Bricksworth Beer Co.

A brewery and a pizza joint in one? Of course we had to check it out. I forgot to take photos of the beer though. Bricksworth is a huge space in an industrial park off 35W in Burnsville. Easy access and easy to find. 

We started with the dry rub wings. Flavorful rub and huge wings. 

We had the Box Logo pizza topped with house made Italian sausage crumbles, cupping pepperoni, sautéed cremini mushrooms, caramelized onions and roasted red pepper. This was a great Detroit style pizza. Very hearty and filling and I love the crispy edges. 

Bricksworth is a full service operation with table service and a full bar. It is a nice option compared to breweries with limited food and beverage selections. We enjoyed our visit and will certainly return. 

Bricksworth Beer Co. 
12257B Nicollet Ave S 
Burnsville, MN 55337

Phone: (952) 657-5236

https://bricksworthbeer.co

Wooden Hill Brewing Company

We visited Wooden Hill for a weekend lunch recently. Yes, this is a brewery, but the interesting thing about Wooden Hill is that they also have a full kitchen offering a nice variety of burgers, sandwiches, pizzas and other bar food.

We both had the house burger that is topped with cheddar cheese, garlic aioli and house made pickles. I had sweet potato fries as my side and John had the regular fries. It is an attractive looking burger and it tasted great also. It is a thin patty burger. I found the toppings and bun to be nice quality also.

There is a small patio in the front and a larger one in the back and both are dog friendly if you want to bring your canine companion along. The tap room is quite nice and spacious as well.



Wooden Hill Brewing Company
7421 Bush Lake Rd
Edina, MN 55439
Phone: (952) 960-9663
https://woodenhillbrewing.com

Town Hall Station

Town Hal Station is a new addition in Edina. It is housed in an former gas station. The glass garage doors in front are a nice feature in the summer, as is the spacious patio. I arrived a bit early to put in my name in anticipation of a wait for a table. There was not a wait for inside tables, and a short wait for patio tables, which was fine with us.

Roasted corn and potato tacos

Beef Short rib tacos

Ragtop fried chicken sandwich

All of the food was very good and matched the menu descriptions. I enjoyed the spicy chicken sandwich a lot and the fries were decent as well. I also tried  a beer sampler flight, which you can see a glimpse of in the food photo, but I otherwise forgot to photograph. I liked trying a few beers before ordering a full one as I’m not that familiar with the Town Hall brewing selections. The cherry lager was very refreshing and fruity.

We had very good service throughout our meal and enjoyed the patio a lot. It is nice to see local restaurants expand and open in the suburbs. While Minneapolis isn’t that far away, it is nice to have quality food and beverage options closer to home. It looks like a full bar is also available for those averse to beer as well.


Town Hall Station
4500 Valley View Rd
Minneapolis, MN 55424
Phone: (612) 767-9747
http://www.townhallstation.com/

Duluth Trip Report 06.30-07.03.17

Many times, over the Fourth of July we go up North with friends to Turtle Lake, but for a variety of reasons that was not happening, so we decided to go to Duluth for the weekend. We've been meaning to go forever, and the Brewery Passport we have been working on really motivated us as there are a few places in the book in this area. 

This is long overdue and I did not take many notes, so details are going to be sketchy, but I wanted to post the information and photos I do have. 

We stopped at Gordy's Hi Hat in Cloquet for lunch. First time. Bit of a line, but went quickly and food didn't take that long.

The burgers were great, I was not crazy about the onion rings or the fries. The onion rings were really greasy.

We checked into the hotel, the Radisson in downtown Duluth. Supposedly it has been remodeled, but it still needs work. I'm going to leave it at that. They do allow pets, which is nice, but we were relegated to the annex rooms in the back, so no lake view for us. Or King bed. Boo. I used hotel points for most of the nights and ended up getting my points back for one night, which was nice.

Stopped at Bent Paddle brewing for a Brewery Passport stamp. 

Finger's brewhouse. She great beers that no one really ever talks about. I loved the apricot wheat.

We sat on the pier at Fitger's overlooking the lake an enjoyed some food and beverages. 

tuna tartare

It rained pretty hard for awhile so we went back to the hotel to get Maya. Once the rain let up we went down to Canal Park and sat on the patio at Canal Park Brewing.

some more snacks

I think we called it a day after Canal park Brewing, plus it was kind of challenge to have Maya along as she did not enjoy being in the hotel room alone very much. Let's just say we visited Duluth's dog parks frequently.

For breakfast, we went to Duluth Grill. This place is worth the wait and as good as everyone says it is.

excellent sourdough toast

breakfast melt sandwich 

After breakfast, we collected Maya, packed up the car and drove up the North shore to Grand Marais. It was a very pretty drive, though the weather got colder and rainier the farther north we went.

Asian wings

pork sliders

We had lunch and beverages at Voyageur Brewing Company, which was also dog friendly.

Donuts at Wold's Best Donuts n Grand Marais

We stopped at Gooseberry Falls for a little hike 

We made one last brewery stop at Castle Danger brewing. I don't think it was in the passport, but their beers are all over in Duluth and quite good.

We dropped off Maya at the hotel and went over to the Anchor Bar for burgers. It is an interesting little place, and the burgers are the real deal. Fresh cut fries too.

I think we called it a day after burgers and all of the fresh air. 

Sunday morning we headed to At Sara's Table at Chester Creek for breakfast. Breakfast burrito for John.

Hippy breakfast for me- it was basically scrambled eggs with potatoes on the side. After breakfast we walked around Canal park, but it was a lot busier down there than when we arrived on Friday.

We grabbed lunch at Sir Benedict's, up by Fitger's. 

Maya got tired out from all the action and excitement. It is hard to get her tired sometimes!

We sat on the patio at the Blind Pig as they had live music inside and it was pretty loud.

This pretzel was huge....

The rathskeller under the Blind Pig. Apparently it is an old jail and haunted. It is certainly dark and creepy. We stopped in at the casino across the street as well, but it was super smoky and rather sad. They did have a few table games though.

View from the overlook rest area on the way out of town.

We had a great time in Duluth, and even Maya enjoyed it a lot. The dog parks in Duluth leave a bit to be desired though and I think next time around just one or two nights will be enough.

Vito Lucco food truck

We came across a new (to us anyway) food truck at Indeed brewery recently, called Vito Lucco. They specialize in wood fired pizza and also offer a hot dog and chips.

John ordered the Don Vito pizza, which was topped with andouille sausage, pepperoni, mushroom, onion and green peppers.

I had a build your own pizza topped with green olives and pepperoni. The crust was pretty thick and doughy and the toppings were generously applied. I did not get much flavor from the wood fired oven unfortunately. The pizza did hit the spot with the beer from Indeed Brewery and I would probably order from Vito Lucco again. It is not as good as Punch pizza, but not bad for a food truck.

 menu

There was a 20-25 minute wait for the pizzas, but they just took down your cell number and texted you when the order was ready, so that was handy.

Vito Lucco Food Truck
Vitolucco.com
Twitter: @vitolucco
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Vito-Lucco-Pizza-co-845109742241236/

Birch's on the Lake Brewhouse

I had read a brief article on Heavy Table about the beer offerings at Birch's on the Lake and when I visited the website I noticed they also served food in a formal dining room and a more casual brewpub. This sounded like an interesting option, so we planned to visit Friday night for dinner, but other plans came up, so we went for brunch on Sunday instead.

When we arrived we noticed there were not many cars in the parking lot, and it was around 11am. This is never a great sign. The upstairs restaurant was closed and a sign directed us to the brewpub downstairs. We were greeted by the bartender and seated ourselves. The dining area had quite a few tables filled actually, but it was not packed.

They don't do tasting flights, but you can order small 2 oz pours for just $1 each, so I tried the pumpkin ale, witbier and coffee chocolate golden ale. I forgot to take a photo, but it was a nice amount to sample the beers. The pumpkin ale was quite good, not overly sweet and witbier was a decent lighter beer and the chocolate ale was unusual in that it was a lighter beer with coffee and chocolate notes. Not sure I would get get the coffee chocolate golden ale again.

John tried the sorachi ace IPA.

The server was helpful, friendly and checked on us as needed. She was able to tell us a bit about the beers and kept our water glasses filled.

I had the prime rib Benedict, which was a cheddar biscuit topped with thinly sliced prime rib, tow poached eggs and horseradish hollandaise with a side of hash browns. I did not detect any horseradish flavor in the hollandaise and the prime rib was very well done and quite tough. If the prime rib had been rare, this could have been a good dish, as it was, it was just OK. The hash browns were quite good though. they were very crispy and had some onions added to them to give them additional flavor.

John had the Long Lake breakfast with two eggs, two strips of bacon, Kramarzuk's Ukrainian sausage, hash browns and he ordered sourdough toast, but was given a biscuit. A runner brought out the plates and he was told about the toast and he quickly brought a piece of toast out. It was supposed to be sourdough, but it was either very bland or white toast. It was also cold, so John told the server and she brought new toast out.

I don't think I was impressed or dazzled by the food or beer, everything was acceptable, and we found the brewpub to be a nice atmosphere with a great view of the lake. There is a patio deck, so that will likely be popular in the warmer months. I think we will have to come back and try the supper club, located upstairs and maybe keep checking back to see what other options they add to the beer menu. It has lots of potential in a beautiful building with great views.


Birch's on the Lake Brewhouse
1310 Wayzata Blvd,
Long Lake, MN 55356
(952) 473-7373
http://www.birchsonthelake.com