So, you have your favorite bar, serving your favorite beer but you can’t get a decent meal that isn’t covered in grease and you have your favorite restaurant, serving homemade dishes but not only does it cost an arm and a leg but to make matters worse, the beer selection is lackluster at best. If you have been searching for the best of both worlds with an impressive beer selection and homemade, gigantic and reasonably priced meals look no further than the Red Brick Pub located at 244 West First Street South in Fulton, NY. They open their doors at 11 am Monday through Saturday and noon on Sundays.
Don’t be fooled by the name, the Red Brick Pub is a great place to have a full and fantastic meal, not greasy bar fare. Also, most of their dishes are prepared with local ingredients purchased from local farmers and venders even the fresh flowers on the tables are provided by a local flower shop. Soups, salad dressings, and desserts are all prepared fresh daily in the kitchen! Owners John and Judy opened the doors to the Red Brick pub in October 2009 after being inspired by a trip to London where they enjoyed visiting neighborhood pubs. The couple started this establishment with the goal of merging traditional English pubs with great food all while supporting local businesses. I am pleased to announce that they have accomplished just that! They have also completed a lot of renovations including the deck and front exterior, while keeping the same pub-style charm by adding the booths. The restaurant has been a great success and this month they will be celebrating two years of serving fresh homemade dishes and a huge beer selection all while making a positive effect on the community because they buy locally.
Although the food far surpasses anything you would expect to find in a pub, the Red Brick Pub also takes beer very seriously, as any good pub should! This is definitely the place to go to have a great meal to be perfectly paired with a fantastic brew or just sit back with some friends and enjoy conversation and delicious libations. The Red Brick Pub proudly serves 12 craft beers and maintains a total of 26 draft beers. As with all other things here, the beer selections include many options from local breweries. Ale selections include: Brooklyn Brewery – Brown Ale; Empire Brewing – Cream Ale; Lake Placid Brewing – Ubu; Middle Ages Brewing – Syracuse Pale Ale; Saranac – Pale Ale; Middle Ages Brewing – Wailing Wench; Oskar Blues – Dale’s Pale Ale; Smuttynose Brewing – Pumpkin Ale. They have Double Bock, Wagner Valley Brewing – Sled Dog and IPA’s including Dog Fish Head – 60 Minute, Red Hook – Long Hammer, Southern Tier Brewing – 2X IPA. As well as Lagers likes Great Lakes Brewing – Elliott Ness and Spaten – Oktoberfest. If you see something you like, hurry in to the Red Brick Pub because the beer selections change frequently in order to keep the selections fresh and give patrons a variety of options!
Because the menu is created by products purchased from local farmers and businesses, the menu changes four times a year to reflect the fresh vegetables that are in season and available for sale locally. Please note that buying locally is great for customers because it means that you will be served only the freshest ingredients and you are helping insure that members of our community remain employed even in times of economic turmoil. The menu includes a variety of entrees like New York Strip ($16.95) and chicken riggies ($12.95) as well as appetizers, soups made from scratch daily, salads, burgers, wraps, hot and cold sandwiches and desserts. The Pub is also very family friendly; they have a great children’s menu that is also freshly prepared.
After meeting with friendly owners John and Judy and taking a tour of the fantastically remodeled building and working up an appetite it was time to order. We were promptly greeted by our friendly waitress, Jen. On John’s suggestion we started with the fresh mozzarella, which was served with fresh, meaty tomatoes and crisp onions in basil oil with freshly baked bread ($7.95) and buffalo chicken rangoons which were lightly fried and served with a choice of wing sauce ($7.95). Both appetizers were gigantic and could have been served as a meal themselves! The buffalo chicken rangoons were a great take on traditional rangoons, filled with shredded chicken breast and a creamy blue cheese mixture and perfectly complemented with hot buffalo sauce.
Because of the huge portions, we finished the fresh mozzarella dish and took the few remaining rangoons to go (they were still fantastic reheated for lunch the next day!) We were then served our entrees. I decided to have the antipasto ($8.95) which was filled to the brim with super fresh veggies (mixed greens, tomatoes, onions), olives, roasted red peppers, hot pepper rings, marinated eggplant, ham, turkey, Genoa salami, provolone, garbanzo beans and homemade house Italian dressing. In my opinion the perfectly seasoned marinated eggplant really sets this dish apart from the “usual” antipasto. Keri, a lover of all things hot and spicy, decided to try the appropriately named Hell burger ($8.95). This mouth watering ½ lb. burger of fresh local ground beef was cooked to perfection and then topped with lettuce, tomatoes, jalapenos, pepper jack cheese and 2X sauce. If this burger still isn’t hot enough for you with these toppings, you have the choice of adding habanero peppers to this fiery monster! All of the burgers are served with chips and a pickle but you can add a heaping portion of French fries or sweet potato fries! At this point we were beyond full but when Jen told us about the homemade mini desserts we just couldn’t pass them up! For the record, the only thing mini about these delectable treats is the price ($3.95). I had the Milky Way brownie, a warm brownie topped with silky melted caramel and chocolate complemented with a dollop of cool whipped cream and Keri had the Almond Joy pie, a chocolate cookie crust topped with coconut filling and topped with chocolate and whipped cream. These desserts tasted as if angels came down from the heavens, picked up the most delicious ingredients possible, put them together and placed them in front of us with forks!
You don’t know what you’re missing until you try the Red Brick Pub for yourself and have a meal that not only fills you up but also makes you feel good knowing that you are supporting our community. They are having their 2nd Year Anniversary party on Saturday October 15th from 12pm to 4pm where The Delinquents are playing. Complimentary hors d’oeuvres will be served. If you want to throw your own party at the Red Brick Pub you are in luck, the upstairs banquet room can seat up to 90 people and is complete with a stage and the cute little ticket window! Friend them on facebook, check out the website http://www.redbrickpub.com and then do yourself a favor and get to the Red Brick Pub!