I was to preface this review by saying how big of a fan I am of the Ale Emporium. If you've never been there it's a cool bar/restaurant in a little strip mall on the corner of 86th and Allisonville in Castleton. They often have live music, plenty of TVs, plenty of tables, a non smoking section, outdoor seating and good service. I've also had several meals at the Ale Emporium and almost everything I've had has been top notch. I think that is what made the pulled pork bbq sandwich I had there such an incredible disappointment.
It was Friday afternoon after a long week and I decided to meet my buddy at the Ale Emporium for one or two or eight drinks. On this front the bar met my every desire to a tee. Beer never tastes as good as it does while sitting outdoors on a Friday after work. However, to go with my barley and hops I decided to also order some food. I passed up a few of my usual favorite sandwiches and pizza (the deep dish at AE is awesome!) and decided to go with an item on the menu with the ever-attractive NEW!! label next to it, the pulled pork sandwich. The menu description sounded wonderfully enticing. Slow smoked pulled pork bbq topped with creamy coleslaw with a side of pretzel crusted fried pickles. That sounded like the perfect combination of drunk food and late Spring early Summer deliciousness.
When it arrived at my table it was not really what I had envisioned and not what had been described. What was the first thing I see? A striking absence of coleslaw and a horrendous addition of melted cheese on top of my pulled pork. For shame. Maybe some of you out there have a preference for that and feel free to make your arguments in the comments, but I'll tell you right now you're wrong. It added absolutely no flavor or texture and just made it visually unappealing. The pork itself was also incredibly bland. It had the appearance that it was sauced, but I was struggling to find any sweetness or tanginess. The pork also definitely seemed more shredded than pulled which isn't my preference and made it seemed more processed than fresh. The bright spot was definitely the fried pickles. Fried pickles are a somewhat trendy new item on several bar food menus these days, but these with their pretzel breading are truly unique. They were the perfect thickness. Crunchy and salty on the outside yet somewhat soft as you bit into them. Very delicious, and I'm definitely going to get some the next time I'm at the Ale Emporium.
And speaking of going back let me say that I will be going back to the Ale Emporium and probably will do so with some frequency. It's just a good bar with good food. Everybody is entitled to a swing and a miss every once in a while. I mean some of you are probably Cubs fans and you stick with them despite them being crappy for almost well...forever. Anyway, my point is stop by the Ale Emporium for a bite and a pint sometime. Somethings are worth a second ...or 100th chance.
Taste 3/10 The fried pickles were fantastic. I'd mainline them if I could. The sandwich on the other hand was one of the least flavorful bbq sandwiches I've ever had and it had cheese on it for Chrissakes. I probably should have sent it back, but I was willing to give it a shot, and sending stuff back unless it's under or over cooked really isn't my style. From now on I'm going to avoid bbq unless a place does that as their specialty.
Value 4.5 The value here would be just a little above average if my meal was more enjoyable. The sandwiches are about what you'd expect to pay for bar food in Indianapolis.
Making a choice of what to order was more than a little difficult. I've heard a lot of good things about the wings at the Ale Emporium and the Hermanaki wings in particular. However, I remembered one of my friends trying their pan pizza a while back and being extremely jealous when it came to the table. Relying on those memories The Girlfriend and I decided to split a 14" pan pizza with sausage and bacon. It would be a mistake to call this a "Chicago style" or "deep dish" as I understand it. That style is generally seen as having the toppings and cheese underneath and the sauce (a lot of it) on top. That's not the case here. This is very thick Midwest style pan pizza. The toppings were plentiful and the amount of cheese was insane in a totally fantastic way. I'm telling you there were so much cheese here someone who was lactose intolerant would have a hard time even looking at it. The sausage tasted fresh, and the bacon definitely brought a nice smoky flavor although it wasn't terribly crisp. The sauce was there, but it almost seemed like an afterthought compared to the mozzarella. Maybe this style of pizza wouldn't be everybody's preference, but I absolutely freakin loved it. Bars usually come nowhere close to putting out something like that. It's to be commended in a big way. One last note: The 14" pan pizza here is enormous. It would easily serve 4 or 5 people. I was thinking more Pizza King 14" when I ordered this I guess. We had leftover pizza for days.
