(Credit: Jamie Germano)
Rohrbach's opened its first restaurant and seven-barrel microbrewery in 1992 in the South Wedge and three years later moved to a bigger location in Ogden. It offers monthly food and beer pairings, and its award-winning ales and lagers are now served at more than 100 "certified tap houses" throughout Rochester and upstate New York. I arrived famished for lunch recently with my cousin-in-law, Karen.
The mood
Cozy and laid-back. Inside, the two seating areas (one beside the bar) are dark with subtle overhead lamps and festive string lights. The outdoor patio, where we sat, is spacious and features flowers and climbing vines.
The food
The extensive, unusual menu made decisions tough: numerous German specialties, entrees made with herbs from the restaurant's garden (fertilized with spent grain from the brewery), soup made with freshly brewed lager.
We agreed to split the Lauterbach Liverwurst ($6.95) and the Asian Sesame Chicken Salad ($8.25). I used to eat liverwurst as a kid, but not like this: German liverwurst with red onions and Muenster cheese on fresh-baked pumpernickel bread, served with house mustard on the side. The meat and bread (which was freshly baked, just as the menu promised) were thick, and the onions and mustard added a nice kick that didn't linger too long. (If we could improve this delicious dish in any way, it would be to use thicker slices of cheese.) The fantastic combination was made even better by our side of homemade German potato salad.
Karen orders an Asian salad as often as she can because "it's something I never get at home and not every place has it." This version turned out to be one of her favorites. A thin ginger-garlic dressing lightly coated the other ingredients — crisp romaine lettuce leaves, crunchy chow mein noodles, toasted almonds, juicy pineapple chunks and grilled chicken breast — without overpowering them.
The restaurant offers other salads and German dishes, as well as appetizers, soups, sandwiches and burgers.
The drinks
Wish I'd had enough in the budget for a Sampler ($6 gets you four 6-oz. beer samples of your choice). Rohrbach's has more than a dozen beers on tap, some of which are brewed on site ($3.75 to $4.25), as well as Pepsi products ($2.25 includes free refills) and smoothies ($3).
The damage: $19.92
Next time ... I'd get the Authentic Grilled Bratwurst ($6.95) — German spiced pork sausage on a fresh-baked roll, served with sauerkraut, German potato salad and whole-grain mustard on the side.
