Mmm....Beer (oh and 'que at the Brewery)

As Sarah wrote in her post, we have been working diligently on our master's papers, trying to get jobs, and fitting 'que into the time cracks. We went to the Carolina Brewery on Saturday for dinner on the advice Sarah had gotten from some random English PhD candidate that it was the best in Chapel Hill.

I ordered the 'que plate, which came with 'que, slaw, hushpuppies, and stew. Lars ordered the Tarheel burger.




For my 'que--ditto what Sarah said.

The sauce was tomatoey, sweet, and not "authentic" Carolina 'que (East or West, there just wasn't enough vinager). The slaw had too much mayo and not enough vinager, so it couldn't cut the richness of the pork. The meat was decent. Not the best, but not the worst. It was okay, a little fatty but it did have some outside brown. The stew was actually pretty tasty, rich with big peices of corn. The hushpuppies were pretty good. They had sugar in them, so you anti-sugar puppy eaters, stay away.

I want to describe a Tarheel/Carolina burger for those who have never had such a thing. It is a burger with yellow mustard, chili, slaw on it. It might sound kind of nasty, but it is really tasty. The combination of creamy, tart, spicy, and meaty is practically perfect. You can even get a hot dog made up with the same fixin's at some restaurants. That is even more tasty and I recommend that any Carolina visitor try one. Don't get the Tarheel burger at Wendy's--go local.

The beer at the Brewery was quite good. I had the Altbier, a style I don't think I've ever had before. I think it was served colder than it should have been, but it was still refreshing. Lars had their IPA.

Loyal readers will know I usually inflate the rating of a 'que place that serves beer, but the Brewery doesn't qualify for that. They are a brewery that serves 'que. If I had a beer blog (what a good idea!), they would probably get a better rating for having 'que, but it doesn't work the other way around.

Rating--

--Jennifer