Ipswich Brewery

http://mikethefoodspecialist.blogspot.com

Ipswich Brewery

2 Brewery Place
Ipswich, MA 01938
Corporate Office: (978) 356-3329

http://www.ipswichalebrewery.com

On this weekend’s trip we went to The Ipswich Brewery.

It’s funny out of the four of us I am the only real beer drinker, so this place was perfect for me.

Because it is a brewery they have a good list of different beers to try and they serve them in flights.

Again great for me.

I started with the Classic Flight that included:

Original Ale

IPA

Route 101

Oatmeal

Stout

All were good but the Original Ale and the Route 101 is the two I liked best out of this flight.

Next I went with the Ipswich Ruby Red IPA. This was good medium body beer with a nice flavor.

The wife got the No Bite Flight that included:

iBelge

Cream Ale

Blueberry Shandy

Cranberry Beret

She liked the Cranberry but I enjoyed the iBelge most out of this flight.

Ok now for the food:

Overall the food was ok. Standard pub food, but you go there for the beer 1^st.

We had the Pot Roast Poutine (crispy fries, shredded beef brisket, Pineland Farms cheddar curds and brown gravy).

We could have or should have order another one and had this as our meal. This was excellent and without a doubt the best part of the meal.

For our main meal I had the Brewer’s Burger. This is a standard chargrilled angus 8oz, burger and includes shredded lettuce, tomato, sliced red onion and cheese and fries.

This was a good burger, not great but good. (They did over cook it)

The wife ordered the Fish and Chips (crispy fried fresh haddock fries and coleslaw).

She was not real happy with this. It really was not crispy and lacking in flavor.  You would think a brewery would have a beer batter, but it did not.  It was tossed in a light flour coating and then fried. 

So overall I would go back and have some beer, as that was very good, and order some appetizers.  

Don’t look for a high end meal there.

Bartaco

Bartaco

1 Willett Ave

Port Chester, NY 10573

bartaco.com

(914) 937-8226

On our weekend trip we needed a place where the kitchen would stay open late. So the four of us set out for a place called Bartaco. I had never heard of this place before, and they do not have a location in Boston...But they should!

What a cool, fun place to go and have a few drinks and some good food. For the younger crowd they have a great bar scene.

Bartaco serves upscale street food in a very casual environment. Serving, as you could assume by the name, tacos, along with guacamole, tamales and other sides.

First, the wait staff was great!  We had 2 waitresses, and they could not do enough for us. With their help we placed our order.

We started with some guacamole and chips plus the cheese quesadilla. Both of these appetizers where good, but I would not waste any room for them again.

I would save my appetite for the tacos and the rice bowls.

They suggested we do the tray of tacos and two rice bowls. Now, the tacos are small, two bite tacos, so that allows you to try three or four different kinds.

We had the fish, chicken, sesame ribeye, fried oyster and the pork belly. All of the tacos came dressed and ready to eat. The pork belly was the best; perfectly cooked and served with a delicious slaw and sauce.

We also had the rice bowls; a chicken and the sesame ribeye both were delicious.

But one of our favorite items was the grilled corn with lime, cayenne and Cotija cheese.

If you order this (And I think you should) ask them to remove it from the cob.

We finished our meal off with some Churros with chocolate sauce and Key Lime Pie in a mason jar. Both were excellent, but I was too full to eat anything else.

So if you are ever around one of these Bartaco’s, I would drop in.  You won't be sorry.

O’Rourke’s Diner

O’Rourke’s Diner

728 Main Street

Middletown CT.

860-346-6101

www.orourkesmiddletown.com

This weekend we set out to see a play in Purchase NY at Manhattanville College.

So we thought it would be a nice change to look up a new place to stop for a bite to eat on the way. I went on line and typed in (The best diners in New England) and New England Today Travel comes up with a list of the top 15 Diners.

https://newengland.com/today/travel/new-england/best-diners-new-england/

 

The first one on the list was right on our way, O’Rourke’s Diner in Middletown, Connecticut. So we plug the address into the GPS, and off we go. We arrive around 1 or 2 in the afternoon and find out that they only serve breakfast on Saturday. No big deal, we like breakfast at almost any time.

The place is not that big and it is pretty busy; I take this as a good sign. So we sit and order.  I ordered an omelet called the Dubliner. Corned beef hash with Irish Cheddar Cheese with Irish bacon and potatoes topped with Irish soda bread and jam.

I love Corned beef hash. I almost always order it when we are eating breakfast out. To my disappointment, it was not very good hash. The overall breakfast was ok, but for some reason with a place called O’Rourke’s, I was excepting great hash. I’m not even sure if they made it there, or got it out of a can.  The best part on the meal was the soda bread and jam.

Now, the wife had her go to meal, which is Eggs Benedict.  This was Standard Eggs Benedict with Irish Ham and poached eggs, topped with Hollandaise sauce and a side of home fries. This was an average attempt, I can say the eggs where poached perfectly but they went skimpy on the sauce, which was bland, and the home fries where old.

O’Rourke’s Diner is an ok diner, but not worth driving out of your way for. There are lot better diners out there that are worth the drive.

So, I will have to think twice about believing the New England Today Travel web site. I believe they got this one all wrong.