Granite City Food and Brewery is a chain of about a dozen restaurants/brew pubs in the upper Midwest. By now, you know that I usually try and stay away from chains like the plague. But Granite City is still small enough that each restaurant has a little bit of local character to it.
Granite City started in St. Cloud, MN in 1999 by Steve Wagenheim and brew master Bill Burdick. Both had been involved in the restaurant business for a number of years prior to opening their first Granite City restaurant. They just opened their 12th Granite City this month next to the Kansas Speedway in Northwest Kansas City.
Now, most brew pubs - I've found - are brew pubs first and the food is somewhat of an afterthought. That's not the case with Granite City. The food is really what brings the people in, the beer is so-so to OK.
Their beers are a little too sweet for my taste. The Northern Light Lager has a smooth taste, but the aftertaste reminds me of a sweet beer along the lines of Falstaff. Their Duke of Wellington Pale Ale is also a little too sweet for me. It doesn't have that good pale ale bite that I like when I finish a swallow.
But as I said, the food is what brings the people in.
They had just announced they were going to open a Granite City in Davenport sometime in 2003. I happened to be up in Sioux Falls, SD one evening and just down the street from my hotel was a Granite City. Turns out it was the second Granite City restaurant in the chain.
Granite City - Sioux Falls
As I found with all the Granite City's I've been to (4 so far), the Sioux Falls Granite City was spacious and well-appointed on the inside and the building looked attractive on the outside. The one in Sioux Falls has a nice outside patio that overlooks a little pond with a fountain. Nice touch.
I ordered the meat loaf for my first meal. When they brought me my meal, I couldn't believe the size of the portions. In fact, it was too much. But that's been the trademark - and one of my largest complaints - of Granite City's food service. There's just too much food.
I do like their Honey Rosemary Filet Mignon, a filet marinated in honey, garlic and rosemary, then broiled. Their meat loaf is an old stand-by for me - they grill the cooked meat loaf giving it a nice little flavor that you don't expect out of a meat loaf.
Granite City's blue cheese peppercorn burger is pretty good. And their Chicken Florentine lasagna is a good get, too. They also have pretty good garlic mashed potatoes that you can get when you get a steak.
And ask for the onion straws instead of french fries if you get a sandwich. They usually use the onion straws - which are thin onion rings - as a garnish on burgers and other sandwiches. They're much better than the fries. And don't let them tell you they can't substitute the onion straws - they can. I still don't understand why they don't have them available on the menu.
In addition to the one in Sioux Falls, I've been to the one in Lincoln, NE, Cedar Rapids, IA, and, of course, the one in Davenport. I've never had a bad meal, the service is always good, the beer is, well, it's OK. Drinkable, but nothing outstanding. And the one in Davenport is so popular of an eating destination that the wait can be upwards of 45 minutes to an hour on a Friday or Saturday night.
It's probably a good thing that Granite City says "Food and Brewery" rather than "Brewery and Food". As I said, it's the food, not the beer, that makes Granite City good.
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