Bar-trek: Local 44

          This week, my housemates and I had the mind boggleing realization that we were all old enough to legally go to a bar.  We commemorated this momentous occasion with a visit to Local 44 on the North East corner of 44th and Spruce.  Yelp had indicated that Local 44 also served respectable real people food, not just alcohol.  Yelp even claimed that "Vegetarians Love this Place," which is good for the 1.5 vegetarians in the house.  I deemed these claims worth investigating.  Local 44 looks like a standard bar--dim lighting, dark wood, and high stools.  It's cozy. It's unpretentious.  It's somewhat uninspired.

Local 44

          The waitress handed us menus on the back of what appeared to be pages from an ancient refrigerator repair manuals.  I can only assume this was intended to boost Local 44's street cred with the local hipster populous.  The waitress was very knowledgeable about the drinks available.  This was Local 44's strong point.  They offered an interesting variety of beers and ciders, and the staff had the knowledge necessary to help us navigate their beverage options.  One housemate ordered the "Lose This Skin" a fruity fizzy unfiltered cider that was enjoyed by everyone who tried it.  Another housemate ordered then "Nugget Nectar."  He found it to be a bit too bitter but finished the drink.  I thought it tasted like the bar floor.  Maybe you need to be a beer connoisseur to enjoy that one.

If you ignore the slightly unappetizing name,
Lose the Skin was quite enjoyable. 

If you ignore the bar floor taste Nugget Nectar was
actually still a drink.

          We ordered Scallion Hushpuppies with a smoked maple mustard dipping sauce for the table.  These had a nice crunch, and some interesting flavors introduced by the sauce.  However, one housemate declared that the hushpuppies at Baby Blue's BBQ are superior.  Most of us lacked this reference point and were able to enjoy our hushpuppies.

The scallion hushpuppies had already succumbed to the uncontrollable
 hunger of my housemates at the time this photo was taken.

          We then ordered the Buffalo Bar Wings (chicken wings), the Cubano sandwich with ham, jalapeno mustard, pickles and Swiss cheese, and the Mac and Cheese with jalapenos.  The wings were deemed perfectly good, though nothing special.  The person eating the Cubano clearly enjoyed their sandwich, as they exerted a great effort to get a good picture of the sandwich.  When asked how the sandwich actually tasted, said person was too busy continually filling their mouth with it to give a reply other than a thumbs up.  I will treat that as an endorsement.

And here we have the fruit of the noble labor the person eating the
Cubano put into photographing their food

          The Mac and Cheese was rather plain, even with the addition of jalapenos.  These added some subtle kick, though one fellow diner felt there was no kick at all.  A sharper cheese would have been a welcome addition to the dish.

Try as they might, the jalapenos were not able to make this
dish interesting.

          In the end, Local 44 is a bar.  A bar that just so happens to sell food.  Come here for drinks, especially if you enjoy interesting beer and cider.   I would not say the food was interesting enough for me to suggest it as a dinner spot, but they do produce better bar food than many places in the area.  The food is perfectly good, just uninspiring, as bar food often is.  However,  it was surprisingly not greasy.  So while you are there for drinks, you can order some snacks, and actually enjoy what you are eating without feeling like a greaseball.