Review: Ellicottville Brewing Co.

One of the (only) cool things about the area we live are the couple of great local breweries not far from home. Not far = less than an hour. But it’s totally worth it for delicious food and beer, especially since the offerings in our town are less than stellar.

Saturday we headed out to Ellicottville, NY for a day of hiking (this was actually an excuse to go to the brewery, on my part). The hike was supposed to be quite a  climb up a mountain but we took a wrong turn and ended up going in a big circle on the side of a hill. Still fun! There were plenty of fresh berries to pick and eat on the way and some neat views too.

 

After we worked up a sweat on the hike, we naturally had to shove our faces with beer and fries  refuel with protein and carbs. Ellicottville Brewing Company has always been one of our favorites, but they recently re -opened after a large remodel and addition so I thought I’d do a review.

First of all, the remodel to the place was amazing. They turned a tiny restaurant into a large facility with two added bars (one outdoor and one more indoor for a total of 3),  beer garden with outdoor seating and (I think) banquet facilities for weddings and events. It was beautiful inside and out.

new indoor seating

 

new bar inside (crappy pictures, I tried to look like less of a creeper taking pictures)

outdoor seating and bar

I thought it was weird when the hostess asked for my phone number, but I guess this is the system they use instead of those buzzer things. I thought it was a cool idea. You don’t have to carry around a germ-covered buzzer and keep track of it. They texted me when my table was ready and it was far below the quoted wait time. We hadn’t even ordered our drinks at the bar yet!

I went with the oatmeal stout. I don’t know what it is but ever since St. Patrick’s Day this year I have been obsessed with stouts. This one was had a rich, chocolate-ly, coffee taste without being too heavy. You’d think these types of beers would make you full but it went down (too) easily.

 

Austin got a hoppy type. I forgot to take a picture of it but he liked it. We ordered our favorite appetizers, loaded brewer’s fries. They come topped with pulled pork in their amazing BBQ sauce, melted cheese and scallions.

We also split a BBQ brisket sandwich. I absolutely love the BBQ sauce. The sandwich came with a side salad and pickle.

The brisket was pretty good- a little tough but the flavor was excellent. No I was not being particularly healthy on this day if you didn’t notice…..things have been a little more lax since the wedding….it feels good to relax a little! I know I’ll clean it up once work starts again.

Both dishes were around ten dollars which made for an inexpensive and tasty lunch.

I highly recommend checking out EBC if you are in the area!! Good beer and food!

What are your favorite types of beer?

Review: Gordon Biersch Brewery and Restaurant

This weekend we went out to dinner with some friends at a new chain restaurant in Syracuse at what is now the new Destiny USA mall.

Growing up this was always called Carousel Mall and had plans to be this huge attraction type mall with all sorts of bars, restaurants, recreation, etc. But it just always seemed to be something far away that was never really going to happen. Since I don’t live in Syracuse anymore I hadn’t been to Carousel since they opened it as Destiny, so we decided to grab dinner Friday night. I was impressed!

We decided to go to the new restaurant/brewery Gordon Biersch. We’ve been to the one in Buffalo before just for drinks, which I wasn’t too impressed with, but I loved the beer I got this time.

I went with the schwarzbier, which is a dark lager. It had a nice coffee finish. Coffee and beer? I’m all over that.

They had an outer deck seating area (not outside, just in the mall) as well as an inner restaurant with a huge bar.

Friends!

For dinner I ordered the steak tacos with chimichurri sauce. They came wrapped in a crispy blue tortilla shell and soft taco, which made for a nice texture and crunch. Tomatoes and lettuce were also stuffed in there.

 

Horrible Iphone photo, I apologize. I have GOT to get a new camera for blogging.

I asked for steamed veggies instead of the beans and rice (yummy but they make my stomach hurt), and they ended up bringing both. No harm done I guess. I just ignored the beans! The tacos were fabulous.

Austin ordered a Kobe burger with sweet potato fries. One or two of the fries might have ended up in my belly. They were good. He said the burger was cooked perfectly.

After dinner, we roamed around the mall looking for an ‘ice bar’ that didn’t exist. It was actually an ice museum, that wasn’t open yet. But there was an indoor go-kart track, a ropes course, a comedy club, many fro-yo spots (I was too stuffed from dinner at this point), and other restaurants. I had no idea there was so much stuff to do here!

If you’re ever in Syracuse, I would definitely check out Destiny. Especially if you love shopping! I couldn’t resist getting a pair of shoes after dinner too……

What is your favorite type of beer?? Lately I have been a fan of darker stouts for some reason….