NVM Review

By Warren Rojas

Whether the champagne’s a-popping (Sunday brunch) or the karaoke machine’s a-rocking (Tuesday, Thursday and Friday), it’s a safe bet you’ll find something to lift your spirits at the Technicolor funhouse that is Freddie’s.

Owner Freddie Lutz has dedicated the past nine years to cultivating his club’s all-inclusive vibe, wryly stating, “We’re very straight-friendly.”

Manager Ray Martin couldn’t agree more. And he gives plenty of the credit to the diversity-seeking crowds that assemble within the four, flamboyantly decorated walls.

“Everybody gets along. That’s the magic of Freddie’s,” Martin says, adding, “It’s like the gay Cheers.”

Straight.

Gay.

Other.

All are welcome at this kitsch-filled wonderland—a John Waters’ wet dream boasting walls reinforced with pink, white and purple doll house furniture, bookshelves besieged by armies of vintage Barbie dolls, Japanese lanterns that cast a pastel sheen in every possible direction, a pink feather boa-framed bar and disco balls galore.

And I suspect even the most stone-faced visitor would have to crack a smile at the tongue-deeply-in-cheek warning posted behind the bar: “Don’t piss off the fairies.”

For my money—and since you’re reading this, I guess yours, too—it doesn’t get much better than a rousing round of drag bingo. Co-hosts Regina Jovet Adams, she of Divine-like proportions (complemented by some phenomenal falsies), and Ophelia Bottoms, a blaxploitation refugee with a big, beautiful ‘fro (‘natch), weave spirited song and dance perfromances, filthy jokes and risque anecdotes into their unabashedly adult number calling.

Everyone is invited to chant “Sit your ass down!” to shame false/premature Bingo! winners. “My favorite – O 69,” Regina purrs when a certain, provocative sphere comes tumbling out—ensuring no one will mistake this experience for another night at the local firehouse/church rectory.

Prizes range from off-the-wall collectibles (collectible Barbies, day-glo SpongeBob SquarePants watches) to random DVDs.

There’s no additional charge to play bingo—as long as you spend at least $10 on food and drink, which is certainly easy enough to do.

The so-called Buffalo pork shanks (a crowd favorite, according to Martin) reveal ultra juicy, bone-in slabs of eat-with-your-hands-friendly swine tossed in a respectable hot sauce (peppery wash conveys a compelling, but non-lethal, burn).

A nuttier-than-thou poultry dish summons almond-studded chicken breast, deep-fried till crispy and surrounded by vinaigrette-splashed greens (groovy).

One companion could not keep her hands off the specialty beef cakes—ahem—hamburgers the kitchen lives to load up with your choice of fresh toppings.

“This is the best burger I’ve had in a long time,” my guest gushed as she wrapped her lips around the beef-and-double-cheesed creation paraded before her.

Homemade sweets are no second-class citizens, either.

The ultimate banana xango turned out to be an apple turnover-fruit burrito hybrid flush with warm banana cream (more fruity and frothy/creamy than tapioca rich) and a fried pastry shell rolled in cinnamon sugar.