Tuesdays with TT: McKenzie Brew House

CT & I were invited to my college buddy’s wedding in Pennsylvania, right on the Delaware border.  After going through a quick rehearsal of the ceremony at the vineyard where they were getting married, we had the rehearsal dinner at the McKenzie Brew House.  The groom, JS, told me ahead of time that I would really like this place because they make their own beer in house.  The drive over from the vineyard took a lot longer than expected, so we were all starving by the time we sat down.  Since there was about 15 of us, it was nice that the restaurant sat us in our own room so we wouldn’t bother the other diners.  The place was HUGE, between the bar and dining areas, they must be able to accommodate a couple hundred people at a time.

CT, EP, and I decided to share a pitcher of the McKenzie Wit.  Since JS decided to get married on one of the hottest weekends on the year, we were all pretty hot after rehearsing the ceremony at the vineyard.  Nothing is better on a hot day than a wheat beer to cool you down. This was a Belgian-style White Ale brewed with wheat and coriander.  It was very tasty and quite refreshing.

JS’s Dad ordered a bunch of appetizers for the table to share; a couple of orders of nachos, fried calamari, and wings.

We devoured everything pretty quickly.  The calamari was my favorite by far.  It was perfectly fried and had nice large pieces.  Our side of the table got bbq wings. They were tasty, but the sauce was a little too sweet for me.  The other side of the table had the hot wings that were quickly passed to us because they couldn’t handle the spice.  I didn’t get a chance to snap a picture since my hands were messy with the sauce.  The hot wings were good, but not overly spicy.

For an entree, CT got the jambalaya.  It had shrimp, little neck clams, chicken, jugtown andouille sausage blended with rice in a fiery Louisiana sauce, garnished with Cubanella hot pepper.  She was pretty full from all the appetizers, but of the amount she had, she thought it was ok.  I had a couple bites and thought the rice was too mushy.
CT says: Overall a solid dish, but nothing memorable. And the Louisiana sauce definitely was not “fiery”.  But if I were in the city, I would’ve taken home the leftovers and spiced it up for a decent lunch.

I got the Seared Pork Chops L’Orange.  It had center cut chops, layered with spice, pan seared, flamed with brandy & finished with fresh orange marmalade glaze, haricot vert, and red bliss potatoes.  The chop was nicely flavored, but a bit overdone for my liking.  The potatoes were forgettable and I left them since I was pretty full.  The haricot vert was ok, I would have liked a little more crunch to them.

We passed on dessert as we were all too full.

All in all, it was a good choice for a rehearsal dinner.  The food was good and the beer was great.  My only problem was that it was pretty far away from both the hotel and vineyard and the offerings weren’t special enough to warrant that.  If I was ever in the area again, I would definitely stop in for some beers and appetizers.