Bloomington/Normal Day 2: Destihl

So, Destihl is this brewery/restaurant that had told us the previous day that they only take reservations.  So, I we made reservations and when we got there, we still had to wait for a table.  I'm sure there is a Jerry Seinfeld episode about the purpose of having a reservation and this always reminds me of that.  When I worked at a restaurant and I heard that we had a reservation coming in an hour or even coming at a certain time, I quickly went into action putting a table together.  Under my supervision, I never had a reserved table wait.  I'm not saying wait a few minutes or wait longer, but I mean that the party would come in, tell me their name and their reservation and I would sit them: that easy. 

So, this place does what Schlafly does, for example.  They have a brewery/restaurant combo.  We sat down, ordered our food and was stuck in the curse of slow food and service, which we have been experiencing the whole trip so far then.  So, besides the slow service, what did we get?  The first item was deep fried bacon, tempura style.

Crispy crunchy fried batter on maple bacon.  A 3 out of 5 stars.

I ordered one of their signature dishes: Thai Fried Chicken.

It was a drumstick and breast piece, fried lightly with a thin coating and covered in these Thai flavors, like the flavors in a Phad Thai noodle dish.  It was a 3 out of 5 stars.

So, it was an okay place, not very child friendly and if you are hungry and you want to order, get a beer and get food within 30-40 minutes, then this isn't the place for you.  We also happened to seat in "Spot A" as I had mentioned earlier.

DESTIHL® - Opened November 2007
318 S. Towanda Avenue 
Normal, IL 61761 
P: 309-862-2337  F: 866-381-0349

Start at Square One...

Square One Brewery is an average sized brewery and restaurant in Soulard on Park Avenue.  My family went there, for fun and out of the blue, on Friday night and had enjoyed ourselves.  The first thing we noticed when we entered is that behind glass doors, you can see them brewing 3 beers and they list which ones they are, so you know that the beers you get come form here and aren't from some other place.  Besides that, they led us out into their little outdoor garden spot, complete with giant wall fountain, ample shade from a nice sized tree and those outdoor heaters making sure that everyone is as comfortable as they can be, while enjoying their food.

My family and I were placed in a great position for kids, against the wall and garden box, which prevented my 2 year old from running all over the place by corralling him into a spot with a wall, a garden, a tree and our table and chairs.  We sat, under a great view from a bright green tree contrasting with the baby blue sky and ordered our drinks. Not too long afterward, we ordered our food and it arrived, maybe 20 minutes later.

For the kids, we ordered chicken strips and french fries, which turned out be these huge strips of chicken, beer battered in the same coating as what has to be used with fish n'chips.  French fires were cut nicely and tasty, not too dry, salty, greasy, oily or raw, but cooked well.  My sons, split the dish and there was hardly any left, so on their behalf, I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Then my wife ordered the wurst plate, which came with three types of sausage, a pile of red skinned mashed potatoes and some asparagus.Three sausages came with this one: a spicy chicken and two beefs.  All of them were differently seasoned but still good. There was a heap of some sour and sweet sauerkraut which was good enough to make me want to start eating sauerkraut again. The red skinned mashed potatoes had some onions and garlic in it that helped to compliment the potato taste, making for some flavorful mashers. There was the ground mustard sauce and some steamed and salted asparagus to finish. Everything was really tasty and this dish was given a 4 out of 5 by me.

We then had a plate of the stout braised pot roast with the same red skinned garlic mashed potatoes and some vegetables, which in this case, were more asparagus.  That was a mound of meat and gravy, on top of mashed potatoes: what better way to spend an evening.  The beef was tasty and tender, perfectly tender in such a way that it melted in my mouth. Or at least fell into perfectly cut sized pieces for easy chewing. (Hubert Keller should take a lesson on pot roast from this chef.)  The pieces of carrot and celery had the part they normally play in this classic dish and still added the same amount of flavor overall. The beef went fine with the mashed potatoes, as all beef does, and in this case, I ended up dipping everything I could into the gravy. This dish gets a nice 4 out of 5 stars as well from me.

We don't have pictures of the blueberry ice cream that was ordered for dessert and came out in a bowl with two large scoops.  As it was delicious and definitely worth ordering if you go there.  The funny part of the evening came when a person near to us, presumably with his date, probably tried to impress her by ordering a cask ale. Well, it was delivered to him and when he took a sip and made a disgusting face, he complained directly to the waitress. Complaining of the beer being too warm, the man demanded that his cask ale, which is supposed to be served warm or at least at room temperature, be taken back and a cold one returned to him. The waitress told him that all of the cask ale beers are warm, with which the man replied that he would like another beer.

Square One Brewery
1727 Park Avenue
St Louis, MO 63104
(314) 231-2537