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Jes Gearing
Stout Braised Short Ribs
1906's Stout Braised Short Ribs with roasted garlic, bacon, mashed potatoes and vegetables.
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Jes Gearing
the 1906 Ale House takes its number from the year of the founding of Grandin Village, and its identity from its 20 beers and ciders on tap.
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Jes Gearing
the 1906 Ale House takes its number from the year of the founding of Grandin Village, and its identity from its 20 beers and ciders on tap.
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Jes Gearing
the 1906 Ale House takes its number from the year of the founding of Grandin Village, and its identity from its 20 beers and ciders on tap.
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Jes Gearing
Stout Braised Short Ribs
1906's Stout Braised Short Ribs with roasted garlic, bacon, mashed potatoes and vegetables.
6 of 7
Jes Gearing
Dessert Sampler
The 1906 desserts can be sampled three at a time, each it its little ramekin.
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Jes Gearing
Gorgonzola Cobb
Gorgonzola Cobb with grilled chicken, bacon and apple vinaigrette.
Sometimes things just work out. When Dan Brown, a former general manager at Roanoke’s Fork in the Alley/City/Square restaurants, started looking around for a place to open a place of his own, he had checked out a number of different locations in Salem and in Downtown Roanoke before he found one five minutes from home – in Grandin Village on Memorial Avenue. Brown’s timing worked out so that he could move into the space formerly occupied by The Isaacs and open up in the fall. And as a tribute to his new home, he even named his 1906 Ale House after the year that Grandin Village was founded.
“It’s kind of a throwback to the old times,” he says. “I’m really proud to be an owner of a business in this neighborhood.”
Brown was able to start off with a fairly put-together restaurant when he moved in. The owners of The Isaacs had done some pretty snazzy upgrades to the bar and the dining room. You get the feeling, looking at the relatively sparse accessorizing that Brown has done so far, that he’s waiting for the right decorations to present themselves. But it’s still a fairly warm-looking room despite the lack of decoration, with pressed-tin ceilings lending a bit of history to the newish crown molding and wood accents.
With his list of 20 beers and ciders on tap, I felt a powerful compulsion to check out the venue, and so on a recent Saturday night, my wife found herself getting dragged to a place with “Ale House” in the name. (Here’s a little secret: she didn’t really need much persuading.)
When we arrived at around 7:30 that evening it was a full house, and we were already scouting out a spot at the bar before the hostess had a chance to tell us how long the wait would be. However, she told us that they had a table for two which had just come open, and we were able to waltz right in. There was a small downside in that the table was in a pretty narrow part of the bar area, and there wasn’t much room for people to squeeze past on their way between the door and the dining room. So it was close quarters, and since we were waited on by the bartender – who had to elbow his way through throngs to get to us and seemed a bit harried by the tight squeeze – we may not have gotten quite the level of attention that guests in the dining room received.
But for all of that, the staff was unfailingly friendly and enthusiastic, and quite knowledgeable about what they were doing, which definitely made up for a lot.
For our first course, my wife started off with a really well prepared Sweet Potato and Acorn Squash Soup. Both the flavor and the consistency of this soup really filled the mouth. It was rich, thick and creamy, and she described it as having a consistency of baby food, adding, “That probably sounds kind of awful, but it’s really not! It’s wonderful.” I wondered – not for the first time – why she knows so much about what baby food tastes like, but decided to let the matter pass, since I was busy with my own starter of the Sausage and Rye Squares.
This was the kind of food that you make when you’re at home enjoying a few beers and your spouse is out of town. If you’re a guy, that is. I don’t know what women cook for themselves in such situations. Cucumber sandwiches and tea crumpets?
No, these guys were all male. Sharp melted cheese blended with crumbled sausage and spooned onto thick-cut squares of marble rye bread. They were hearty and heavy in all the right ways, and the pungent flavor of the bread stood up nicely to the strong flavors of the cheese and sausage.
After a few minutes of enjoying these and our delicious brews (she opted for the Fox Barrel Pear Cider and declared it to be “ambrosia,” while I kept it in the state with a Devil’s Backbone Vienna Lager), it was time to enjoy our entrées, and we were both pleasantly surprised by our choices. With a name and a beer list that focuses so heavily on the libation side of the business, it was easy to be duped into thinking that the food might take a back seat to the drink. On the contrary; there was a lot of good stuff happening on those plates.
I ordered the first selection on the entrée list, maybe because after reading the description, there didn’t seem to be any need to move any further down. The Sage and Sausage-Stuffed Bone-In Pork Loin was quite delicious, with the crackling fat of the pork making an excellent blend with the flavorful sausage. And though they didn’t ask for a temperature, the pork was a juicy and tasty medium. The meat paired nicely with al dente grilled asparagus and a rich sweet potato polenta.
Meanwhile, my wife had opted for the Roast Chicken Breast with Wild Mushroom Ragout, served with a parmesan risotto and port reduction. The delicious tang of the reduction sauce sliced through the creamy risotto like a razor, and the chicken had a wonderful smoky grilled flavor.
As our meal progressed, it was fun to watch the place gradually morph from restaurant to local tavern as the evening drew on. The crowd at the bar got more and more dense, and there were periods during which I had trouble cutting my meat because my elbow would have poked some guy in the kidneys, possibly starting more trouble than I was willing to deal with in the middle of dinner. At one point, my wife looked up and told me, “Your arm’s gotten to second base more times than Jackie Robinson tonight.” I don’t really get sports metaphors, though, so I’m not sure what she was talking about.
But we wanted to be troopers about the whole thing, and therefore gamely opted to try a little dessert. We don’t mind suffering for our craft. And they do a really neat thing with dessert at 1906 that I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention. Each of their five dessert selections comes in a miniature ceramic ramekin, and you can sample a trio of them for seven bucks. So we decided to organize a little competition. We narrowed the field down to three finalists (the Blueberry Cobbler, the Caramel Apple Crisp, and the Chocolate Espresso Torte), and let them strut their stuff on the runway. All three were decadent, but the torte won hands down. Warm and rich, this really filled up the senses.
In the end, we left full and happy despite the glitches with the seating arrangements. For a new restaurant, little details like that are to be expected, and as long as the food stays good and the staff stays eager to please, that sort of thing is likely to work itself out. I hope to find out soon when I go back for one of those pear ciders. Can you believe my wife wouldn’t spare me even a tiny sip?
1906 Ale House, 1910 Memorial Ave., Roanoke
540-562-8951