Two restaurants fronted by musicians entered. One was the clear victor. Sac Bee restaurant reviewer Blair Anthony Robertson took an entertaining look at the Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Sammy's Rockin' Island Bar & Grill.

Sometimes the results can be awesome, giving us a sense of the celebrity's genuine personality and approach to having a good time. But sometimes these places can feel too corporate, too contrived, too watered down to be anything but an Applebee's with dated moves borrowed from the glory days of Hard Rock Cafe.

This week, we're stepping away from fine dining, even taking a breather from serious eating, and pitting our region's two newest celebrity restaurants against each other. Toby Keith and his version of Midwestern man-food vs. Sammy Hagar's take on Hawaii's casual cuisine. Both joints are big and loud, and often feature live music.

Keith has a restaurant in Folsom; Hagar's is in Roseville. We were looking for a good time with friendly, informal service and the appropriate level of glossy affectations like framed photos, concert costumes and other celebrity memorabilia. Yes, we'd like the food to be tasty, but it didn't have to be edgy or thrilling. We hoped for a sense of who these guys are and what they see as their ideal place to have a drink, grab a meal, enjoy some music and some laughs.

Here, they go toe to toe, in a no-holds-barred culinary cage fight featuring two celebrities who know how to have a good time.

We'll look at the great, the not-so-great and the outright lame.

I don't want to spoil the review, but it looks like Rock wins over Country in this battle.

Read the entire story in the Sac Bee.

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