Heavy Seas Alehouse

A few weeks ago I wrote about the trip we made to Ellicott Mills Brewing Company when my brother and his girlfriend came down to visit. You might remember me mentioning that one of the things we share in common is a love of beer. So, keeping to the beer theme, I decided to take them to the Heavy Seas Alehouse. Once upon a previous visit we did a Heavy Seas Brew tour and over the years we've all developed into big Heavy Seas fans. Our trip to the Alehouse only served to make us bigger fans as we ate like kings.

 We came to the restaurant straight from an O's game on what was probably the first true scorcher of the summer. We were hot and famished so we went a little nuts when it came to appetizers. I decided to order shrimp cocktail and my brother decided to try their cornbread. After taking one peek at the cornbread, I immediately ordered another one so that Deana and I could share as well.

The shrimp cocktail was some of the best I've had. The shrimp were big and meaty and the homemade cocktail sauce made me very happy. But the real star of the appetizer party was the cornbread. It was beyond good. The cornbread itself was warm, sweet, and moist. Left alone, I would have been totally happy. By the time you throw in the crispy bacon, fresh jalapenos, and what they call a pale ale rarebit (essentially cheese sauce) you are in cornbread heaven. I can't say enough good things about this stuff. This was the best cornbread I've ever had.

For dinner, everyone got something a little different. My brother's girlfriend, Amy, ordered the Cavatelli. She had nothing but good things to say about her meal calling it delicious and the pesto extremely fresh. The ricotta cavatelli come with a roasted egglpant, piquillo pepper, and a basil pesto sauce.

Deana decided on the Cuban sandwich. I had a little bite of this as well and it was a great sandwich to have on a hot day. The bread was nice and crunchy, meat juicy and tender, and the cheese was super melty. Most importantly for any good cuban sandwich, the pickle tasted great and brought the whole thing together.

My brother and I both went with mussels. This was the first time I had ever ordered mussels. I know it's almost sacrilege on a Baltimore based blog, but I've never been the biggest fan of seafood. I'm doing my best to expand my horizons and I was pleasantly surprised with this dish. The mussels were plump and tender. The sauce they were served in was nice and briny and I really liked the burst of acidity you'd get from the cherry tomatoes that were sprinkled throughout the dish. My only complaint was that they were served without bread to sop up the broth. However, they are served with french fries and I was extremely into those bad boys. I felt like the fries and I were communicating on some kind of romantic level because I couldn't keep my hands off of them.

Beerwise I think we covered the basics with a Loose Cannon, Gold Ale, and Sea Nymph. But what I want to focus on is one of their beer cocktails. It seems like beer cocktails are the new thing in the craft beer world and so I wanted to try my first. I decided on the Sea Shandy which at that time was an ale mixed with basil and strawberry lemonade. Despite the fact that I got made fun of for drinking such a foofy drink, I found it really refreshing. By no means would I order this over a regular Heavy Seas beer, but if you're looking for something different this is definitely something worth giving a shot....especially on a hot day.

Overall, we had a great experience at the Heavy Seas Alehouse. The food was beyond what we were expecting and the beers we already knew were top notch. I couldn't have been happier. But with that said, the prices are bit expensive and could leave a lot of would be Heavy Seas fans on the outside looking in and I think that's a bit of a shame. I'm not saying they should dumb the restaurant down so that it turns into Buffalo Wild Wings, but I'd like to see a menu with a better mix in prices so that more people are willing to walk through the doors and eventually become fans of Heavy Seas.

Price: A little expensive, but not outrageous
Recommendation: Visit ASAP
What to order: Cornbread