Category: Beer & Food

As transplanted citizens from the Big 10 college town of Columbus, Ohio, it’s nice to see some of the old Buckeye flavor around Sioux Falls. First there was Graeter’s Ice Cream, then Jeni’s started popping up. And we can never forget B-Dubs, aka BW3, aka Buffalo Wild Wings, a chain that took flight from a pretty humble little bar back by the OSU Campus a few decades ago.

Now we’ve got another! Rumor has it that Donatos Pizza – with their signature square-cut, thin-crust, crispy-pepperoni pies – can be found via Red Robin at the Mall while they assess their location options.

Is this a cause for celebration? Kinda. It’s just pizza, but we’ll take another option around here any day. As they say, pizza’s like making whoopee…even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.

Not that we need an excuse to grab a beer on a Thursday night, but Cinco De Mayo makes it easy to say, “mucho cervezas, por favor!”

There will be plenty of fun to choose from around town, but we’re most excited about Remedy’s super-spicy lager, The Remedy Reaper. It’s their Mexican-style lager, always a good sipper, infused with one of the world’s zippiest peppers, the infamous Carolina Reaper. (We might have to order something lighter as a chaser.) They’ll also have the Saucy Boyz grilling up fresh tacos.

Also on the agenda will have to be Woodgrain. The guys are tapping two Mexican lagers: their Duct Tape Piñata, and the new Piñata Lima – think of it as a much better tasting Corona with the lime baked in, saving you the work and the inevitable shot of lime-juice to the eye.

See you out there, mi amigos!

Mash Madness, DTSF’s yearly local beer battle is hitting its half-way point, so there’s still a few weeks to get out and try some new brews!

Here’s our good, bad, ugly take on this year’s rumble:

The Good! Only five breweries are taking part this year. That makes it doable! Unlike the burger battle that brought in nearly 30 competitors, this one can be done without breaking the bank, or your gut. Heck, you can do it all in one night if you’re feeling determined and the weather cooperates for walking around downtown. And a little leg stretch is just the thing to keep the BAC down to driveable levels.

The Bad? Only five breweries are taking part this year! That’s not enough to develop some serious heat for the event. There are probably a half-dozen other local fermenters that could have done some sort of partnership with downtown restaurants to get in on the competition. A few more would add some buzz, baby! Go for it next year!

The Ugly? We like beer around here. BEER. Comforting golden glasses of frothy bubbles to be sipped or gulped depending on the vibe. Hop-rageous IPAs, cream-a-licious stouts, crisp lagers…you know, BEER. This year’s lineup is heavy on the sours, fruity stuff, and coffee-infusions. While we’ll never say “no!” to trying something new, such things are never a true test of what a brewery can do. Sure, we get the urge to rack up points in the “creativity” category, but it’s just not our bag.

That being said, our favorite has to be Woodgrain’s Nap Culture. Yeah, it’s a sour, but it drinks with authenticity. It’s a real beer, made with heart, the kind of thing that could seduce us into laying off the hops for a minute and having more than one.

But that’s just us! Get out there and give ’em a try before they’re gone!

For many of our friends, every trip out-of-town demanded a stop at Chipotle. Sure, Sioux Falls had most everything you’d need, but there were still a few things you’d want. Chipotle being top-of-list. (Don’t start with us, Chick-Fil-A’ers!!)

Of course, by the time they got here, we’d already been swamped with lots of tasty chain and local burrito options. So it was a little anti-climatic to line up for some foil-wrapped Barbacoa once we got the chance.

Still, the fact that Chipotle’s got an east-side location in the works is good news. We’ll take all the lime-rice stuffed burritos we can get!

Let the rumble begin!

We do our best every year to get through a reasonable selection of the beef-a-licious burgers on display every January, but as the competition grows, hitting all the spots gets harder every year.

That’s a good problem to have right?

Twenty-seven local joints are in the running this year. Imagine that. Twenty-seven! A decade ago there weren’t even twenty-seven respectable restaurants downtown to choose from, let alone twenty-seven creative chefs getting their groove on.

If you want the full rundown, The Argus’s write-up is a great place to start.

However, our early reconnaissance has scoped out three early competitors:

Holiday Inn City Centre:  The ARC

Wagyu Beef, Bison, Elk, and Wild Boar Patty is served on a bed of Romesco sauce and portobello mushrooms sauteed in red wine. The Burger is then topped with provolone cheese, pickled red onions, fried spinach, and garlic crunch dished up on a toasted butter Brioche bun. Perfectly paired with a side fresh Lobster Mac. No substitutions.

Parker’s Bistro: Raja Burger

Ground tenderloin, Mexican melting cheese, Huitacoche, pickled poblano, house bacon, chicharron

The Treasury at Hotel on Phillips: The Grifter

6oz Hand Pattied Dry Aged Black Angus Beef, Tallegio Cheese, Double Smoked Applewood Bacon, Korean Cucumber Salad with Honey & Kimchi Vinaigrette, Gochuchang Mayo. Served on Black Sesame Seed Brioche Bun.

We’ll report back after doing some further gut-busting research. And then it’s back to the gym!