*****  Lucky Strike Lanes, 1691 Michigan Avenue, Miami Beach, Florida 33139 (305) 532-0307.

A few months back, this guy Barack Obama got me thinking that I should take-up bowling again…If I recall correctly, the last time that I bowled was around 7 years ago at Don Carter’s All Star Lanes in Boca Raton and I didn’t even crack 100. Not sure on this, but I think that the time before Don Carter’s was at Leader Lanes in Brooklyn, New York sometime around 1964…Even back then I was a sub-100 bowler.

Anyway…last night I tried a joint called Lucky Strike Lanes which is the 21st Century’s version of the bowling-alley. For all of you Ray Bluths, Don Carters and Dick Webers out there, this joint is hi-tech bowling alley “meets” sports bar.

Take a few seconds and visit Lucky Lanes’ website at www.bowlluckystrike.com where you will find photos of this joint/menu/and other details. For those of you too lazy to go to the website, Lucky Lanes is a phenomenal looking “neon lit” bowling alley which has a fantastic-upscale-looking sports bar.

Now let’s talk food…Lucky Lanes is not and I emphasis the word “not” a full scale restaurant…Let’s call it a very good-very moderately priced “finger food” joint. If you check this joint’s menu, you will find that it has plenty of  chicken, seafood, meat skewers…boneless chicken”fingers”…pizzas…salads…burgers…sandwiches… and desserts…Trust me, you will find something to eat and surprisingly for a South Beach joint at TGI Friday’s prices. On the actual bowling part of the gig, shoe rental goes for something like $4 and depending on the time of the day, figure a per-player-per game fee of between $5-7. Let’s do some real quick math here…4 people bowling 2 games around 9pm are going to spend something like $16 for shoes and $56 for games for a grand total of $72 and that doesn’t include food or drink. Not too terrible…but not something that you are going to be doing every night. By the way, Lucky Strike does have a bunch of adult and kid party packages (that require a minimum of 8 bowlers) which provide shoe rental/bowling/food & beverage at discounted prices.

Lucky Strike Lanes is a chain operation with something like 15 locations. For right now, there is only one joint in Florida. Keep it to yourself, but I have heard that Lucky Strike is planning to open locations in Plantation and Coconut Grove sometime in the very near future…but that’s just a rumor for right now.

Lucky Strike only has 14 lanes, so if you plan on “bowling” I would suggest that you have a confirmed reservation. The joint is a kid’s paradise during the day and does tons of birthday parties. Although kids can bowl during evening hours, Lucky Strike really is an adult joint when the sun goes down.

Lucky Strike is “doing for bowling” what Dave & Buster’s is “doing for the game-room arcade”…namely, taking a time tested/time worn concept and putting a fresh-new-updated version out there that both kids and adults will enjoy.

Lucky Strike is open Friday-Monday 11am-2am and Tuesday-Thursday 11am-1am.

Just so you know, somethings never change…last night I bowled an 82 and a 91.