Posts Tagged ‘far west’

Brews Brothers Pub

Sunday, February 16th, 2014

Before I walked into Brews Brothers Pub located on the far west side on Junction Road, I was envisioning a huge space, a comprehensive menu and walls filled with TVs. I was wrong on all accounts.

However, sitting in the recently opened establishment, I realized it’s similar to many strip-mall restaurants/bars I’ve visited in smaller cities and suburbs, and if you keep that in mind, the place meets all expectations.

Capacity is only 80, the bar only serves beer and wine and really the only items on the two-sided menu are burgers. Let’s start with the Brothers’ Original Burger ($5.39). It’s pretty plain, but the nice thing is you can add some “extras,”  such a fried egg (49 cents), a brat patty ($1.79) or even pulled pork ($1.29).

The other 11 burgers, all made with 4.5-oz patties, have more excitement to them. The Weston Burger ($6.89) comes with bacon, cheese and BBQ sauce. The bacon was some of the best I’ve had on a burger, but the sauce was too tangy. Next time, I think I’ll try the Philly Cheese Burger ($6.39), which includes grilled peppers, onions and provolone cheese.

The special of the day was too tempting to resist. Called the Bourbon Burger ($6.39), it was topped with bacon, cheese, onion straws and a bourbon mayo. Again, the bacon was awesome, and I adored the slightly sweet mayo on this overall satisfying sandwich.

All burgers are served a la carte (hence the empty-looking basket in the photo above). Side choices are fries, chips, shoestring fries and sweet potato fries. I had an order of hand-cut fries ($2.39), which were a little soggy. I would have enjoyed dipping them into bourbon mayo if that was available.

A larger side item is Pub Grub ($5.29), consisting of hand-cut chips topped with beer cheese, chopped bacon and chives. Super delicious, but the cheese could have been more melty to make it easier to spread around the plate; instead, the cheese had solidified into several large clumps.

Regarding the beer, you have two pages of beers on tap, available in pints and 20-oz glasses, from which to choose. The beers come from all over the country. For reference, I had the New Belgium Snapshot ($6 pint), the Boulder Nitro Shake ($5) and the 3 Sheeps Baaad Boy ($6).

Brews Brothers is open every day for lunch and dinner, and it has happy hour from 4-7 p.m.

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See more photos on our Brews Brothers Flickr set.

Brews Brothers Pub on Urbanspoon

Novanta

Sunday, December 1st, 2013

Cafe Porta Alba got new life (and bigger crowds) when it moved from the building that houses Capital Fitness to Hilldale Mall. This summer, it spun off a sister restaurant on the far west side called Novanta.

The first thing that caught my attention was how few items were on Novanta’s menu, especially compared to Cafe Porta Alba. The former has 12 pizzas (eight with crushed tomatoes, four without), three salads, two paninis and a mozzarella bar compared to the latter, which has 19 pizzas (plus one kids pizza), five salads and four paninis, plus appetizers and pasta dishes.

That said, you will find quality here. For example, I enjoyed the Salsiccia ($8.25), topped with Italian sausage, basil, mushrooms and garlic. The sausage and mushrooms were plentiful and the crushed tomato sauce was wonderfully subtle, letting the cheese and toppings shine.

Meanwhile, the Parma ($8.50) with house mozzarella, prosciutto, arugula and cherry tomatoes was a nice balance of the salty flavor from the meat and the sharp flavor from the arugula. All pizzas are 10″ and Neapolitan style, meaning you could order one for yourself, or split one along with an appetizer or dessert with a friend.

Speaking of apps, you’ll only find the aforementioned mozzarella bar, which offers four different kinds of mozzarella to be paired one of six different sides. I tried the buffalo mozzarella ($8.50), which is imported from Italy, with the side of prosciutto, ham, salami, spicy salami, olive oil and balsamic oil ($3.50). Both versions of the salami had a wonderful, rich flavor and weren’t too chewy, but the ham was oddly bland. I thought the mozzarella portion was really small for its price.

Novanta is open every day for lunch, dinner and carryout. I always felt Cafe Porta Alba had a sterile atmosphere, but it’s like a rave compared to Novanta’s even more dull environment (which includes TVs that seem like a last-minute throw-in). With that in mind, I recommend carrying out.

Novanta on Urbanspoon

PC Kitchen

Sunday, July 1st, 2012

Now open for three months, PC Kitchen doesn’t seem to have its identity set. First, it’s supposed to be an offshoot of Pancake Cafe, but it doesn’t draw nearly the same size of crowd. That may be because of its location in a strip mall by Woodman’s–it’s just weird to go to one to eat.

The name also is confusing, as it sounds like the place either fixes computers or is politically correct. Finally, the restaurant took over for the former New Town Pub, so there’s still a big bar in this family-friendly establishment. Overall, the food is good and the staff is welcoming, but will it be enough to overcome its inherent obstacles?

I tried the Homemade Biscuits & Gravy ($6.99), which comes with two eggs and hashbrowns. The biscuit was wonderfully soft; so many places give you a rock-hard biscuit. The gravy was rich and creamy and topped with slices of sausage instead of sausage crumbles, a nice touch. I would have preferred my hashbrowns crispier, as they didn’t have enough brown to them.

The Spinach Omelette ($6.99) is made from three eggs and comes with choice of cheese, hashbrowns and mushroom dipping sauce. It was really big and would have been tastier had the cheese been spread out a bit better. The mushroom dipping sauce was creative and helped boost the flavor of the omelette.

On a future visit, I’ll probably try the Bacon Pancake or Bacon Belgian Waffle ($5.99 each), both stuffed with bacon. The lunch menu is mainly comprised of sandwiches and burgers, such as the PC Kitchen Burger (Canadian bacon, American cheese and a sunny side up egg with red pepper aioli for $8.99).

PC Kitchen is open 365 days a year for breakfast and lunch. I hate when restaurants take cash only, and this is another such place, so be prepared.

PC Kitchen on Urbanspoon

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