Chicago, IL 60614
Goose Island Brewery
First I want to apologize for the delay in my posts. It has been a pretty busy couple weeks. RFS and I made the trip up to the Windy City to visit a good friend from college and his fiancee. AG, if you are reading this, I wish I could send a nice little nut tap to Austin. It is always good to go back to what was home for me for two years. Unless I went for an entire week, I don't think I would be able to eat at my some of my favorite restaurants and see all the people I would want to see up there. When people ask me what I miss most about the Second City, I am quick to say the people, the food, and the nightlife. Turned out the time I lived up there, I was able to experience the coldest winter in 60 years and the coldest summer in 100 years. I don't miss the traffic and the biting cold winters. So let's get to one of the things I do miss, the people and the food.
There are two Goose Island locations, one in Wrigleyville and the other in Lincoln Park. We went to the one in Lincoln Park. I went to this one more as it was closer to my house and there is a place to park. That is one thing that you can't do a whole lot in the Chi, just pull up to a restaurant and park. Point Naptown. GI brews their own craft beers. 312 is one of my favorites. I'm sure you all know you can purchase their beers here. Drink responsibly friends. I obviously couldn't pass up the opportunity to have a fresh brew. The menu is always changing at GI. I think this is due to the fact they get all their ingredients fresh from local farms. I was sad to see their mac n cheese wasn't available. So for appetizers, we ordered the pretzels which came with jalapeno cheddar and stout mustard dipping sauce. The pretzels were amazing. The texture was spot on, soft and chewy. I preferred the mustard dip. It had a nice bite to it. The cheddar dip had good flavor as well, but I prefer my pretzels with mustard. I can't even eat bagged pretzels without dipping them in mustard. We also ordered the Short Rib Pierogis. I had never had fresh pierogis before and I have always wanted to try. JBH swears by made from scratch pierogis, so I had to give them shot. You could really taste the freshness in the ingredients. The meat was really tender, but other than that, I thought they lacked flavor. For my entree I ordered the lamb burger. It is organic ground lamb, topped with brie, poached pears, and frisee. KJM would not like this burger. I, on the other hand really enjoyed it. I haven't eaten a lot of lamb in my life, but I think one of the big differences is lamb is leaner than beef. The burger was really peppery. It paired well with the soft, creamy brie. The pears had a nice flavor, reminded me of Christmas, because of how they were spiced. Frisee has a more bitter taste and I could go without it. For my side, I chose the sweet potato fries. They were the least fresh tasting part of my meal. I thought they tasted like the fries you can get at the freezer section in your local grocer. They came with a curry ketchup. It was so-so. I prefer regular ketchup or maybe if they had a chipotle ketchup. The curried ketchup is just not my style.
Now that I have pimped their food, let me get to the worst part of the meal., service. God awful! Our waitress had no sense of urgency. She was not prompt in any areas of service and she wasn't friendly. I think she showed up maybe 5 times the whole meal. Lucky for her groups of six get 18% gratuity, because she deserved no more than 6%. I ran out of water and had to drink the other glasses off the table a few times. Why was I drinking water instead of the delicious beer? Well RFS and I decided to drive back that night. Believe you me, I would have had my fair share if we weren't heading home.
Well I do recommend this place as the beers and food are delicious. Just know that the service is sub par.
“Eat what is cooked, listen to what is said.”
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