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| - I work at a "beer bar" in Chicago, so it's expected that I'd go here. The brewpub calls an old rail-car repair depot home. I am a sucker for the "Warehouse Loft" feel. The building has a cozy feel despite ts large, open floorplan and super-high ceilings. The brewing equipment is well-kept and polished behind a glass partition that doubles as the back-bar. A model train track is hung suspended from the rafters and huge skylights let in a good amount of natural light that is needed in the rather dark building.
Here's what I had.
My first beer was the d.I.P.A they tapped just the day before . It poured as you would expect a double IPA to pour, a nice dark brown with a full thick, syrupy body. It was hopped nicely and although it lacked the malt character I like in a well-balanced dIPA (see Surly 16 Grit), it was still a very well done dIPA.
While sipping on my snifter of "Doubting Thomas", we ordered a sampler of the three dips they offered as an appetizer. The best dip by far being the buffalo chicken dip. The bruschetta dip was very enjoyable as well. The spinach con queso dip was tasty, not bad at all, but compared to the winner and runner-up, this second-loser had no chance.
After my rear-tongue was ready for another beer (yeah, probably should save the d.I.P.A for the end of the meal), I ordered the nut-brown ("Northern Trail"). Very easy to drink, lots of coffee and roasted malt, and wasn't as heavy as I expected, nothing crazy exciting here, a solid brown.
I enjoyed their Lost Nation Pale Ale with my meal (Pretzel Chix). The beer was an OK Pale Ale, no unique characteristics, well-hopped nonetheless. The chicken was a tad overcooked, but I enjoy slightly pink chicken breast, so it's subjective. I ordered it with risotto instead of mashed potatoes,a solid risotto it was.
I wanted to finish my meal with the Bourbon Vanilla POW Porter, however they were out...I was a little upset as I was really looking forward to trying it.
If the food and beer was great, what kept the place from earning five stars? A few things.
Parking. Parking is near impossible to find. They do offer $3 valet if you get frustrated.
The prior week my parents raved about the live music, however a band called "More than Me" performed this visit. It's too bad the volume was so loud and unbalanced, I couldn't hear their voices. I don't know who to blame, the brewery or the band, as I don't know whose payroll the soundboard operator was on. The band wasn't bad from what we heard though.
How was service you may ask? It was good, not great, but good. It has nothing to do with our actual server though. She was very attentive and handled my outspoken father with grace (she was also very attractive in the sense that she carried herself professionally and obviously had respect for herself and her image, which I couldn't say about most of her we'll say "rather lascivious-looking" co-workers)
So, if this single twentysomething [me] had a beautiful server who was attentive and professional, why the knock on service? Basically, there are steps that a restaurant should take in training their staff. We took a seat in the "seat yourself" area by the bar in front of the stage before the table was cleaned, no biggie, happens all the time, this isn't where my complaints start. An older lady greeted us promptly when we sat, as our actual server was busy, that's good teamwork. The problem was, as she wiped the table off, I noted that she could probably refill the hollowicks [candles] in the middle of the table to which she responded "oh no, we won't be doing that now, not while we're so busy, we'll get to them before dark". It was dusk, and was already a strain to read the menus. They weren't busy by any means. Perhaps it really isn't a big deal, but one of my biggest pet peeves when managing my servers is when they let their candles burn out, in fact, I instruct the host(ess) to not seat a table if its candle is burnt out. I digress. Another faux-pas on behalf of management at this brewpub was twofold. The bar was poorly stocked. Not everyone who goes to this place will drink beer, management should realize this. Stock your bar! My mother doesn't drink beer, she loves her margaritas though and after getting sick the week before off a cogener-stocked well tequilla mixed margarita, I told her to get something a little better, they had Cuervo and Patron. When I asked for bourbon, their top-shelf brand was Jim Beam...nuff said. They should take the initiative to expand their liquor selection, even the beer lover like myself desires his woodford reserve when it comes to post-meal drink time. Fold two? They never taught the servers what liquors they had, thus forcing our server to retreat to take an instant inventory whenever I asked for a specific brand of adult-beverage.
P.S. I'm taking the liberty of revoking Murray's man-card, raspberry beer sir? Stick to your appletinis.
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