Gettin Froggy at the Frogtown.... Cafe, that is.

Ya know something that's kinda cool?  Having a bar close to home.  Someplace one can reach in a few minutes by car, or better yet a few minutes by walking.  A bar.... a pub.... a watering hole....  and suddenly the theme music from 'Cheers' is running through my head.

I have friends in town who live near Brendee's Irish Pub.  They call it the Winchester, and yes, everyone there knows their names.  I have other friends who live a short walk from Stubbies, and that's their 'Home Bar'.  The place evenings begin.  The joint where they can slip away for a quiet beer and burger, or a noisy football Sunday.

For us, that place is The Froggy.  The real name is the Frogtown Cafe, located in Pequea on Marticville Road (324 to yous city peoples).   No, they don't have a web site.  They are on Facebook, but that's about it. They don't need to advertise. Every local knows the Frogtown Cafe, and they've all been there. The funny thing is, we seldom make it the mile or so it takes us to reach the Froggy.  It's always an option, but life seems to take us other directions.

Every 'Home Bar' has a feel to it.  It's more than just the bar itself, or the somewhat mandatory pool table, or the usually predictable menu.  It's the ambiance. It's the things hanging on the walls, all having a story attached. It's the old guy sitting on the stool at the end of the bar from 4:41pm to 8:16pm every.... single...... day...... they are open.  It's the waitress who gives everyone a hard time and they love every bit of it.  It's the FEEL of the place.   Every Home Bar has it's own feel, and regulars slip into it like relaxing in a favorite worn at the end of a hard day.

Yeah, this is a foodie blog, and we'll talk about the food at The Froggy.... yet the concept of a Home Bar is at least as important.  You can get great food at home, or in a decent restaurant. You can buy just about any beer brewed world wide, and drink it while sitting on your own sofa, watching your team, on your TV, in your underwear if you want..... but nothing in this life is the same as pulling up a barstool and having *your* bartender pull you *your* favorite draft beer at *your* home bar.

Okay, now we've beat that topic to death, lets look at The Froggy foodwise.

Herself and I dropped in for an early dinner, just before five.  We are pretty clear on the time, as their pizza oven isn't officially up to temp till 5pm, and we just missed having Stromboli for dinner as a result.   To make up for it, we took a big regular Boli home to nosh on through the later evening. Good stuff it was, too!

Neither of us had eaten all day, short of a quick nibble. It was a work Saturday and we had both been just too busy to do more than grab a cracker on the go.  Let me make this perfectly clear..... we were a bit peckish.

Drinks:  Standard bar fare.  Twisted half and half Teas for Herself, and a couple Sam Adams Winter Lager drafts for me.

Starters, we had two Appies.  Herself's favorite bar food: Jalapeno Poppers.  She can describe them, since I wasn't brave enough to grab one away from Queen Voraciousness (I love poppers! First off they are cheesy and fried and spicy! Everything I want when I am slogging down a beer).  Instead, I had something called 'loaded Nacho Wontons (5 for $6).  These turned out to be wonton wrappers sealed around pretty much everything you'd expect to find on loaded nachos.  Melted nacho cheese, ground beef, etc. I'm pretty sure these are a Froggy invention, as I've never heard of them before.  Yup... they tasted like loaded nachos, minus the nachos, fried inside a wonton.  Surprise!  

They came plain in a basket.... and lacked one thing they needed;  Sour cream.  On the other hand, our bartender/waitress was happy to bring some, after harassing me a bit with some friendly heckling.  There's just no way not to smile at that.... and we love every minute of it.

Also, a salad for Herself.... but I 'helped' a bit.  Just a plate of greens, with extra salad-like things arranged on to let you know someone tried a little. Not fancy, not real special, but *good*.

Along with the appetizers..... (did I mention the 'peckish' part?), we split a dozen wings.  Garlic Parm they were, and honestly nothing to get excited about.  Not bad, not great, just plain workmanlike wings like we expect every bar to have.  They have a good wing selection, in both regular and boneless, and fried or whatever that other uncultured way there is besides fried (they offered a grilled wing, but not in boneless).

After appies and wings, we each had a meal-like foodthing.  Herself, a burger which she had them morph into some kind of chicken sandwich and...... yeah.... she can tell you about that. It was the Teriyaki Burger made with a grilled chicken breast instead of ground beef. It was a good sandwich, and I had the options of sides. I got the aforementioned salad as my side.

For myself, I had the days special, Korean Short Rib Tacos.  Three of them, for $12.  Now, I was talked into getting these as both Herself and the Bar-tress ganged up and explained that I really wanted to try these.  Who am I to argue?  After many such battles, I've learned that sometimes just letting it go works out pretty well.

The Short Rib Tacos were heavily stuffed with extremely tender slow cooked beef, coated in a tasty sauce, with chopped red cabbage and cilantro on top and drizzled with a tangy sauce. All of this, in warm soft taco tortillas.  As a taco offering, they were darned good.

We then enjoyed a beverage, and people watched while we waited to take home boneless honey BBQ wings for The Boy, and a large Stromboli for us for later..... since it was now after 5pm. (That stromboli at 9pm at night was superb!)

Do we really need to go into long descriptions on the food?  Aside from perhaps her sandwich and my tacos, everything else is really very standard bar food.   You just need to know if it's good bar food, or bad bar food....and this was pretty decent bar food.

The thing about the Frogtown Cafe is, it's not just the local watering hole.  It's also the local-est restaurant, and any given night can find their dining room pretty busy with families and folks getting together.  Friday and Saturday evenings may get a bit noisier with a slightly younger crowd, but it's still 'Just The Froggy'.  They always run daily food specials, drink specials, and have lot's of evenings with live music and things going on (They also have a patio area in the summer, and Trivia nights).

The rafters are covered with hundreds of beer taps, and the walls with eclectic country 'things'.  Pictures and tools mostly, just for something to look at while the foods being made.  The bar has it's own decorations making it clear.... You are at the Froggy.  The lights would make a lighting engineer burst into tears, and front parking is reserved for motorcycles all Summer and every day with good weather.  Smoking is out front, and you better not take a drink out with you.  Smoke inside, or carry a drink out, and you'll hear about it right quick.... but no does it because everyone knows that.

Yeah..... It's a local place.  A home bar.  A country restaurant to grab lunch or dinner. A place with some happy noise and cold beer to meet friends.  The bartenders and waitresses are friendly, snarky, know the regulars, and do a good job. The food ranges from pretty decent up to occasional flashes of excellence, but is almost never bad.  Families are welcome, and there is always a friendly smile for strangers dropping in.  God knows there's fancier places. Places with more inventive food, a bigger beer selection, and even tablecloths.   Yeah, there are other places... but there is only one Froggy.  Just like every Home Bar is the only one like it, no matter how far you wander.

As himself waxes poetic about down-home bars, I realized some things sitting in The Frogtown. First: It's an eclectic crowd. Guys in work-shirts, boots, and camo. Young-ish couples out on dates, with the ladies dressed in their jeans and high heels, and then a family of 8. Couples in their 60's meeting for their weekly dinner group (they hugged their waitress and asked her how her kids are). Definitely all local people. The dynamics in there interested me a lot. 

The next thing I noticed is they are pricey. I think they can be, as there is nothing else without driving 5 miles in any direction. The fnal thing (and maybe the most important to a foodie) was the food. Was it gourmet fare? No, but it's decent wholesome food they put some thought into. There were definitely some flavour combinations that had potential. My teriyaki was salty, and needed cut somehow... but the sweet chili mayo on the sandwich was an inspired touch. The Korean short ribs tacos? Nice, but they needed something to go that extra step to make them Wow! These are the little things I look for when reviewing a place, that little something extra that makes it. The Frogtown is good at what it is. A small town place, feeding the local palate with comfort food they enjoy. 

Overall I give The Frogtown's:
3.0 out of 5 forks for flavor
3.5 out of 5 forks for atmosphere
4.75 out of 5 forks for location  (this number is probably much lower for anyone else, but honestly, we could walk. 😉)
4.5 out of 5 forks for service
3.9375  forks overall