SHANNON — Some bars are happy enough if they can carve out one niche that keeps customers coming through the doors.

At a bar and grill in downtown Shannon, the owners have carved out quite a few ...

A watering hole where you can belly up to the bar for a beer or pull up a chair for a bite to eat, from appetizers to belly busters. A place with space for a lot of personalities but little room for drama. Somewhere you can go for dart night or date night. A neighborhood hangout where you can chat with the neighbors or sing a long with a band. The kind of spot where all ages can feel welcome and friends start to feel like family.

That welcoming-to-all atmosphere is one that co-owners Jerod Henry — for whom the bar is named — and John Kleindl, and bar manager Melody Jordan, strive to maintain. Maybe it’s the jukebox shuffle bouncing from Metallica to Conway Twitty without apology. Maybe it’s dart players taking aim on league night. Or maybe it’s the way conversations overlap without colliding. Whatever it is, the place settles around customers quickly, Kleindl said.

“It feels like home,” Kleindl said. “We keep drama to a real minimum. You go to some places and if you are of a different background or are wanting to talk politics — we’re a non-politic bar. You don’t feel out of place coming in here.”

It’s a tone that regulars quickly recognize, and one that keeps them coming back.

“We have a lot of great customers who are very loyal to us,” Jordan said. “It feels good for them to come in here and be treated well and respected, and to be treated the same way and respected by them.”

Familiar faces fill many of the stools, but the story inside the bar changes daily. Even with a loyal crowd, no two days inside Je’Rod’s feel quite the same. The mix of people shifts from hour to hour.

“Every day is its own unique experience,” Kleindl said. “You never know who’s coming in. You never know what story you’re going to hear, or the newest rumor is. It’s part of what makes the job fun. You’re never going to have the same day twice.”

Before it was Je’Rod’s, the building was Penticoff’s Shannon Tap. The current chapter began when Henry’s father, Jim, bought the property, fixed it up and gave his son a place to have a bar of his own. Jerod saw potential, but wanted someone to explore that potential with him. Enter Kleindl, a bar veteran with roughly 40 years of experience. The two first worked together at Logan’s Bar and Grill in Freeport in 2008. Kleindl works four days a week and Henry is behind the bar whenever he is needed, trusting his partner’s expertise to make the place what it is.

“My dad bought it and fixed it up, and I had asked Johnny to be my partner,” Henry said. “We became good friends and hung out together all of the time.”

When they opened in Shannon, the vision was modest. “When we first opened up, it was just going to be a bar, but then we built it up to get the food in,” Henry said. “It’s safe and cozy here.”

Over time, “just a bar” expanded into a kitchen that now drives much of the traffic. When it was Penticoff’s the menu was small, and so was Je’Rod’s at first: John kept the menu simple at first, with items that could easily be prepared by his teen children who helped him out. Once his kids grew up and other cooks, such as Jordan, were hired on, that’s when the menu started to expand.

“Our food’s gotten better and our cook’s gotten better,” Kleindl said, pointing to Jordan. “She’s known for her cooking. People love her meat loaf and country fried steaks that we do once or twice a month. She’s really good at what she does. People come in and see her cook.”

If there’s a steady presence tying those nights together, it’s Jordan. The bar manager has been at Je’Rod’s for eight years, working five days a week and moving between bartender, cook and problem-solver with ease.

“It’s a nice neighborhood bar, like a corner bar, that everybody likes to hang out at,” Jordan said. “We don’t have any problems here. We have everything from older groups of people coming in for dinner, and people bringing in kids, to those who come for dart leagues and tournaments. People come both for the food and to just sit back and hang out and have a good time. It brings all kinds of people. Everybody greets a newcomer like they’ve known them forever.”

Sometimes customers will even pitch in during a pinch, handing out a menu or helping out in other ways when Jordan’s on her own and has her hands full. Regulars have even hauled in deliveries and taken out trash.

“A lot of times when we need anything, if you’re struggling with anything, the customers can come help,” Jordan said. “I’ll be so busy at lunch and be the only one here, and someone will start pouring pops or filling people’s drinks for them.”

Burgers arrive at a half-pound, built on an Angus steak patty, or you can double it up for John’s Pounder, a one-pound belly buster of beef and buns.

“We’re the only one in the area that has an Angus steak burger,” Kleindl said. “All of our burgers are a half-pound, so we’re not charging you to have a quarter-sliver. I want you to come here, if you have a burger and fries to leave here full, I’ll guarantee you’ll leave here full.”

As far as other sandwiches on its menu go, the Je’Rod’s Delight layers ham, turkey, bacon, American and Swiss cheese on grilled Texas toast. The Frisco burger pairs bacon and Swiss on grilled sourdough. For appetizers, the Jalapeño cheese curds offer something a little different. Mac and cheese wedges, once a special, have now become permanent after they “sold like hotcakes,” Kleindl said.

The Reuben has become a signature menu item, with corned beef, Swiss cheese and sauerkraut on marble rye — but it’s the preparation that’s earned its loyalty.

“I cook the brisket, hand slice it and portion it up to where we can warm it and put it on the sandwich,” Jordan said. “It’s fresh cooked corned beef, and not ordered pre-sliced. We get people come in here and say it’s the best Reuben they’ve ever had.”

Taco Tuesday carved out its own lane early on, arising about a year after the place opened after customers asked about adding what was already a staple at many restaurants.

“In our opinion, we have the best tacos around,” Kleindl said. “No one around us was doing Taco Tuesday. When Bubba’s [Lanes] was down the street, he would do Taco Thursdays, but in our area, we were the only one’s doing Taco Tuesdays.”

In the summer, two Thursday nights a month mean steak night, with 10- or 14-ounce ribeyes from Carroll County Locker sizzling on a grill that Jordan mans outside.

Behind the bar, expectations stay simple.

“We’re a beer and shot bar,” Kleindl said. “We have the stuff for cosmos and martinis, but we don’t get a huge call for them, we’re truly more of a beer and shot bar, with some specialty drinks.”

In addition to televisions, tabletop and card games also are available for customers to enjoy, such as Jenga, Uno and several puzzles. Local bands, some with national-stage experience, plug in once a month. Six gaming machines glow against the walls. Three dart machines attract a steady rotation of players, including a Wednesday night league that cycles through area bars.

Je’Rod’s hosts tournaments throughout the year: St. Patrick’s Day; Jerod’s birthday in December, which raises money for the Shannon-Lanark Food Pantry; and one every January that carries particular meaning, honoring Casey Daly, who died in 2022. “He was big in the dart world and very much loved by all of his friends,” Jordan said. “Friends and family all come for those, and it’s usually a huge turnout.”

Daly’s dart league jersey hangs near the boards, along with one in honor of another regular league player, Kyle Tucker, who died in 2019. “They are celebrations of them,” Henry said.

For the people behind the bar, personal touches like those say a lot about Je’Rod’s.

“You got to be a good people person, and keep an eye on your guests,” Kleindl said. “Your guests are your family, and you’d treat them the same way if they came to my house.”

Je’Rod’s Bar and Grill, 10 West Market St. in Shannon, is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, and 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Find it on Facebook or call 815-864-3440 for orders or more information.