On FF it’s Ctrl+k for searching (by prepending `? `) and Ctrl+l for addresses (if it can be parsed as an address). I almost never just click into the bar, so that works fine for me.
I just tried this, and it doesn't do as I'd hoped.
ctrl l does not force Chrome to resolve the term through DNS, it may still run a Google search. If you want http://mylocalserver you have to include the http:// or Chrome will Google for mylocalserver.