3 Bruin Fans Traveling to Manhattan for the Game...

For the best environment for eating and drinking, all you need to go to is Aggieville. It’s the bar district in town right off of campus. There are a few other bars around town, but this is the place everybody goes. There is probably a good 20-25 bars/restaurants within a tight 2 block radius.

A few places I would recommend:
-So Long Saloon for dinner one night. The burgers are fantastic. Unless you eat dinner at 5.30, you are going to have to put your name in and wait – possibly upwards of 2 hours just to get a table. It’s not a very big place, but it’s worth it. All of the burgers are great, but my personal favorite is the Jack Smack Burger. Wash it down with a Boulevard Wheat (or a few) and you are good to go. The band generally comes around to a bunch of the bars to pump up the crowd early on in the evening. I’ve experienced them at So Long and it’s pretty cool listening to 20+ horns blast away the fight song in that tiny space.

-Coco Bolos is another decent joint. Sangria and enchiladas are a great combination.

-O’Malleys is one of my favorite little bars. Go there and ask for a Belfast Bomber.

-Porter’s was also one of my favorite bars. It’s a smaller bar with a front outside patio that is generally a good environment.

-Other bars to swing by: Pat’s, Rusty’s, and Kite’s are the other bigger name bars. Some bars have changed names since I left, but the best thing about Aggieville is that all these bars are so close together, it’s not uncommon to hit 7 or 8 bars in a night just to see who’s all there.

Everybody pretty much tailgates before the games at K-State. There are numerous parking lots around the stadium and are easy to find. A few of the lots have a “no open container” policy among them (this is Kansas…) so either ask around to see which ones don’t care or look around. You’ll have to pay to park, but that’s pretty typical.

I would advise taking a walk around the paved alumni/season ticket holder lots and chat with the fans. I’d imagine most would be happy to talk a little football with you. Some may even offer you some grub.

As far as pregame festivities, I would get in your seat no later than 45 minutes prior to the game – you DO NOT WANT TO MISS THE BAND pumping up the students. It’s a great pregame atmosphere, but it’s best experience (as a K-State fan) in the student section. Wild times have been had.

I’m sure I missed a ton. BOTC’ers, what did I miss?

Have fun and good luck!

I would also recommend Cox Bros. BBQ, owned by the same people as Coco Bolos. They just opened a new place on McCall RD, Northeast of the Walmart. If you google it, most hits show the old place, not the current one. It’s kind of a fast foodish type BBQ place. Everyone I’ve talked to loved it, as well as me.

I hope it went well despite the game’s outcome (in your [UCLA] case) and that is was fun and enjoyable!

Best of luck on the rest of your season.