Sooo... Eating through the Alphabet officially began last night! I met my friend Holly downtown last night for "A" at Against the Grain .
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Against the Grain is a brewer-owned brewery & smokehouse located downtown in Slugger Field in the spot that formerly housed Browning's.
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As both a beer & bbq lover... I was stoked to try this place! Upon arriving, we checked out the inside which was nice, but we opted to take advantage of the unusually nice February weather and took a seat on the patio out front.
Turns out, there is no printed "beer list", but instead it's listed on the glass windows. Pretty cool :) Normally I'm not a fan of dark beers, I find them too bitter a lot of the time, but our waitress insisted I try the "Dilator", so I took her word for it. And... boy am I glad I did! It was definitely a dark beer, but not at all bitter. It was much heavier than my typical pale ale, but I really enjoyed it... it had a really smooth, rich, sort of coffee like taste, and I may or may not have felt a bit tipsy afterward! haha.
They also have a sampler for under $10 so you can try a variety. I think I'll go this route next time!
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Holly decided to opt for a bloody mary, which she said was excellent!
After some serious thinking, we decided to order some food. I went for the Veggie Mushroom Burger.. a portabella mushroom served with greens, special sauce, and a fried egg. It came with house made chips.
The mushroom burger was pretty good, but the chips were a bit greasy for me. Holly decided to get the Smoked Chickpea Club. She ended up not being a fan. (But she liked the chips) For some reason we were both thinking the chickpea's would be in the hummus type form.. but they were whole and smoked. Odd flavor. But a lot of people must love it, because our waitress seemed pleased when Holly ordered it.. who knows!
Pricewise it was very affordable,... Each of our entree's consisted of a TON of food, and were just $10 bucks each. The beer was reasonable, too. You could eat and drink for less than $20 per person.
Overall we had a great time catching up (outside. in FEBRUARY!) and really enjoyed the atmosphere. I will definitely go back for that alone. The food I would compare to typical bar food, not wonderful, but not bad either. The drinks were awesome! Next time I visit, I think I'll combine it with catching a Bats game this summer. Or you could also stop by during the next Trolly Hop. Downtown is the first Friday every month. (Click here for Trolly Hop schedule)
Now to decide on "B"... I think we are leaning towards Blue Dog Bakery. Catch you later :)
xo
Sam
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