Bar Review - No need to keep Tucker bar a secret

The name of this bar is intriguing. For starters, who is Billy Bob? A retired boxer? A fugitive pirate, perhaps? With the phrase "new secrets" also in the name, you have to figure that, whoever he is, he must be hiding something. One lazy Sunday evening, my ladyfriend and I decided to try to uncover some of these "secrets."

Located in a small strip mall on Lawrenceville Highway amid a smattering of auto parts stores and Mexican restaurants, Billy Bob's is an unassuming establishment from the outside. Inside, we took a seat at a table in the middle of the bar and sized the place up. A dartboard and some neon beer signs adorned the walls. A handful of mustached men in sweatshirts sat at the bar smoking cigarettes and watching sports highlights on one of the 15 or so televisions.

When we walked into the bar, they didn't even do that thing in movies where a couple of city slickers walk in, and the needle on the record slips, and everyone turns around and looks. The bartender, a slim, middle-aged woman, made her way to our table. We ordered a couple of Budweisers, and as she went back to the bar to get our beers, we noticed a bald mustached man walking around the bar talking to everyone good-naturedly.

"I wonder if that's Billy Bob," I whispered to my companion.

Jan came back with our Buds. We thanked her, toasted, and drank. A few minutes later, the man approached our table and said amicably, "I don't think I've ever seen y'all in here before. I'm Bill."

We shook hands with him and introduced ourselves. We chatted with him for a bit, and I informed him that I had attended Tucker High School and that my family lived nearby. After a while, he said, "Nice to meet y'all," and continued his rounds.

Was this friendly man the Billy Bob I had wondered about for all those years? He looked and acted like the owner, but as Shakespeare said, appearances do not a man make. I suppose I could have asked him outright, but some kind of post-Santa Claus syndrome in me wanted to keep the enigma intact.

Sarah and I finished our beers, paid and headed back toward the city. We still didn't know for sure who Billy Bob was, and I don't think that we even came close to learning any of his secrets.

In spite of all this mind-numbing mystery, I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed the bar's unpretentious atmosphere, its inexpensive drinks and, most of all, the friendly staff. As for the secrets, there's always next time.

Billy Bob's New Secrets. Mon.-Sun., 10-1 a.m. 3962 Lawrenceville Highway, Tucker. 770-939-2711.