Any places for good beer AND food in durham?

renuck

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May 12, 2017
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I'm a foodie and a beer snob. The craft breweries north or west of the city have awesome food Elora, Redline, and Sawdust city (food truck just outside) come to mind. Today I went from the 'shwa to the Craft Beer Market at Adelaide and Yonge to have lunch - good selection of beer and the food was fantastic. I'd love to find a place like this more local. I don't want a full blown restaurant but a casual atmosphere to try some new beers and some high quality finger food.

The only place I really know of out here is Jack Astor's in Whitby, They reno'ed their bar to accommodate 20+ craft beer taps and have some good selections, the food is decent for a chain restaurant at least but not what I'd call high quality. I'd love to hear if anyone knows of something more local to me.

Thanks!
Breww
 

Drizzt

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Jul 24, 2012
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Not sure about their beer because im not a craft beer fan but the absolute best place to eat in pickering is Port.
The Best. Great food. Menu always changing. Very scenic. Its at the base of Liverpool.
 

MojoRisin'

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The Portly Piper on King St (near Wilson in Oshawa) is fairly new and has great food and prices! Some craft beers but not a huge selection yet. If you want craft beers check out the local breweries. 5 Paddles, Brock St and Town all in Whitby and not far off the 401
 

bver_hunter

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Nov 5, 2005
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Been to Bollocks once, and I liked it as well. Also, I went to The Brooklin Pub and Grill last summer on a business lunch, and it is a great place to sit outside in the patio. Liked the food and selection of beers as well:

http://www.brooklinpub.com/home/
 

renuck

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May 12, 2017
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Thanks for the suggestions so far. I completely forgot about Port. I've been there a couple times for formal dinners, the bar area looked pretty comfortable and the food was excellent. I remember the beer selection being not too bad and they had a cask beer available both times I was there which is not common - it's a nice treat. I'll have to check them out again.

Looking at the Bollocks on tap menu it seems pretty mediocre. They have Beau's - likely the lugtread, Brock St. - probably the blonde or the red, and dirty blond from Old Flame is pretty meh. If I had to be there I could drink one of those but I wouldn't specifically go there based on that. Might have to check it out for the food though since it's been mentioned a couple times.

Stone Cottage has nothing to offer for good beer. Maybe their food is great but not a place for quality beer.

I'm not a fan of Stuttering John's food, but I haven't had their poutine yet and it looks killer. Beer selection wasn't too bad so maybe worth a second look. Sir Monty's downstairs is reasonable but not that impressive. They have a NE IPA that is pretty good last time I was there but they make pretty bland beers. FYI if you are into southern BBQ check out Buster Rhinos in DT shwigety. They have a lot of craft beers available.

For the craft brewery suggestions, I know them all very well but none of them offer food. Well Town recently started offering charcuterie which might be good. I'm in there enough I should probably try it. Their beer though is (I would argue) some of the very best available anywhere.
 

bcd

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Jan 16, 2007
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Old Flame in Port Perry. Nice rustic atmosphere, their own craft beer of course and I believe you can order finger foods there but not 100% sure.
 

TheDr

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Grab a bite of lunch at The Piano Cafe in Port Perry then stroll a couple of hundred yards down Perry St to Old Flame Brewing Co for some rather pleasant craft brewskis
 

renuck

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Billie Jax in Whitby is good too. Where the old Hooters use to be
http://www.billiejax.com/
I was there the other night and wasn't disappointed. For a place that has craft beer they are not so on the ball. I sat down and asked the server what they had for craft beer, she started reciting the list "Bud, Bud light, Coors...". I stopped her and specified no only craft beers and I'm in the mood for an IPA. She said "Oh Mill St. IPA is the only one we have". Mill St. isn't exactly craft beer but it's better than the big brands so I ordered one. Then I noticed a drink menu showing the brands they have in cans, and there were some decent ones on there. I asked her for the next one can you bring me one of these. She told me they rotate a lot so we might not have it. No problem just let me know what you have for IPAs and APAs. Beer clearly wasn't her thing so she asked the owner and he told her they only had one, then she came back to the table with a Publican House Pub Ale.... not even close to what I was asking for. With my limited view of the fridges I could see they had Flying Monkeys Juicy Ass IPA... how the hell did the owner not know this is an IPA since it's printed right on the can and he had to order it in the first place? Not the servers fault as she wasn't trained on the products they carry and I'm not sure what to make of the owner. End result the server was great about making sure I got what I wanted and got a good tip out of it, and I got some good beer eventually. Food was good but typical restaurant stuff.

I was contacted off board about State & Main and their menu looks really good, seems higher quality and some interesting choices. Anyone know about the beer menu there?

For the suggestions about Old Flame... I haven't been there in a long time but they did have a really good charcuterie. The beer was kinda meh and supply was limited. The IPA was good and could be great with some tweaking, really just needs a bit more late boil hop additions or some dry hopping to balance out the IBU. As far as I've heard Eric is the lead brewer there now - he came from Brock St.. His style is more malt forward beers but I'm wondering if anyone picked up a difference in the recipes since he's been there? I usually like hoppier stuff but their dunkelweizen is probably the best I've had of that style.
 

MojoRisin'

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I was there the other night and wasn't disappointed. For a place that has craft beer they are not so on the ball. I sat down and asked the server what they had for craft beer, she started reciting the list "Bud, Bud light, Coors...". I stopped her and specified no only craft beers and I'm in the mood for an IPA. She said "Oh Mill St. IPA is the only one we have". Mill St. isn't exactly craft beer but it's better than the big brands so I ordered one. Then I noticed a drink menu showing the brands they have in cans, and there were some decent ones on there. I asked her for the next one can you bring me one of these. She told me they rotate a lot so we might not have it. No problem just let me know what you have for IPAs and APAs. Beer clearly wasn't her thing so she asked the owner and he told her they only had one, then she came back to the table with a Publican House Pub Ale.... not even close to what I was asking for. With my limited view of the fridges I could see they had Flying Monkeys Juicy Ass IPA... how the hell did the owner not know this is an IPA since it's printed right on the can and he had to order it in the first place? Not the servers fault as she wasn't trained on the products they carry and I'm not sure what to make of the owner. End result the server was great about making sure I got what I wanted and got a good tip out of it, and I got some good beer eventually. Food was good but typical restaurant stuff.

I was contacted off board about State & Main and their menu looks really good, seems higher quality and some interesting choices. Anyone know about the beer menu there?

For the suggestions about Old Flame... I haven't been there in a long time but they did have a really good charcuterie. The beer was kinda meh and supply was limited. The IPA was good and could be great with some tweaking, really just needs a bit more late boil hop additions or some dry hopping to balance out the IBU. As far as I've heard Eric is the lead brewer there now - he came from Brock St.. His style is more malt forward beers but I'm wondering if anyone picked up a difference in the recipes since he's been there? I usually like hoppier stuff but their dunkelweizen is probably the best I've had of that style.
Funny you say that about the staff...I knew way more about the choices of craft beer. Sounds like we had the same waitress lately. She told me that she rarely works these days and isnt really familiar with the beers. She was super nice and always found out the answers to my questions. Flying Monkey Juciy Ass is one of my favs. Good time to go is on Sundays, $5 ceasers and $7 flights ($ samples) Try their Club Sandwich...i found it really good!
 
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