Watching sports means a full dose of lowest common denominator, from commercials displaying a pickup bed swallowing a cascade of tumbling cinder blocks, to the Clippers. For a sports bar that gives you a little more credit, check out Henry's Hat.

Just across the street from the entrance to Universal, Henry's is a new team-unaffiliated, athletics-devoted drinkery from the husband/wife duo behind Luna Park, outfitted with a mahogany bar, exposed brick walls, vintage sofas, and 15 40-50in flatscreens, with an extra behemoth 5ft x 5ft projection-screen featuring contest(s) voted on via the bar's website, so you'd better get some double-A's for your Sony Watchman, curling boy. Stepped-up, mostly farm-fresh/locally sourced bar grub's from Luna's chef, with gourmet-er versions of classics (Niman Ranch burger w/ balsamic onions, sauteed crimini mushrooms, Humboldt fog), unexpected fare (a clambake w/ mussels, prawns, and andouille sausage, steamed in Fat Tire & lobster broth), and a choose-your-own-adventure style menu with your choice of green (spicy broccoli rabe, horseradish coleslaw, etc), starch (pesto fusuli, Kennebec fries), meat (herb & garlic marinated Meyer Ranch steak, cajun-rubbed mahi mahi), and sauce -- choose "1000 island(ish)", and turn to page 72 to get kind of eaten by a tiger shark. Brews're standard-issue micro-and-majors (North Coast, Fat Tire, Red Stripe...), while cocktails're available standard and in scorpion bowls, and're divided into two categories: "Why", with classics like the Luna Park Mojito and martinis, and the slightly more out-there "Why Not", with stuff like the "Southern Firefly", with vodka, black tea, simple syrup, lemon, and mint, lit up with in-drink glowsticks, which are only toxic to your reputation.

If you came to ironically spite sports, they also stock a slew of board games, from backgammon to Jenga, an opportunity for you to create a cascade of building materials like so many bricks into an S-10.

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Right now, the site's barren at Henrys-Hat.com; 'til it's up, drool over the menu