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    Restaurant Review: Smokehouse Brewing Company

    Just in time for the summer eating season, Smokehouse Brewing Company has rebranded itself and introduced an updated menu of edibles.

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    Formerly Barley’s Smokehouse Brewpub, the destination was and is a good-time spot on Dublin Road. The parking lot always seems full, and the inside is cavernous, so there’s plenty of room to find a spot. On the cavernous subject: it also has bonus booths deep enough to hold six people. It makes the joint friendly for an after-work hangout, for beer snobs, and for families too.

    The new menu is a little cattywampus. It’s laminated, double-sided: that’s all good. Except, there are some of the same things on both sides, and then different things too. Maybe one side is a lunch menu, but if that’s how it works, no one at the table could figure it out.

    So, the menu requires either lots of brain, or no brain at all; because at some point, it’s just more fun to give up trying to understand.

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    While the appetizers are mostly priced under ten bucks, fifteen bucks will buy all of the appetizers. Well, maybe not all of them, but the Smokehouse Starter Platter ($15) is a giant, overflowing plate that will make anyone who didn’t order it jealous and sad.

    Too bad, not sharing.

    Not-sharing means eating four of the house Sauerkraut Balls. Golf-ball sized, they always taste a little surprising. The breading holds sausage, loops of soft cheese and chunks of sauerkraut. The combo yields a flavor that is vaguely pizza-like.

    Then there is the meat section of the sampler. That’s the best part: distinctively, carefully smoked chicken wings and rib tips. There’s also a tangled pile of fried onion threads, thick slices of pickles and a serviceable hummus to round out the pile of excessiveness. It is much more than a single human could eat, even as a full meal.

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    It’s hard to beat the joys of the platter, but one of the newer appetizers is worth a whirl too: Smoked Pork Belly Sliders ($10) illustrate the kitchen’s skills with smoked pork belly. Its honey chipotle sauce puts the perfect accent on the sliders.

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    Another newbie on the menu is a winning version of the Banh Mi ($11) sandwich. Although the sandwich is popular in Columbus, you don’t see it very much outside of Vietnamese restaurants. Barley’s offering has a lush, over-the-top American twist.

    And that’s a good thing for this particular palate.

    So, instead of being centered on demure cold-cuts, vegetables and funky spreads, the sandwich holds a big honkin’ pile of juicy ham and pork. There’s also the requisite shredded carrot, jalapeno and cilantro to give it a little garden fresh mystique; and an aioli tinged with some sriracha. The elements may sound exotic, but at heart, it’s a manwich.

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    There are those who must have ribs at smokehouse, and the Ribs ($24) are okay. That said, you can team them with sides of baked beans and seasonal thick strands of asparagus (a new option); those sides are rave-worthy.

    The drinkin’ crowd should be pleased with the beverage options. There’s a full slate of house beers. You can do samplers, you can get beer infused with nitrogen. There’s also “guest” drafts and bottles. Plus, scotch, mixed drinks and a really intoxicating (sic) array of dessert drinks.

    You can find Smokehouse Brewing Company and its updated menu at 1130 Dublin Road.

    For more information, visit www.smokehousebrewing.com.

    Photos by Mollie Lyman of www.fornixphotography.com.

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    Miriam Bowers Abbott
    Miriam Bowers Abbotthttps://columbusunderground.com
    Miriam Bowers Abbott is a freelancer contributor to Columbus Underground who reviews restaurants, writes food-centric featurettes and occasionally pens other community journalism pieces.
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