Saturday, April 12, 2014

Evil Czech Brewery and Public House

If you have followed the blog you know that we often visit bars, pubs, and breweries because the food is good, I'm sure our waiters/waitress' roll their eyes a little, but honestly we always get good service, and tonight was no exception. Our waiter, Brett, greeted us promptly and warmly with a small bag of what Evil Czech Brewery calls "hop"corn, and was quick to share with us that they had root beer to offer (it was delicious!!) since we passed up his explanation of their beers on tap. I have to say though, if you do like beer, this is a place for you, the vats they brew in are behind a glass wall in the main/family dining room so you can see everything that they are doing, and from there move to "glow tanks" until they hit your glass, meaning that their beer never touches air or the light of day until you order it. Evil Czech not only has an extensive beer list, but their menu is vast as well, in fact it was a little overwhelming with it's many delicious looking dishes. We began our meal, or should I say experience, with Pork Belly Corn Dogs, which was a large piece of rendered pork belly, with a crispy, sweet cornbread coating on a stick. This app was delicious, but I will warn that it is very rich between the fattiness of the pork belly and the deep fried crust, however it is served with a delicious whole grain mustard that works well to cut the richness of this dish.
My hubby was pretty quick to decide what he wanted, which was in part due to the fact that he has always wanted mac and cheese with jalapenos, but, I suspect, was also influenced by his desire to ask the waiter for Menage A Trois! Yes, that was the name of my hubby's mac and cheese that was chock full of braised pork belly, bacon, house made pastrami, pickled jalapenos, and topped with crushed pretzels, and despite the fact that he isn't a big fan of pretzels he thought they were a perfect topping for mac and cheese as it added a nice crunchiness.
As I said, the menu was a little overwhelming for me, normally my go to is fish and chips, but I didn't want something deep fried, I poured over pizzas with many unique toppings, salads served in pizza crust bowls (all made with the spent grains from the brewing process), loaded sandwiches and burgers, and even a couple dishes made with schnitzel, but still couldn't decide. When Brett came back to take our order I panicked and ordered the chicken fingers, to which he promptly asked me to step outside of my comfort zone, and I'm glad he did! I decided to order from their street taco section, and was greeted with two delicious chipotle red corn taco shells full of their house made pastrami and pork belly confit covered in a delicious hoison glaze. I ordered the spicy slaw on the side and when my hubby took a bite and declared "it's a good thing you ordered that on the side," I knew it was too spicy for this wimp and didn't even try it.

And while we are talking about this house made pastrami, I think it is important that you see exactly where it came from, as this is the sight that greeted us when we pulled in the parking lot, and the smell was intoxicating!
We opted to bring half our dinners home in favor of ordering dessert (thank goodness for roomy saddlebags!), as the dessert menu looked too delicious to pass up! Brett recommended Mamma's sour cream cake with fresh local blueberries or the bread pudding made with chocolate chips, pretzels and almonds, but the "Czech Mex Sundae" looked too delicious to pass up. We were not disappointed, the cold ice cream alongside fresh, hot churros covered in cinnamon and sugared then topped with chocolate and caramel was divine! It was served in a pizza crust bowl covered in cinnamon and sugar, which didn't really add or take away from the dish, but if I had it my way I would trade the bowl for a couple extra churros.
Whether you like beer or, like us, don't really drink, Evil Czech Brewery and Public House is a must try! Their food is delicious and locally sourced, their staff is incredibly friendly, you can go on a date or take the whole family, and if you are like my hubby, you will be totally fascinated with the brewing system. Oh, and when you go, make sure to ask to sit in Brett's section, he offers exceptional customer service that is pretty rare to see nowadays.