The Firepit Kitchen + Bar, on Richland Drive in Lancaster, serves Greek and Mediterranean inspired fare. We stopped in on a Friday night at 5:30 after dropping the littlest spawn off with the ex. It was Myself, Himself, and the Teen. We were seated immediately, but they filled up quickly after we arrived. The place is decked out in impeccably clean modern decor with warm earth tone colors and metallics.
The menu is not huge. I've noticed that's a trend restaurants are leaning towards and it is one I agree with wholeheartedly. I would rather a restaurant have 20 things they do perfectly, than 50 things they do okay. Worse, when they pre-make food and keep it on hand for days, reheating it for service. (Enough whining.... back to the restaurant.)
Our waitress was friendly. She took our drink orders and gave us time to review the menu. Himself got a Fat Tire Amber Ale and I got a house mixed drink (lemonade, raspberry schnapps, and vodka). It was tasty and not too sweet. (The Fat Tire is what it is. A good solid Ale, crisp and tasty with a meal).
We perused the menu at our leisure, and finally settled on the The Firepit Spread ($8) for an appie, and The Village ($9) for a salad . The Teen got a Bacon BBQ Burger ($14). Himself: The Wild Mushroom Burger ($13).
Then, there was me... let me preface this by saying I LOVE Greek food. I love Greek flavors... but have you ever looked at a menu and everything looks so good that you just blurt something out and have to go with it because otherwise you will feel dumb? Yeah so that was a thing that happened.
I got the Pork Flatbread with Greek Fries. Yes, that is right. I ordered the LEAST Greek flavored thing on the damn menu, mostly because I am an idiot (Insert sigh here). But hey...I got the Greek Fries right? (Insert sad face emoticon here).
The appie was tasty. It came with plenty of fresh veggies and pita points to put the tapenade, baba ganoush, and hummus on. It was delicious and definitely house made (I bit into an olive pit in my tapenade. It made me cranky, but it was still delicious!)
Then there was the salad! It was so FRESH! Lots of cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, feta, red onion, with a house made Greek Dressing. It was outstanding! It came with pita points to soak up all the delicious Greek dressing. The dressing was the perfect amount of tang and sweet, and herbs. I should have gotten the chicken kebabs and made that remarkable
salad my main dish. Alas, I did not.
My main course was a pork BBQ flatbread with broccoli slaw on it. It was.. okay. It needed more barbecue sauce. Tasted individually, the components were disappointing, but eaten as a whole the flavours melded well. Would I run back for that particular sandwich again? No.
The house cut fries were perfect, though. They were crispy and well seasoned. The tzatziki sauce they were served with the fries was good too; very tangy and bright in flavour.
The Teen said his burger was really good, and his bacon was prepared exactly to his taste. He would have liked more BBQ sauce on it as well. He too loved the fries and he also enjoyed the pita points with cucumbers (It was fun having him interact with our reviewing process).
As for me (Himself), my burger was fair. It arrived a bit skewed on the plate, and needed some assembly to become burger-ish. Now, maybe that was cute plating... or maybe it all just slipped a bit.
The mushrooms, melted cheese, and sauce (garlic aioli) all complimented the burger decently. It wasn't in the 'best burger' running, but still a good workmanlike offering (I tasted his burger, it was pretty darn good. I should know I am a burger connoisseur! ) As herself said, the fries were good. Hand cut, fresh from the fryer, but lacking in seasoning a bit to my taste. Go figure.
The restaurant seems to be set up in 'areas'. A small bar area, a dining room area, etc. There are lot's of focal points to keep the ambiance from boring patrons, not the least of which is a big cooler stocked chock full of interesting beers.
Overall I give Firepit:
4.25 out of 5 forks for flavor
4.50 out of 5 forks for atmosphere
4.75 out of 5 forks for location
4.15 out of 5 forks for service
4.4125 forks overall
Linky: Spring House Brewery, 209 Hazel Street Lancaster PA.
We made dinner reservations here for a party of four at 3pm. (Beating bad weather.... which didn't really happen anyway).
Although they were fairly busy we were seated quickly.
They are in a slightly shady neighborhood on the south side of Lancaster City. (LOLOLOL.... slightly shady? As we parked, there was gunfire from just across the street. Where WE live, that just means someone is having fun target shooting. Where Spring House is in Lancaster, it probably means a multiple drug gang assassination).
The building is a beautiful reworked warehouse, and has charming antique lighting. You can see the shiny metal canisters in which they brew their beer. It's rustic but modern. (I checked for bullet holes in the windows. None to be found... THIS visit. I like the decor. It's trying hard to be lots of things, but I like what it turned out to be.)
We were handed a menu that didn't quite match up with what they offered online, but this is not the most unusual thing that has ever happened to us at a restaurant (BULL.... it was nothing like the on-line menu. I really hope they get around to changing what's on their website, so other folks aren't as disappointed at that as I was). When our waitress handed it to us she did mention they had gotten a new head chef in the last 24 hours, and they were out of a couple things. The 'couple things' started out as mussels, chili, and chicken wings. We were a bit flummoxed, but decided to carry on. (They didn't have WINGS, for God's sake! We were in a brew pub on Saturday afternoon, and no wings.)
Drinks: Herself and the other Herself both got flights of five beers, both duplicates. Of the ones I tried, three were tasty, one was.... not drinkable, and the other was okay. The five were She-monster, Lexicon, Satan's Bake Sale, Eggnog Stout, and Goofy Foot.
I went for the Oatmeal Stout, which was rich and tasty. Really, a very nice beer for a chilly afternoon.
She came out with our drinks (they are a brewery after all). A flight of beer is only $7.50, and they have some decent brews to try. At that point she also mentioned they were out of pork tacos, and Cuban sandwiches. (%$#@.... No wings, and now no Cubans? Why give us a menu when you start out saying you have none of the good stuff on it?) Ouch! "Okay we have beer, let's carry on."
We shared the cheese plate at $12, A cup of Tomato Bisque at $4 to share, and each got a House Burger for $14. Our friends also got a burger, the cheese tray, and a big order of fries.
The cheese appie came on a cute slate/tray thing. It had 4 pieces of crostini, 4 big cubes of orange cheddar (No better than grocery store house brand) with some mustardy-ass mustard (thank you Chris for that description of a spicy brown horseradish mustard) (And a very tasty and tangy mustard it was. I saved some and used in on my burger), a little mound of goat cheese with picked onions, and a little mound of blue cheese with apricot jam. It wasn't... bad. Right away, first thing, why be so parsimonious with the bleepin bread? It's the cheapest thing on the tray, so why not give us enough to actually eat all the cheese with?
The cheddar was at best pedestrian, it was my least favorite part. There could have been more pickled onions. The whole cheese tray thing was serviceable. She's being fair, but generous. Of the three cheeses represented, two were decent and one was a rubbery cheese-like substance with sorta cheddar flavor. It was cheddar I wouldn't buy at the grocery store, and certainly didn't appreciate paying that much to see it being a third of the cheese board appetizer. Of the other two, the bleu was pleasant, and the goat cheese was store bought forgettable. Yes, good cheese is very expensive. On the other hand.... we paid good cheese prices for 'meh' cheese. Color me unimpressed.
To be fair, We Two Fat Foodies are willing to drive hours hitting up specialty shops for meat and cheese to make a snack tray at home. I get that not every restaurant can go that far. I understand. I also understand that a place trying real hard to be upscale and trendy needs to go that extra mile. Meh just doesn't cut it.
The tomato bisque was a nightmare, it was grainy in texture and had too many dried herbs in it. It wasn't creamy or rich like I would expect a bisque to be. Personally, as we ordered the tomato bisque I was cataloging in my heads the ways this could have gone. The best, made from scratch, with love, by someone who knows what they are doing.... yeah, that was a long shot. The worst... from a can, and dolled up a bit with some fresh herbs, a bit of cream, and a dab of butter.... that was what I expected. What we got was, I think, something someone tried to make good, but had no idea what a tomato bisque is. It was like asking a vegan to cook you a perfect New York strip medium rare, and please make up a nice steak rub for it. They might understand what you asked for theoretically, but when it comes to actual taste it's going to be disappointing. I had a spoonful. It wasn't worth a second taste.
My burger was good. It was a decent sized, perfectly cooked, maybe a little under seasoned. It was on a nice grilled brioche bun, it had fried onions on it, and more of that orange cheddar. I added some of that mustardy-ass mustard. Yeah, the burger was decent. They didn't screw with it trying to be special, and that's probably the best thing they could have done. They nailed the 'medium' we asked for, and the onions helped. Herself mentions the cheese above, but honestly? I didn't notice it even had cheese on it. The flavor was okay. I added some of the mustardy-ass mustard, and got at least a tiny bit towards the Cuban I'd really wanted to eat.
The fries looked to be hand cut, and once-fried. A bit of what tasted like sea salt, and otherwise unmolested. Decent fries. Nothing exciting, but a few steps above fast food.
In my opinion the place has potential, and we have agreed we tried them on what was obviously an off day. We'll give them another chance, and I only hope they can better impress us next time because frankly this visit was anti-climactic.
We are going to go back. They get another chance. Why? Because they told us up front it was a new chef. When I asked, they admitted it was his second day there. Yeah, I was kinda cranked the entire menu was reduced to one side of a card, and they should have given us crayons to cross out all the stuff they didn't have on even that tiny menu. Pretty much every single thing I was looking forward to eating, they didn't have .
They get another chance because we can understand a new chef stepping into a situation that may have been bad to begin with. It takes more than a day or two to get a good kitchen working at speed. They get *one more chance*, after a few weeks, because we want to see if the chef can pull it together, or the place is going to fold in sadness and sorrow.
That, and the Oatmeal Stout was pretty damned good. I'll go back just to have that again.
Overall I give Spring House Brewery:
2.75 out of 5 forks for flavor
4.00 out of 5 forks for (internal) atmosphere
3.75 out of 5 forks for location (plenty of parking, and easy to get to, but we heard gunshots...sooo?!)
3.15 out of 5 forks for service (very attentive at the beginning then it got lax)
3.4125 forks overall, good enough to give them a 2nd shot, once the new chef settles in
Bacon.... has a special place in our hearts. Like chocolate, coffee, whiskey, and beer.... it seems to strike a chord deep within our souls. Perhaps it represents survival in the face of adversity. An energy rich food that stores well and blah blah blah.
Mostly, it just tastes really darn good.
Most of the time, we just cook up some bacon by whatever means we are used to, and then snarfle it all up. Yeah... it makes it to the breakfast plate, or onto a sandwich, usually... but some of it always gets snatched up as 'testing' or 'delivery charge' or 'Because I'm the Dad' (or because I am cute!).
Sometimes, in advanced cases of Baconosity, we'll use bacon as a flavoring in some delicious dish. Crumbled into the mix for a great burger, perhaps. Used in a creamy salad dressing, to disguise the fact we are eating food that food eats (vegetables honey, they are called vegetables). Something like that.
What we seldom do is change the bacon itself. We don't treat it like any other meat, using spices, rubs, or marinades to help it's flavor explode. Why should we? Bacon is... bacon. It IS flavor. That's it's nature. It doesn't need help, and it's flavor is already explosive enough.
Yeah, about that..... I'm not one to let the bear sleep when there are so many perfectly good sticks laying around. (You sure do love to poke the bear!)
Towards that end, here's something I've been working on. A rub for bacon. Just like a rub for ribs, and serving the same purpose. Flavor accentuation, and creating a memorable food experience.
The rub is fairly simple.
- 2 Tablespoons of light brown sugar
- 1 Heaping teaspoon of Ancho Chili powder
- 1 Level teaspoon of Vic's Garlic Fix
- 1 Level teaspoon of Onion Obsession
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt flakes
- 3/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
The spices came from The Spice and Tea Exchange in Lancaster. You don't HAVE to buy your spices there.... but you know you want to.
Mix well, and hand rub onto thick sliced bacon. I chose slab bacon I sliced myself, and do the rub down in a big mixing bowl. Just work the rub in till every slice is well coated.
To cook, this rubbed bacon requires baking on a rack. This keeps it from sticking or burning, and lets it crisp up oh-so beautifully. 30 minutes at 375 worked for this batch, but that can be varied to get your desired level of crispness. Unlike frying bacon in a pan, roasting on a rack gives you plenty of safe leeway before it all goes to crunchy burnt.
We like to let it cool before eating, so the brown sugar rub crisps up nicely.
Not only is it a favorite here, but the %$^$!#%^ parrot will fly across the house to steal every bit she can!
This is not a review, but just a heads up.
If you live within.... say..... 100 miles of Lancaster, and enjoy a well crafted French pastry, you might wish to visit Barberet at 26 East King Street.
Here's a few pictures to..... pique your interest:
