Brouwer's Cafe

stopped by Brouwer’s Cafe in the afternoon, for some beer & frites.

let me say, that this place is like the penultimate sophisticated beer bar. the entire place smacks of no-expense-spared kinda excess, in all the good ways. the custom stainless work for the bar back, the taps, the glass washers, the custom coolers that show off the mind-boggling collection of bottled beers. it’s crazy.

it’s like a dotcom kid went crazy with the venture capital and bought all top-of-the-line stuff. let’s hope it doesn’t peter out when the seed money dries up.

from what we hear, that’s not going to happen. the place is crammed at the (times that a bar is normally busy). during the day it’s eerie — it’s like sitting by yourself in an empty warehouse. the poor waitstaff probably logs several miles of walking to serve the disparate customers at the bar, on the patio, and in the back rooms.

if that place is packed at night, i can only imagine the cacophony that would ensue. (we went at around 3:30 in the afternoon, i prefer my beer with a dash of silence).

an amazing selection of beers from belgium and all around the united states — unusual ones like allagash from maine, and goose island from chicago, spring to mind, in addition to the better known california and northwest brewers.

we’ll be back. a lot.