The Yard House
I like beer. I just want to make that clear at the start, I really like beer. I’m not a fan of the types of American beer that comes from corporations in Colorado or St Louis, I prefer the local craft brews. When we travel we attempt to seek out the local specialty. That’s how we found Moose Drool when we were in Cody Wyoming.
Which brings me to one of my favorite places, The Yard House.
The Yard House claims to have the largest selection of beer in the world. I have no reason to doubt them. The drink menu is massive, and not every beer available is on the menu. My suggestion is to ask your server for their recommendation. All of the servers are well versed in the selections on hand.
Our server today, Christina L. was great, she was attentive, happy and just fun to be around. I told her I like red ales and she suggested a Chronic Ale. She was right, it was very good. I decided to have a second beer and I asked her to suggest a brown ale, she suggested a Downtown Brown Ale. It was even better than the red ale.
This trip I had a Classic Cheeseburger - lettuce, tomato, red onion, garlic aioli, and cheddar cheese. I had them add the Applewood smoked bacon and got truffle fries instead of regular fries. My wife had the AHI CRUNCHY Salad - Ahi Tuna, seared rare, field greens, Asian slaw, and crispy wontons with a soy vinaigrette.
Both meals were excellent. The meat to bun ratio was just right. Some burgers have a giant bun and a little tiny paddy. I once had a triple burger, which was way too much meat. It is a delicate balancing act.
The garlic aioli is good and it doesn’t overpower the rest of the meal. I’ve begun to ask for burger sauces on the side, because many restaurants slater massive amounts of strong sauces on their burgers, overpowering everything else you’ll eat for the next two days.
The Applewood smoked bacon is really good, and a great addition to the burger. BTW if you’ve never had truffle fries, you need to stop what you’re doing and go get some.
Yard House is the first place I ever tried the seared Ahi Tuna. I had tried to eat sushi, but couldn’t get my mind past the “raw fish thing.” I would literally gag when I attempted to swallow. About eight years ago, I had stopped by the Long Beach Aquarium with two friends. After we went to eat at the Yard House. It was happy hour, and the appetizers were half price.
I figured, what the heck, I’ll give the Ahi a try. I told my friends that if I hated it, I would let them have it. Turned out, I really liked it. And now I have sushi a couple of times a month.
The Crunchy Ahi Salad was very good. The fish was perfect, the soy vinaigrette was well balanced, and tasty.
If I had to find one thing I would change it is the bun on the burger. I went with the potato bun, I think I should have tried the wheat bun. The potato bun didn’t hold up well. The only other “problem” is that you need to unhinge your jaw to fit the massive burger into your mouth. Because of this you have to really compress the burger.
Oh, and by the way, if you want to try a Moose Drool, you don’t have to go to Cody, The Yard House has it on tap.
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