Traveling up to St. Cloud earlier this year, I was on my way to have dinner at the Old Capital Tavern in Sauk Rapids. On my way there, I passed a brewpub by the name of Urban Lodge Brewery. I hesitated for a moment before driving on to Old Capital Tavern. However, Old Capital Tavern happened to be closed that evening and I immediately high-tailed it back to Urban Lodge to try the place out.
Roy Dodds opened a pizza place in downtown Sauk Rapids - Flying Pig Pizza - in 2012. But all along, he really wanted to have a brew pub to go along with his pizza place. That dream came true in the summer of 2016 when Dodds merged his pizza restaurant with his new brewpub concept - Urban Moose Brewery. Everything was fine for the first couple three months until lawyers from the Moosehead Brewery in Canada sent Dodds a copyright infringement letter regarding the name of his brewery. Dodds shrugged his shoulders and said it was an honest mistake, fully understanding the confusion it may cause with beer drinkers. He renamed his brewpub Urban Lodge Brewery in December of last year.
Urban Lodge's brewmaster, Kevin Clark, studied the art of brewing beer at the Siebel Institute in Chicago after working at a high end restaurant in California where he developed a passion for pairing beers with meals. He headed back out to California and worked as a head brewer at a brewpub in Monterey for five years before Roy Dodds came calling to head up the brewery at the then Urban Moose.
The exterior of the building caught my eye as I initially drove by Urban Lodge located along N. Benton Drive in Sauk Rapids. (see map) The contemporary facade featured a large grain hopper attached to the front of the building. Awnings over the windows with walls painted in earth tones stood out against the blue Minnesota evening sky. Remnants of the original "moose" logo were prevalent on the outside of the building.
Stepping inside Urban Lodge, I found an expansive building with a main bar and dining area on the first floor. It featured a high ceiling with wood floors with a sort of contemporary decor throughout. A number of tables and booths lined the dining area at Urban Lodge.
The bar was actually rather small with only a handful of seats. Large vats were located behind the bar area. I ended up taking a seat at the bar that evening.
Toward the back of the building was a dual room that appeared to be a functional part of the brewery along with what would have been a meeting or party room. The place was very clean and fresh smelling for a brewery.
I noticed a number of people walking up the stairs from the main bar/dining area and it turned out there was a nice little rooftop patio up there. It seated about 40 people and while it didn't have the greatest views, it was still a nice place to congregate on a nice evening.
The bartender/server that evening was Michael and he gave me a food menu to look over. I was trying to figure out what they had for beers and he pointed out a handful of beers on a board. For my first beer, I took the curious named Alpha Acid Theory IPA - a somewhat hoppy beer made with West Coast hops. It had a forward taste with a bit of a fruit on the backside to mellow it out. I liked it a lot. For my second beer, I got a seasonal beer they were just about out of - the March Madness American pale ale. The APA was a bit more bitter on the backside than the IPA and I didn't like it as much as I liked the Alpha Acid Theory IPA.
The food menu at Urban Lodge was pretty limited that evening. The food menu that I found on their web site featured a number of items that I know weren't available the night I was there. It shows that in addition to the Flying Pig pizza, they also have Neapolitan pizzas, a meat loaf or a garlic shrimp entree, some burgers and a number of sandwiches. The single sheet menu I had in my hand that visit consisted of just Flying Pig pizza, a handful of appetizers, and about six sandwiches and no burgers.
Quite frankly, nothing sounded that appetizing to me and I contemplated getting up and taking off for some other place. But I ended up getting the antipasto sandwich - basically two toasted flat breads with Genoa salami, prosciutto, lettuce, tomato, sliced Kalamata olives, with asiago cheese and a garlic aioli. French fries were supposed to come with the sandwich but I was able to talk Michael into getting me some of what I call "The State Food of Minnesota" - tater tots.
The sandwich was all right - I had my heart set on getting a reuben at the Capital Tavern, but they didn't have one at Urban Lodge. It had a nice Italian deli-style taste quality and the bread was crispy on the outer shell, but chewy throughout. I was more happy with the tater tots - I'm always happy when I can get tater tots. The sandwich was fine, but nothing special.
While it turned out to be my "Plan B" when the first restaurant I wanted to go to was closed for the evening, Urban Lodge turned out to be a pleasant enough experience. They have a nice brewery with some interesting beers, however, the sandwich I had - while fine in taste - wasn't anything all that special. The menu that evening was limited, but it appears that they've added more items since my visit. They seem to be more known for their Flying Pig pizzas, but I wasn't in the mood for a pizza that evening. Still, it was a nice visit and the food was good enough for what I was looking for.
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