Restaurant: Golden Road
Location: 5410 West San Fernando Rd. (Atwater Village)
Type of restaurant: Brewpub
We stipulated: Golden Road, which consists of a brewery in one building and a full-sized restaurant/pub in another, is a nice bike ride away from our homebase. I've been wanting to grab the family for a ride there since it opened and Saturday was finally our chance.
They stipulated: "Golden Road Brewing was founded in 2011 by Tony Yanow (of local beer-focused restaurants Tony's Darts Away and Mohawk Bend) and Meg Gill (formerly of Oskar Blues Brewery and Speakeasy Ales & Lagers). Before opening Tony's Darts Away in Burbank, Tony consulted with Meg on picking top craft breweries in California for his ambitious state-wide beer list. They immediately realized they shared a vision around building a brewery to deliver fresh beer to locals."
What we ordered: Pulled pork sandwich ("Braised in GRB heff and wild flower honey with shredded cabbage and honey mustard on a croissant") $9; Vegan banh mi ("Deep fried tofu, julienned vegetables, pickled carrots, fresh herbs and sriracha mayo") $7; Pretzel ("Bavarian-style pretzel with spicy Dijon mustard") $7; Fritters ("wild mushroom risotto with vegan pimento cheese") $4; Golden Road Brewing "Point the Way IPA" beer on tap, $5.
High point: Maria liked the risotto fritter, the kids liked the pretzel and I enjoyed the beer -- a nice surprise, considering I normally don't care for the bitter taste of an IPA. But I had heard good things about it, and wanted to give it a shot.
Low point: Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to like the pulled pork sandwich, it's a bad idea to put something like that on a croissant. The croissant becomes to mushy to eat (why not a harder roll?) -- so much so that you can't even pick it up. The pork itself was also a little too fatty. Trim the fat, put it on a hard, crusty roll and you've got something.
Overall impression: Great place to bike to -- and the bike racks were full, a testament to the location. Plus, it's extremely kid-friendly, which is great (the young ones will enjoy being so close to the train tracks). The food itself is just OK (there's room for improvement, and perhaps they'll get there), but the beers are good. I also love that it's in such an industrial area, and close to both the river and the train tracks. Something about that environment that makes it feel down-to-earth.
Chance we'll go back: Yep, I need to try the GRB Heff, and plus I've got to do more bike rides!
2 comments:
it's very nice inside and on the patio over there. their turkey sandwich with cheddar is actually very hearty and really tasty. i'd go back just for that.
Fam-friendly? Craft beer? Good train visiblity? House-made pretzels? SOLD. Even if the food sounds like it needs improving....We should all meet up there sometime. And then bike home drunk with our kids.
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