Region readies for another Patriots Super Bowl

If the New England Patriots are going to win Sunday’s Super Bowl against the Los Angeles Rams, chances are they will lean heavily on the Big Four: Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman and James White.

But there’s another Big Four that revolves around the game regardless of who’s playing, and they will also be showing up in living rooms across the country this Sunday.

“Wings, chips and dip, beer are probably the top three,” said Eric Huot, the front-end manager at the Hannaford Supermarket in Gilford, listing the biggest sellers for Super Bowl snacks. “And pizza as the fourth.”

Those are the favorites that will help fans get through the pregame, the game itself, the halftime show and, of course, the parade of commercials that make the Super Bowl must-watch TV even for non-football fans.

“It’s a lot of little things,” agreed store manager Bob Fitzpatrick at Vista Food in Laconia. “It’s beer, chips and dip, party platters, snacks, chicken wings.”

Fitzpatrick and Huot said they expect the onslaught to begin this morning and their stores will be straight out until about an hour or so before the 6:40 kickoff.

“Generally, people are usually where they’re going to be for the game between 4 and 5,” Huot said.

While the Super Bowl is definitely a food-fest, Fitzpatrick said it’s pretty far down the list in terms of driving demand at Vista Foods.

“Fourth of July, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and Bike Week,” he said, rattling off the top contenders.

After that, he said, comes the Super Bowl.

The expectations of Lakes Region tavern and restaurant owners pretty much run the gamut. For some, the Super Bowl turnout is not a huge deal. For others, it’s a full-blown pigskin party.

Allan Beetle of Patrick’s Pub and Eatery in Gilford says they’ll have people watching the game and they’ll offer food and drink specials, but a lot of people will come to the Ultimate Coors Lite Tailgate Party from 2 to 4 p.m., then clear out in time to watch the game at home.

“We used to have a pretty good turnout back in the day,” Beetle said. “Now people really like to be in front of their big screens at home.... We’ll have some people, but it’s not a big night.”

That pregame activity is one other restaurants are counting on, too. The Lodge at Smith Point in Alton, for instance, will be open from noon to 5 p.m., so people can enjoy food and drink specials and still make it home in time for kickoff.

It will help that the Patriots are — for the ninth time in 18 years — back in the Super Bowl, said Beetle.

“Last year with the Patriots in the Super Bowl, we actually had a good turnout,” said Cody Bryant, the kitchen manager at The Mug in Center Harbor. But even with the Pats in the game again and food and drink specials being offered, Bryant said the Super Bowl crowd will be dwarfed by the business generated by the New England Pond Hockey Classic, which wraps up in Meredith on Sunday.

Josh Harding, owner of the Lakeview Tavern in Meredith, says he doesn’t know how his Super Sunday business would be different if the Patriots weren’t in it, because the team has been in the Super Bowl each of the three years the tavern has been open on Sundays, he said.

Like Bryant, Harding said the Pond Hockey Classic is a much bigger deal for the tavern.

“By the time it’s time for the Super Bowl, my staff and myself are very wiped out” from the hockey crowd business, Harding said. “The Super Bowl isn’t one of my biggest drivers, really.”

It’s a huge event for the 405 Pub and Grill in Laconia, owner Dave Henrick said. “At the 405, it’s become a really big thing since we’ve been open.”

The 405 is easy to spot as a Patriots venue — the Patriots “Flying Elvis” logo is painted on a fence on the side of the Union Avenue building.

“Right now we probably have about 25 people who have called to reserve seats,” Henrick said on Thursday. “They want the same seats they had last time.”

Henrick, who admits he’s a little superstitious, said, “I tell them, ‘OK, wear the same shirt, same socks, whatever you wore last time. Sit the same way in the same seat.’”

He said he expects a full house by kickoff.

“Oh, absolutely,” he said. “We’ll be packed. People will start funneling in here around 4:30 or 5 o’clock.”

They’ll partake of half-price chicken wings and pizza and beer specials, and there will be giveaways during the game.

If you noticed that chicken wings seem to be part of a recurring theme — well, it’s no accident. Americans are expected to eat 1.3 billion of them on Sunday.

Great party food is “anything in the food column that’s able to be picked up on a paper plate and taken back to watch the game,” said the Lakes Region Foodie, Barbara Lauterbach, who lists chili and cornbread as among her favorite Super Bowl foods.

Lauterbach said she will be part of a group “that has been getting together for 15 years in Meredith at the home of the person that has the largest TV screen.”

But not everyone is a football fan, she noted.

“For those [nonfans] who don’t understand the Super Bowl except for the fun that goes with it, have a place they can go to just chat and have a glass of wine,” she advised. “Some of the ladies just get together off in the corner and gab.”

Also, she said, “have nonalcoholic refreshments for those who don’t imbibe.”

Lauderback calls the Super Bowl experience, “A good American get-together like none I’ve ever seen, and I’ve lived in several countries.”

Countries where “football” is another sport altogether.

To contact Roger Carroll, send him an email at

rogercarroll@laconiadailysun.com.