Finally tried the new Craft Beer Market in Olympic Village, near Tap & Barrel and Legacy Liquor Store. They have another location in Calgary and a new one opening up in Edmonton. I have an unexplained obsession with chicken and waffles so I ordered that.
100+ taps of beer, 90% of which was uninteresting to me. But at least they had Brew Dog 5AM Saint.
Never tried Brew Dog 5AM Saint before. Not bad. Malty with a bit of a pleasant sour puckeriness and a good dose of hops. Too bad this 400ml (~14oz) serving was $8.10!!! This place is a ripoff.
Chicken & Waffles. This came waaay too fast. BAD SIGN. What the hell is up with those black spots? Did they nuke or refry these pieces? They serve it with their housemade hot sauce and maple syrup. I think chicken and waffles NEED gravy.
Dry as ****. I can’t believe they served this! I imagined them having a huge batch of these already fried up just dying while being held in the oven to keep warm. Outside was hard and crunchy with dried out skin that was hard to cut. No juiciness to speak of. The piece I cut into in the picture is a breast. The other piece was a thigh, which was sliiiightly less dry.
At least their rotating taps look a bit interesting.
What a waste. I’m not coming back. They talked about how great their food is, and they bragged about their Chicken & Waffles on Facebook, so I gave them a shot and got burned! Ah well.
Did I say I wasn’t coming back? Well, I gave them another shot a couple months later (Feb 2014)…
At least they had Pfriem Blonde IPA, but still…prices 10-15% higher than other beer places in town. Pfriem are doing excellent work! Pretty much a must-order whenever I see their beers on-tap.
I must commend Craft Beer Market for using those branded Spiegelau IPA glasses. I have a couple and they’re awesome. The design does everything it can to shove hoppy aromatic goodness up your nose, for a superlative drinking experience! They even have a tiny laser-etched thingy at the bottom of the glass which provides a nucleation site to generate a gentle stream of bubbles, maintaining a decent head on the beer. The PERFECT gift for any beer geek 😉
But who serves both mash and roasted potatoes on the same dish?
So I ordered the Dark Beer Braised Beef Brisket (“braised for 10 hours and dredged in our house-made sauce – $25”) thinking that “I love braised brisket!” and “How can you screw up brisket?” The flavour was fine but the execution and journey to my table was quite an ordeal. Our server was high as shit* and forgot to enter my order into the computer. Everyone else got their food and I had to wait ~15 more minutes to get my food. Then I finally get my food and wolf it down with that combination of hunger and anger that’s reminiscent of growing up in a broken home. Onion ring petals on top — great. Kale — great. Brisket — couldn’t complain. But who serves both mash and roasted potatoes on the same dish?
Our server was high as shit…
Craft Beer Market goes on and on about how special and handcrafted their food is, but I don’t see it. But that won’t have any bearing on their success. They’re always slammed with wait times of 2+ hours on the weekends.
Bottom line: I’d rather spend my precious dining-out dollars somewhere else.
* I don’t look down on people who get high. Hell, this is VANCOUVER we’re talking about. It makes food taste delicious, but trying to work while high in the front of house??
