The team behind Vintage Brewing Company developed Tangent. Other than the large beer selection, the brewpubs don’t have any other similarities.
The menu is compact. In fact, I thought there would be more appetizers given Tangent’s proximity to The Sylvee and Breese Stevens Field.
The wings ($10) were average. You get your choice of BBQ, spicy garlic sauce or blackened dry rub. I opted for spicy garlic, and I got very little of it, plus it wasn’t remotely spicy.
Another appetizer, the patatas bravas ($5), is only on the happy hour menu. The frites were too tender, similar to the texture of yams. I would have preferred them to be crispy, especially to contrast with the aioli drizzled on top. That aioli wasn’t spicy as advertised, but it did have a slight resemblance to roasted red pepper.
During dinner, I ordered the pork chop ($23), which despite being bone-in had no other flavor besides the char from the grill. As for texture, some bites were dry and others were juicy. The apricot chutney on top wasn’t appetizing and didn’t save the pork chop. The bed of white beans ragout was fine but I got sick of the beans after a while because you get a huge portion.
The lunch menu is an even more compact version of its dinner counterpart. The Tangent Burger ($10) had multiple flavors: sweet and salty from the bacon jam and bitterness from the arugula (and yet I couldn’t detect any marrow aioli). The patty itself was a bit dry, though my server warned me that it would be cooked medium-well because it was the lunch size.
I paid $2 to upgrade my side to the tomato bisque, and I’m glad I did. It’s thick, creamy, hearty and perfectly flavored.
Instead of beer, I tried a specialty cocktail. I enjoyed the Stop! Hammer Thyme ($9), made with rum, yellow chartreuse, hibiscus-thyme syrup, lemon juice and bitters. While you can discern all the flavors, the thyme was predominant.
Tangent is open every day for lunch and dinner.
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See more photos in our Tangent Flickr album.
Missing from the Tangent menu were Non-Alcoholic beer options. They need to up their game for those of us who have stopped drinking, don’t drink or are taking an alcohol free break. This is a message for ALL restaurants today. Even the newly imagined Bacchus in Milwaukee, a Bartolotta restaurant failed by not having a set well developed menu of N.A. cocktails.