Boston Avenue Bar & Grill

The building Boston Avenue Bar & Grill occupies is part of downtown Claremore's surviving early-20th-century commercial fabric — the cluster of brick commercial buildings lining Will Rogers Boulevard that date primarily to the years immediately before and after Oklahoma's 1907 statehood. The downtown commercial district was built during Claremore's pre-statehood and early-statehood boom years.

The restaurant's specific storefront is a representative example of the era's commercial architecture: a roughly two-story brick facade with display-window-and-transom storefront construction on the ground floor, decorative brickwork and cornice detailing along the upper facade, and the long narrow floor plan that the early-20th-century narrow-lot urban storefront required.

The restoration of the building for restaurant use has preserved the most-significant historical architectural elements — the original exposed brick interior walls, the period tin ceilings, restored or refinished hardwood floors, and the storefront facade — while making the mechanical and functional changes required for restaurant operation.

Burgers anchor the menu and are the most-ordered category — a half-dozen or more burger preparations ranging from a basic build-it-yourself cheeseburger through more ambitious specialty preparations featuring various cheese, bacon, vegetable, and condiment combinations. Burger combinations with fries and a drink typically run $14-$18.

Sandwiches expand the burger range with grilled chicken sandwiches, club sandwiches, philly cheesesteaks, pulled-pork sandwiches, and various other standard American grill sandwich preparations. The grilled-chicken and Philly-cheesesteak options are particularly popular.

Steaks and the more substantial entree options expand the dinner menu beyond the burger-and-sandwich lunch range. Steak preparations include ribeye, sirloin, and occasional filet selections cooked to order in the $25-$40 entree-price range.

The full bar is one of the restaurant's defining features. Beer selections include the standard American domestic options alongside imported beers and a meaningful selection of craft and regional craft beer including options from Oklahoma craft brewers. Draft selections rotate periodically.

Wine selections are appropriate for a mid-tier American grill — a working selection of red and white varietals by the glass and by the bottle. Cocktails follow the standard American bar program with classic preparations alongside seasonal specials.

The evening bar atmosphere is meaningfully different from the dinner-service atmosphere. Earlier in the evening the restaurant operates as a sit-down dinner spot; later evenings, particularly Friday and Saturday nights, the bar increasingly shifts toward an evening-drinks-and-socializing atmosphere.

Lunch service runs from opening through approximately 3pm, transitioning into dinner service through the evening operating hours. Lunch combinations run in the $10-$15 range and represent meaningful value compared to dinner pricing for the same dishes.

Sports viewing is a meaningful feature of the bar area. Multiple televisions are distributed throughout the dining area and bar with most major sports programming available. The restaurant becomes a meaningful local-sports-viewing destination during Oklahoma Sooners football, Oklahoma State football, and Tulsa Golden Hurricane games.

Weekly programming and special events vary across the year and may include live-music nights, trivia nights, drink specials, themed evenings, and various other promotional programming.