Tow Yard Brewing

I met my friend @wibia for lunch downtown at the new Tow Yard Brewing—several of you had recommended it to me. It’s a big place, mainly a brewpub sort of feel—you have to walk to the back to order your food and then they give you a number and bring it to you when it’s ready. The interior of the place is pretty stark I would say other than the one big wall of beer cans, which is pretty cool. When it’s full of people, you probably don’t notice as much.

I kind of questioned them asking us when we ordered if we were here for the NRA convention, or if we worked at a couple of places nearby (we do not). It seems they would have given us a discount if we had said yes to any of them, but it kind of makes you feel unloved when you’re just a local without a gun or a job and you don’t get a discount. I get trying to build business with these groups, but… (Or I guess just lie and say yes).

Anyhow, I ordered the “Prohibition” sandwich ($7), which is a roast beef sandwich with smashed avocado on the bun, and then topped with tomatoes, melted cheddar and chipotle mayo. It was an extremely messy sandwich to eat—there was a lot of stuff in there—but it was quite tasty. Honestly, you couldn’t taste my beloved avocado that much for everything else, but I really enjoyed the chipotle mayo that was drizzled on top. It had a nice balance of flavors. I had a side of the loaded potato salad which wasn’t bad—it had bit of bacon and cheese mixed into a standard potato salad base. You really don’t even need a side with the size of the sandwiches.

Wibia had the “Pig Vicious” (cute name) ($7), which was pork shoulder, bacon, ham, onion jam, ale mustard, and Alabama white barbecue sauce. This sandwich was certainly not lacking in pork products. It wasn’t bad, but other than the zippy mustard on top, it was pretty darn sweet. If you like a sweet taste, you would probably dig this one. I really preferred my sandwich though.

It’s a nice addition to downtown and is spacious enough that you don’t have to worry about it being overcrowded at lunch (although it was nearly full while we were there). The service was a bit off—my sandwich, which I ordered after wibia was the first thing to come and it took quite awhile then for his to come. And make sure you get your own utensils etc. if you order something that needs them. I do like that they’re selling a smaller independent soda. Strangely though it is cheaper to get a soda combo with your sandwich than to just get water, which was the only reason I had soda.

I am intrigued by several other items on the menu, and just noticed that there are some things online that weren’t there when I was there (uh, totally want to try the fried oyster sandwich), but it also looks like the prices have gone up since I was there. Seems like they have some strange idiosyncrasies with their pricing and they might want to standardize on something. Every time I look up the menu online it is different. Maybe they are still working through the kinks.

My one recommendation—if you don’t have a huge appetite, get a sandwich and share it, because they are quite large.

Tow Yard Brewing

501 S. Madison

Indy 46225

317/638-YARD

http://www.towyardbrewing.com