I was "bird-dogging" recently one evening in Lafayette, IN looking for prospective dealers when I decided to have dinner and a couple beers at the Lafayette Brewing Company in downtown Lafayette (see map).
Actually, downtown Lafayette is a sleepy place through the week. With Purdue University across the Wabash River from the Lafayette downtown area, you'd think there'd be a lot of hustle and bustle. Nope. It was about as dead as dead can be in terms of people out and about.
However, the Lafayette Brewing Company was hopping that evening. It's been in business since 1993 and brew master Greg Emig has won numerous awards for LBC's beers over the years. They recently expanded their restaurant to the second floor of their building to include a kitchen that specializes in pizzas, a stage area that showcases musical and comedy acts, and a fully restored bar area.
I've eaten at the Lafayette Brewing Company a couple times before and I do like their beers. Their Prophet's Rock Pale Ale is one of the more hoppy and likable pale ales that I've had. But I do really like their Piper's Pride - a Scotch ale-style of beer that has a great smoky taste to it.
They have a dining room that is spacious, including a room that overlooks the brewing vats. The bar area also features a number of tables including three or four that are next to the large window that looks out onto Main Street.
I was able to get a seat at the bar that looked right into the brewing room and I ordered up a Prophet's Rock and got a menu. LBC serves a wide variety of brew pub-style food - sandwiches, appetizers, burgers and salads. They also serve some interesting entrees including a bison steak that I considered, but knew they couldn't do a bison steak as good as Ted's Montana Grill.
I really didn't know what to get and the waitress said, "It's our 'Smokeshak night'." She explained that on some nights they feature a smoked entree from a smoker in their back parking lot. That night they featured a smoked pork loin, sliced and grilled, with new potatoes cooked in olive oil. I went with that.
They brought my food out soon thereafter and it was good. Not great - I thought the grilling they did after they pulled it off the smoker and sliced them into small pieces dried them out too much. Still, with the Piper's Pride smoked Scotch ale, it was a good meal.
And cheap, too! All that sliced pork loin, potatoes on the side and a dinner salad before the dinner, it was $7.95. A great deal, in my book.
Another thing I like about Lafayette Brewing Company - they're part of a growing number of restaurants who don't allow smoking. Actually, they do allow smoking in the place after the kitchen has shut down for the evening. But they allow no smoking in the upstairs bar area at any time - including during the shows.
Good beer, good food - the Lafayette Brewing Company is worth a try.
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