5 Season's Brewing at the Prado - Sandy Springs Georgia

5 Season's Brewing is located at 5600 Roswell Rd, Sandy Springs GA 30342 at the Prado (this is right off I285 at Roswell Rd, inside the perimeter). This is an active brewery with a good handful of lagers, Belgian ales and seasonal brews, along with above-average food.

5 Season's Brewing arose from the ashes of the defunct Phoenix Brewery (see what I did there?) in 2000 or so. 5 Season's was co-founded by the former Sweetwater brew master Kevin McNerney and Dennis Lange. After issues with parking when the Prado expanded and made room for Target, the partners split and Dennis opened Southbound in Chamblee (you may remember Dennis from Yakitori Den-Chan in Buckhead - also, I reviewed Southbound on my blog last year).

I don't remember much about Phoenix back when it was in business - I ate there twice from what I recall, both times meeting people for lunch and apparently it wasn't very memorable. 5 Season's basically took things to the next level and included a much better menu. I've since eaten there about a dozen times, most often for various Technology Association of Georgia events (they have a great private room that they section off - it has it's own bar and a pool table) and other technology group meet-ups. The location is fantastic, even with the horrendous Roswell Rd traffic (mostly since it's only 2 blocks from I285). Interior is all wood and very open in the main bar - I like the ambiance quite a bit. The service here is very good and while I've had much better beer, they have some selections that are more than palatable - my favorite is their hoppy IPA - "Hopgasm" which even the most discriminating beer snob will find above average.

Of course with all things, since Dennis left it's gone down hill a bit (at least that's what seems to have happened comparing before and after). Parking has been fixed with the addition of a new parking deck so now there's parking everywhere. It still doesn't appear to get as crowded as it did in the past - also, I think the food is of less or cheaper quality than before. I think it's still good and above average - it's certainly better than Gorden Biersch (for some reason all the lagers GB is famous for taste flat and lifeless to me). I've had a bevy of snacky foods at various events - here's a mess of photos from several.

BBQ Chicken Sliders - nothing special about these but they are filling.

Buffalo Wings - good wings that could be hotter (as can everything, right?). Not a bad dish to share with the table) but for better wings, go to Taco Mac.

House Made Pretzels - these come with creamy mustard sauce.

Fried Wontons - not bad but will give you onion breath.

Cocktail Shrimp - boiled, peeled and ready to eat with cocktail sauce.

Individually, I've had the following (sorry no photos)...

Spanish Grass Fed Meatballs - very meaty and if you're into ground meat (which I am) very good!

Beer cheese soup - good but not the best I've had. That being said, it's not drowned by something stronger as many places tend to do. I'd call it above average and a good way to start dinner.


Lamb Curry Tacos - good but not great - I think they need to be spiced up a bit or served with something more acidic to offset the some of the other flavors.

Organic Brisket Reuben - This is a good Reuben - order a side of spicy mustard instead of the Russian dressing and you can thank me later.


Georgia Organic Grass Fed Beef Burger with fries - a good standby if you can't find anything else on the menu enticing.

Ropa vieja - A bit disappointing - maybe because I've had this dish in some great Miami restaurants. But don't take my word for this one - as the tomato isn't my favorite (I tend to go with the Vaca Frita if it's available).

 
In general, the is a fun place to meet with friends or for events as it can accommodate very large groups. The beer is good and they have ales on the menu which fit into what beer drinkers seem to want these days (more so than the lagers you find at GB). The food is above average but not great so this isn't a place I'd take a date. For a phenomenal beer selection and worse food, go to Taco Mac; for a phenomenal beer selection and very good food, head to World of Beer. For decent beer (but not much variety) with good food, 5 Season's fits the bill.

-- John

(much shorter review also posted to Yelp)

Beers of the World - Lambert Airport St Louis Missouri

Beers of the World is located in the main terminal of the Lambert International Airport in St Louis. If you haven't experienced Lambert it's quite a treat with high modern design everywhere by Eero Saarinen. Too bad the food at this restaurant isn't as spectacular as the airport architecture.

We had about an hour before boarding began on our flight back to Atlanta - looking for something to do, the Beers of the World looked interesting - it was also packed so the food must be good, right? Unfortunately like us the other patrons must have been captive of the system. It took us about 10 minutes to find a table - 3 adults around something designed for 2. After we were seated it was another 10 minutes before someone came by. We quickly ordered and while the beer hit the table fairly quickly we almost got up and left waiting on the food - it arrived about 10 minutes before boarding so we woofed it down. Honestly, it was little better than those sandwiches you can buy at stands along the concourse.

The menu actually doesn't look that bad - many items that would seem very pub-like.The beer menu - ugh. Obviously this is an Anheuser-Busch operation by all the crappy mainstream brews. Lucky for us Boddingtons and Goose Island were available on tap - I choose the Goose Island which is a fairly decent IPA.

Sangam ended up with a chicken sandwich with fries - he said the sandwich was OK but the fries were limp and with that mass-produced quality we all enjoy so much.

Sid ordered the chicken and waffle salad, sans chicken which sounded much better than it was - he didn't each much of it.

I ended up with the Turkey Po Boy - it was OK but nothing special. Certainly not worth the long wait. Even though was starving, I didn't finish the fries (yes they were that bad).

So some advice? If you're lucky and Beers of the World is really, really empty you might be able to get out in 45 minutes or so - otherwise give yourself at least an hour and maybe more. Don't set your expectations too high and you should be OK. In general I give this place 1-1.5/5 stars. We finished up quickly and boarded our plane - cya St Louis!

-- John

 

India Palace in Bridgeton - St Louis Missouri

This location of India Palace is located at 4534 N Lindbergh Blvd, Bridgeton MO 63044 on the 11th floor in Bridgeton. I'm not sure if it's related to the location in downtown St Louis. The restaurant is located at the top of a low-rise at the end of a hotel - it was a bit difficult to get to based on the Google Maps directions from the main highway. Parking is in the regular lot then you go to the opposite end from the hotel lobby to access the elevator.

I was visiting our St Louis offices for a work summit with two members of our team. Having had limited success with Indian cuisine in other cities (see my reviews for Salt Lake and Providence) I figured we had a 50/50 chance of finding something good. The convoluted path to access this restaurant did not lend itself to my having much confidence in India Palace, even with a solid 4 star Yelp rating, however I was pleasantly surprised!

Walking into India Palace you feel more like you're walking into a tree-top grotto - there's a stone wall covered by vines and obligatory shrines. The main dining room features tatami covered ceilings and interesting rattan pendant lights invoking the George Nelson bubble lamps you see at Lambert airport - the room is a bit cramped (long and narrow) however the large windows more than make up for that. The view in a word, is spectacular providing great panoramas of the airport landing field.

We were seated quickly (it was a Sunday evening) and provided extensive menus. There's quite a bit on the menu to study including diner specials to towards the back (per-person preselected feasts that include multiple entrees).

I spotted something interesting from the beer menu - Flying Horse Royal Lager Beer - supposedly from Bangalore. Funny, the entire time I visited India I never saw any other local beer than varieties of Kingfisher (Blue, Premium, Draught, etc) - I even asked for Taj Mahal which can be found in many US Indian-food restaurants but no one I asked had ever heard of it. No mention of "Flying Horse" even while visiting Bangalore. The beer was a typical lager about on par with Kingfisher Premium and nothing special - that didn't keep me from drinking it. We were also brought a platter of pappadum with chutneys/sauces that were very good.

For dinner we selected:

Mulligatawny Soup - I decided to try it since I haven't in a while - it's basically a watery dal with a bit of coriander and cumin. This version was quite good.

Chicken Tikka Masala - this is the classic "stand by" that most Americans know as "butter chicken" (I found while in India that every different region had their own "butter chicken" and that all of them tasted different).

Kadai Paneer with onions and chilies - this vegetarian dish was very delicious with nice homemade chunks of paneer (cheese).

Garlic Naan - above par - none of that powdered garlic junk I found in St Louis

Came with jeera rice - not your usual long-grain basmati and without that yellow color - lots of whole cumin seed and very good.

We all enjoyed the food immensely - considering I was with two native Indians, I think that says a lot. There was a good level of spice to everything we tried - not that it was hot, but not as watered down and Americanized as you usually find in the states. If you're looking for Indian food that's fairly authentic you can do much worse than India Palace. In general the service was exceptional with frequent visits to the table and water/beer refills. Add in the great views and ambiance and you get one of the best meals we had while visiting St Louis.

-- John

(also posted in shorter form on Yelp)

Trailhead Brewing Co - St Louis Missouri

Trailhead Brewing Co is located at 921 S. Riverside Dr, St Charles MO 63301 right off the Missouri River and North-West of downtown St Louis. This is a rather expansive restaurant-bar-brewery concept similar to the ubiquitous Gordon Biersch with quite a bit more Missouri frontier flair. On this occasion I was visiting St Louis for a summit with members of our Atlanta team and decided to make this a destination one evening as it was close to the local office. The building is built on a street corner with a creek running along one side of the lot (we parked down the street) - gleaming stainless steel vats advertise the availability of the brew inside. The interior is part rustic-hang-artifacts-on-the-wall and part industrial with metal railing, wooden floors and lots to look at and admire.

As we walked across the gallery and into seating there's a riverboat hung above the bar. An immense multi-rider bicycle hangs above the stairs along with other bikes and boats beneath the exposed timber rafters and remarkable wooden ceiling. Since it was December the restaurant was decorated with garlands and lights and the mood was quite festive. Quite a lot of shoppers in for a snack and escape from the mall crowds, I presume.

We were presented a rather extensive menu and a list of available brews. I started with the Missouri Brown Ale to have with food. I prefer darker beer over the light stuff - actually have very little liking for anything very acidic like a Wies or Pilsner so I tend to gravitate towards the stouts and use IPAs with bitter hops as my version of a light beer. The Missouri Brown Ale was actually a bit disappointing to me - usually browns have a bit of sweetness that I didn't find here. I'm sure plenty will like it though.

Looking though the menu we opted on ordering some appetizers so we could sample many items. I think our favorites were the spicy wings and the fried asparagus.

Ale Battered Asparagus - these were really delicious.

Hot Crab and Artichoke dip with pita - I make something like this at home. Not bad at all.

Hot Soft Pretzels with queso cheese sauce - after having the giant Bavarian pretzel with beer cheese at World of Beer, these were a bit of disappointment.

Spicy Chicken Wings - I thought these very good - bit smokey and a little spice. If anything they could have been much hotter, but I wanted to make sure our small lot could eat them.

The food in general was good and of good quality and preparation - I think with a bit of tweaking the food here could be exceptional. As it is, nothing really special but filling. As to the beer - it was a bit "generic" to me but that might be a "for the masses" thing - as I recall the Seasonal selection was something fruity which is a place I simply won't go. I also sampled the Trailhead Red Amber Ale and ended up finishing with it - surprisingly it was my favorite of the three.

-- John

(shorter version posted to Yelp)