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Bringing back bar food at Goofy's Eatery

Created: 09/15/2009 10:16:17 AM EDT

I spent three hours at the Hanover Chili Cookoff last Saturday trying almost 11 different types of chili. So yes, I consider myself a chili expert.

I also thought I would never look at chili again. But Sterling Runkle and his cook, Rita Long, managed to tempt me with the promise of fresh ground jalapeno.

"I had two full bowls of it today," Runkle said. "Never had such good chili before."

And I promise, it was really, really good chili- the perfect mix of hearty and spicy, so that my eyes watered a little bit, but it didn't ruin any of the meat and bean taste.

Goofy's Eatery and Spirits may look from first glance like the focus is on the "Spirits" part. The restaurant stocks over 70 types of beer, and restocks a fridge the size of my living room twice a week.

Their specialty cocktail is an "Orange Crush" that they borrowed from a restaurant in Ocean City, which mixes fresh squeezed oranges, orange vodka, 7UP and triple sec. To give you an idea of how popular it is- they go through over 528 oranges a week.

But during lunch, two little girls, Grace, 4, and Hallie Murray, 2, played in the volley ball sand court (not only do they have a full volley ball net set up, but there are two horseshoe tosses) as their mom, Joy Redmond from Hanover, watched them over a juicy (hand-made) burger.

Bar food, an American staple, is making a come back right here. It's cheap, there are pretty large portion sizes and at Goofy's, the food is hand-made, every meal, every day. Long perfected each item through trial and error.

"People like to see a burger made by hand," said Runkle. This summer, they had a record number of people come into the restaurant.

"I am getting tacos for $3," Nate Emlet said. "That is a deal." He had ordered Tuesday's taco special. "A lot of people come here to drink, but they definitely have good food."

The most popular item is the broasted chicken, second only to the soft shell crab sandwich. Even an appetizer will fill you up, like the Ocean City Fries, smothered in crab meat, mozzarella cheese and ranch dressing.

The food is terrible for you, but it tastes so good. It has the distinction of being the perfect bar food: greasy, flavorful, fresh and loaded with tons of ingredients. The thing is, Runkle and Long live their restaurant.

The decorations are Key West-themed, their favorite place to vacation. And the food is their favorite food to eat. Even the atmosphere is what they look for in other restaurants. They've gone out of their way to make sure you have a good time, and that includes the entertainment.

Every Sunday there is live Bluegrass music on the outdoor stage, drawing huge crowds of people. And on Saturdays there are live classic rock bands.

"It's like a Bluegrass festival here every Sunday," Runkle said. He points out that the huge amount of space allows him to pack in plenty of people without getting crowded.

"We have the two-year-olds playin' in the sand, there's a 90-year-old man that comes in and the bikers. They all come together and get along," he said.

Ticket to Lunch is a weekly column featuring local restaurants' meals available during the lunch hour.