Northbound Smokehouse & Brewpub - Minneapolis, MN

I had been out for a four-shows-in-three-days kind of weekend. Bouncing between northern Iowa and Minnesota. With the impending move, I’m constantly looking for new rooms in our neighbor to the north. I think I found a harbor in northern Minneapolis at a spot called “Rail Werks Brewing Depot”; a killer brewpub that even had baked beans on their menu. That’s not where this review came from. I left myself a reason to go back. I had a great mix of venues, culminating in an hour set at The Central Gardens of North Iowa. It was my third time at this venue for their Picnics and Performances series. Each time I’ve had larger and larger crowds, so I was hopeful that I had a good one on my hands. I had played with Brian Schwager the week before and asked him about joining me in Clear Lake, which he agreed to. As a bonus, he was up in Minneapolis that Saturday night too, playing a show so he’d have his rig. We decided that I’d pick him up and we’d roll to Clear Lake together. Upon getting him at his hotel we decided to grab lunch at Northbound Smokehouse & Brewpub. 

Now, that was a pretty smooth bean transition.

This side dish was served up in the standard white, ceramic bowl. It did come with its own soup spoon and that was definitely something that I appreciated. Also came straight from the kitchen and was still hot when it hit the table. For my preference, I’d rather a baked bean dish has a couple different types of beans in it. Helps with the presentation and improves the mouthfeel of each bite. This dish was a single bean, but it was cooked perfectly. The beans were tender without being mushy. It was easy to see that the beans were cooked from their dry state. Nothing in this dish came out of a can. In addition to these perfectly cooked beans, they included chunks of bacon and diced onion in the dish. Each presenting their own flavor additions and both working to improve the mouthfeel of every bite. Now it’s time to talk sauce. This isn’t your traditional, heavy, brown baked bean sauce. There wasn’t a cloyingly-sweet-brown-sugar-bomb waiting in the first bite, there wasn’t even a hint of brown sugar in this sauce. The sauce was thinner than most baked bean sauces. Slightly tangy, as if the base of this was some sort of vinegar. Now, the very mention of vinegar is enough to turn people away. It is, after all, extremely tart. But, this sauce wasn’t that. It was a very well balanced sauce. They’re a brewpub so it could have included a reduced beer (though there was no indication of that on the menu) or a more measured addition of some sweetener to get that balance. The kind of flavor that kept taunting me to go back for more.  Don’t get me wrong; those sweet, rich sauces are what drew me into baked beans in the first place. But, as I continue to scour the country it’s refreshing to be served a different flavor profile every once in a while. 

Ratings (On a scale of 1-5)
Appearance: 3
Flavor: 4
Mouthfeel: 5

Total Score: 12

For what it's worth,
An immensely talented lead guitar player to add color to my songs and the long drives: 5