Sports bar revamps

A trend toward healthier food, more women patrons, changing tastes -- those are the reasons Marriott cites for giving a facelift to the City Center hotel's sports bar and restaurant Champions.

The revamped menu adds dishes such as Thai beef salad, 40 Clove Chicken (brick-grilled half chicken) and blackened fish sliders, and aims at making some old successes more contemporary: beer battered onion rings with horseradish dipping sauce, for example, and fried salt-and-pepper calamari with Thai sweet chile sauce. More area produce is being used as well. The new decor includes new furniture and 50-inch high-def TVs. 100 W. Trade St.; 704-358-6562.