By Heather M. Ross
Eric Heckman’s favorite menu items at Caddies on Cordell, which he co-owns, are the wings and the burgers. The Motown pizza is also a favorite, he says.
It’s no surprise that Heckman is a fan of the Bethesda sports bar’s new, state-of-the-art patio, with a smart roof that opens and closes automatically depending on weather conditions.
“Caddies has always had one of the best patios in Bethesda,” Heckman said, but acknowledged that Caddies was “kinda infamous” for its old patio furniture. The heavy chairs and tables were hard to lug around and configure, and were overall uncomfortable, Heckman said.
In a patio renovation that Heckman says is “99% finished,” new, comfortable, maneuverable seating will benefit from the automatic roof above, as well as five large-screen TVs. (There are another 50 inside.)
Access to local games and the lively atmosphere draws customers from the 20s to the 50s, Heckman said. But it’s the live music on Friday and Saturday nights that brings the younger crowd in. This younger group of bargoers keeps Caddies open until 2 a.m., when it once closed at midnight.
Heckman said Caddies’ books bands for their broad and familiar appeal to younger music goers, primarily pop and rock cover bands.
“We stay away from anything with a real hard edge, primarily 2000’s and up. But we do a couple of things every year that are outside that scope,” Heckman said.
Caddies has also booked Glamour Kitty, a 1980s hairband tribute, and The Reagan Years, another renowned 1980s tribute band. Recently, the owners have become interested in bringing in local bands from Northern Virginia and Montgomery County that have a ready-made audience.
In addition to live music, Caddies has karaoke on Thursdays, bingo on Wednesdays and Tuesday trivia nights. Heckman counts himself lucky that Caddies survived, and even thrived, during the pandemic.
“We came out of the pandemic restrictions, a couple of the other bars did not. We were very serious about our requirements, we took temperatures at the door, we followed all the social distancing and other regulations that had been put in [place] by the county,” he said. “We didn’t let anybody go during the pandemic. We had to cut some hours back, but we developed the delivery business.”
Caddies experienced a surge of delivery orders. The bar is making four times the deliveries that it did before the pandemic, and that number continues to grow, according to Heckman.
Heckman’s son and co-owner, Ronnie Heckman, handles the day-to-day operations of Caddies, while Eric Heckman handles the finances.
“He’ll tell you anything and everything you need to know,” Eric Heckman said. “He’s a walking ESPN.” 9
Caddies on Cordell
4922 Cordell Ave., Bethesda
301-215-7730
caddiesoncordell.com
