Opening Today: Scotty's Lakehouse

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Hoosier Beer Geek

Continuing our streak of deceiving Scott Wise into thinking we're a reputable news source, we were invited to check out his latest venture over the weekend. This event was fairly packed thanks to Scott's Twitter army receiving passes for spending $50 at one of the Brewhouse locations in the past week. That's okay, we still feel special.

Scotty's Lakehouse is a joint venture between the brains behind Scotty's Brewhouse and the Patachou restaurants. The two concepts are fused by offering Patachou breakfast items in the morning and a selection of organic burgers, a few Brewhouse favorites and a few new items for lunch and dinner. Although the Lakehouse features a lower number of taps than the Brewhouse locations, Indiana beer is the predominant theme. Located in Geist, Scotty's Lakehouse is the second Scott Wise location on the north side of town. Despite my general disappointment with things north of 86th Street, I am glad that they are seeing more good beer locations and local food options open up.

Upon arrival, the immediate impression is that the Lakehouse seems to be located in a hard to reach strip mall. Maybe someone in Geist can correct me and inform us in the comments that there was an easier way to arrive than we did. Nonetheless, if the crowd at the opening event on Saturday could be used as a reference point, the Lakehouse is already a destination worth seeking out. The interior decor matches that of other Brewhouse locations, which I would consider a positive thing. Lots of exposed brick and duct work, a prominent and well kept bar and of course those bar towel napkins.

The initial beer lineup


A decent selection of wine, spirits and Coors Light are also available for people who would prefer not to drink beer. The focus of the menu is on burgers, including not only organic beef burgers, but also turkey, elk, bison and vegetarian burgers. All of the burgers we tried were very well put together with a creative combination of well designed toppings. Fried dill chips and 7 tidals dip are carry-overs from the traditional Brewhouse menu.

Burgers all run at $8 with sides of fries, coleslaw and mac and cheese (among other things) available from $3 and up. The fries were a bit too dense for my tastes, but the blue cheese coleslaw, sweet potato fries and mac and cheese were all big hits at our table. The burgers were excellent. For reference - Boogie Burger is my favorite burger joint in town. Lakehouse didn't top Boogie Burger, but it certainly rides up near the top of the list. I would love to see the Lakehouse burgers find their way onto the Brewhouse menus in the future. Another menu highlight turned out to be the condiments, especially the Beer Mustard made with Sun King Wee Mac.

Now back to something we do actually claim some knowledge on - beer. Available serving sizes are 16oz glasses, 24oz mugs and 101oz table taps. The 16oz glasses are pub glass style (think Broad Ripple Brewpub or the country of England) and the 24oz mugs are the traditional Brewhouse mugs. The 101oz table taps are these comically large glass tubes filled with beer with a tap at the bottom to dispense into individual glasses or funnels and hoses for you to lay under the table and drink out of until your server catches you and kicks you out. If you try doing that, don't tell them you got the idea from us. 16oz glasses ride between 4.50 and 5.00. On Mondays, Indiana beer, both bottled and draft, is $1 off.

The Lakehouse is definitely a welcome addition to the north side of town and their dedication to Indiana beers is quite admirable. They open up today at 4PM. Cheers to Indiana beer and great burgers!

 

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