts to about 55 Champps employees, Skidmore said.

Bars employed different game plans to attract customers.

Tony Luke Sr. held a pep rally inside his bar Sunday, with some local girls dressed in Eagles jerseys acting as cheerleaders. The owner of Tony Luke’s Beef and Beer Sports Bar, 26 E. Oregon Ave., also offered $2 draft beers and other food promotions.

A kickoff brunch at Holiday Inn, featuring cheesesteaks with buns shaped like Philly pretzels, got customers warmed up at 9 a.m., said the hotel’s director of food and beverage, Mark Carabba. During the game, patrons could enjoy a free taste-testing of Philly beers from Dock Street Brewing Company.

"We’re trying to promote everything Philadelphia so people who come in from out of town can taste Philly food. We’re expecting a couple hundred Minnesota fans," Carabba said last week.

Across town, Champps is teaming up with Budweiser for a contest called "The Best Seat in the House."

Fans can register during Eagles playoff games to win a black leather recliner and a $100 Champps tab. No purchase is necessary, but fans may only enter once. The drawing will be held Sunday.

The winner will get to watch the Super Bowl at Champps in the recliner — strategically positioned in front of a 115-inch high-definition TV, said Skidmore. After the game, the winner will take his or her prize home.

The Eagles might be making their fourth straight trip to the NFC championship game, but since Champps, Tony Luke’s and Sportz Page all opened last fall, the bars got their first taste of playoff fever Sunday.

Open for only 18 months at 18th and Packer, Chickie’s and Pete’s is already a veteran among large local sports bars.

The bar — which hosts visits by Eagles players during live broadcasts of WIP’s Angelo Cataldi Show — is at "capacity" this time of year, said owner Pete Ciarrocchi.

"It is the most incredibly fun time for me. Just like last year. I love this. I love it. I don’t care if I have to get up at the crack of dawn. I just love the action," he said.

Chickie’s and Pete’s atmosphere and specialties, which include crab fries, crab legs and peel-and-eat shrimp, appeal to sports fans, Ciarrocchi said.

Surprisingly, none of the sports bars views each other as competition because each claims to offer customers something different.

Aside from having sports in their name, the common denominator for these pubs is the tube. All boast — at minimum — a dozen fancy big-screen plasma and high-definition TVs.

"We’re all a little bit different from each other," Luke said. "We have a little different scenario than the others because we are strictly sandwiches."

Located across the street from the original Tony Luke’s at Front and Oregon, the sports bar features hand-carved roast beef and ham, along with Tony Luke’s famous pork sandwiches.

In addition to more than a dozen big-screen TVs, Tony Luke’s Beef and Beer Sports Bar features something all the others do not — a mezzanine overlooking his bar and Oregon Avenue.

"I’m sure they’ll enjoy the place once they see it," Luke said of his new venture.

Ciarrocchi and Champps’ Skidmore emphatically stated they have no competition on the local sports-bar scene.

"There is no competition. They are like disciples," Ciarrocchi said of the newcomers. "I have been doing this since 1977. We created this atmosphere in the city of Philadelphia."

Chickie’s and Pete’s opened its first location in 1977 in the Northeast at Frankford and Robbins avenues. Two more soon followed, on Roosevelt Boulevard and Veterans Stadium. The Vet location, of course, went down with the arena.

"We don’t have competition," Skidmore said of Champps. "We are a family restaurant. We have so much more to offer than a sports bar with our state-of-the art sound system, plasma and high-definition TVs and over 90 menu items prepared fresh daily."

Sportz Page, meanwhile, is within walking distance of the stadium, Carabba pointed out.

"If you can’t afford a $300 ticket to the game, put your seat at the bar and you’ll feel like you’re at the $300 level," he said. "Here, you get a T-bone while you’re watching the game. It’s so much better."