Sportscenter

[December 10th, 2008]

Last Saturday evening, just before the storm of the De La Hoya fight, I was ushered into The Agency (1939 SW Morrison St., 548-2921) by a gaggle of spiffy-looking black-clad ladies to a table in front of 10 televisions. Five were showing the same ballgame; five were previewing the fight. I was all set to report that the Agency’s combination of sports bar and “ultra lounge” makes for a surprisingly small but plush space featuring nearly as many employees (and televisions) as customers. Then I realized the room I was in, the “Olympic Lounge,” was but one of many in a multi-level club complex. It’s the Agency’s nine private rooms—reservable for sports video-gaming and/or HDTV event viewing—that really represent what this “sports bar 2K” is getting at. For the walk-in crowd, $4 domestic beers might be off-putting even to neighbors in the nearby Pearl, but the rest of the menu isn’t bad. Micros are but 50 cents more than a Bud, and a $10 “Western burger,” with onion straws, pepper bacon, barbecue sauce and garlic mayo, is obscenely stacked and delicious. The juniper berry-encrusted ahi tuna steak ($15.50) looked impressive from afar. Fancy supper and drinks followed by some multi-player XBox action? “Sports bar ultra lounge,” indeed.