Broadway

December 6, 2009

  I thought about posting this review to the Columbia Beer Enthusiasts site, but since we already debated Broadway once before, I’ll just put it here.

I love the concept of Broadway: local food and craft beer. I understand that they can’t install a fryer and thus meet the requirements of most brewpubs: fries (including fish and chips). Still, they don’t seem to be doing much with the local food concept, and I’m worried about their future.

We revisited Broadway again today. This is may be our sixth or so time. I had the ESB which was fine. Not inspiring, but fine overall.

And that may be part of Broadway’s problem. It borders the fine to less than fine, but seldom excels. We got there at 11:30 on a Sunday. The place was empty. We left forty minutes later. It was still empty. No one had come in. Some places across town are doing very well at this time on a Sunday morning (Cafe Berlin in particular). Broadway is empty. They don’t do a Sunday brunch for some reason (even though they are empty and the few places that do a brunch – Cafe Berlin, Bleu – seem to do well).  And they aren’t doing enough, I feel, to keep people like us coming back (my favorite past mistake we experienced at Broadway – the waiter who brought one menu for the four of us to order from).

The food has not improved much since our first visit. My corn beef sandwich came with burnt toast. Given that the cook was not rushed (no other customers), I was curious as to why he didn’t re-toast the bread. Pretty unacceptable. The sandwich also comes with a big side of mustard that could probably serve five sandwiches. Who can eat all that mustard? This seems like waste. I had plenty on my sandwich and over 3/4 of the mustard was still in the little bowl.

The sides make little sense. Asian stir fry was one side you could choose today. Asian stir fry goes with what exactly? I had the heirloom tomato pasta salad as a side. Whatever heirlooms (out of season) that were in the salad were not noticeable. They were diced up so small, one couldn’t tell there were tomatoes in the salad. Plus, pasta salad does not inspire. I can make pasta salad. In fact,when pressed for a side dish for a picnic or get together, I make pasta or potato salad. It’s easy to do. It won’t offend. It’s basic. Sometimes, I throw in chilies to get the attention of other people going to the picnic, but overall, I make a basic side. Customers coming to your restaurant, who come willing to pay to eat, want more than the basic.

Out of eight pizzas offered, now six have pork. Whatever one’s dietary issues are (I’d say the same if six pizzas had chicken, beef, pesto, or any other same ingredient), this is a real lack of variety. Do you really need six of eight pizzas to have the same ingredient? Find more purveyors to buy from. Introduce variety. Get your chef to study pizza making. He seems to not have enough ideas. There isn’t one cheese pizza out of the eight. Not one. A white or cheese pizza can be done in amazing ways. With or without marinara, the cheese pizza should be on the menu. Three cheese. Five cheese. Whatever brewpub lingo you want to adopt, figure out how to make one (When we first visited, I had a veggie pizza that had uncooked eggplant on it. The chef didn’t know to precook eggplant before adding it to a pizza).

Given the emphasis on “local,” is Broadway doing enough to push local foods in interesting, yet acceptable ways? Not yet. Uninspiring sides. Uninspiring sandwiches. Way too much of one ingredient on the menu. If I go to Uprise (whose bread Broadway is using) and order a sandwich, soup, or salad (and often quiche), I am getting a unique, good sized, well presented meal. Uprise can take a base stock and daily churn out interesting variations of soups. Their sandwiches are well done mixes of meat, toppings, or just vegetables (and of course, they have the best bread in town). The corn beef sandwich I ordered today at Broadway (second time I’ve had it), is small, alone on a plate (no garnish), and not equal to its price. A customer looks at the food pushed to one side of the plate and thinks: is this worth $8.95? Presentation makes a customore feel like that are getting their money’s worth.The food needs better presentation.

Four waitresses stood around while we ate. It was a slow morning. Why isn’t prep being done for the week? Why aren’t pickles being made? Why isn’t dough being made for pizzas (rather than buying dough from Uprise)?  Why isn’t soup being made or stock being made? Or why isn’t anything being prepped that can be used this week and that will be homemade?

That said, I really want this place to make it. We need it to make it. It fills a niche here and compliments a growing beer and food culture. If Asheville can sport over eight breweries, we can support two brewpubs. My biggest complaint is not the beer. It is ok for now. There are two audiences for beer Broadway needs to meet: everyday drinkers and nerds. For now, the beer is good enough for everyday drinkers who want craft beer but are not nerds. For nerds, the beer is not yet enough. The brewer should follow the lead of Mattingly in St. Louis and do one time beers in carboys for one or two nights a week. This will leave equipment free for big batches, it will bring in the nerds on a regular basis, and it will help establish a reputation among beer drinkers. For the rest of its audience, Broadway needs to refocus its attention on food.

And….they need to turn the music down. I love Curtis Mayfield, too, but I’m eating out, not attending a concert.

Posted in Broadway, beer