PADRE ISLAND BREWING COMPANY

The sign over the kitchen pass-thru

Unbelievably, we have never gone to the Padre Island Brewing Company.  I guess it seems like we always have a kid in tow and I wasn't thinking it would be a great idea to take kids there.  Now that the teen is legally an adult (although not of drinking age), my husband said he wanted to go there for dinner.  Our oldest son said it was the best pizza around and they had very reasonable beer samplers.  That sounded good to my husband :-)

We went Labor Day evening - knowing most of the tourists were streaming off the island, heading home by that time.  As we passed them, we waved a mental hasta la vista.  September and October are two of my favorite months of the year...the beaches are empty, lines are minimal at restaurants...it's laid back and relaxing again. 

We were seated quickly and our waitress, Danielle, came quickly to get drink orders.  She was extremely attentive throughout the evening - so if you get her when you go - you'll have excellent service.

We sat at a table quite near the bar.  High school football was on the big screen behind the bar and the big brewing tanks were further behind the bar.  A very nice and genial atmosphere.  John got his flight of tasting beers - only $5.50 for the 5 glasses and they were very generous tasters.  We've had them that cost more and served less on many occasions at other micro-brewery restaurants, so we were happy.  I sipped one or two of each of the pale samples and left the stouts to my hubby.  The five in his tasting sample were South Padre Island Blonde, Padre Island Pale Ale, Tidal Wave Wheat (with a slice of lemon on the glass), Stingray Scottish Ale, and Speckled Trout Stout (yep, say that 3 times fast after a glass or two LOL!).  They've been brewing since 1995 - with a 3rd generation brew master.  The three I sampled were awesome.  The favorite was the Tidal Wave Wheat with the lemon dropped into the glass.  I'm not a beer drinker but I could have put away an entire glass of that one.  Whether you eat or not - the beer is worth going for.

Five-beer Sampler

However, we were there for dinner.  We were all very happy with our choices.  Dad got a 10 inch pizza with a whole wheat and flax seed crust made by the happy folks at PsychaDeli.  He had crumbled sausage, mushrooms, black olives, and bell peppers for topping.  I tried it - excellent.  My husband's only comment was it didn't have sufficient sauce on the pizza.  I handed him one of the teen's cups of marinara and he happily dunked his pizza - that took care of the problem.

Delicious 10-inch Pizza

The teen had a calzone - it was huge and delicious.  His insides were pepperoni and shrimp (???).  It was oozing with deliciously stringy cheese and had dipping cups of sauce and some extra Parmesan.  It was so big even the biggest appetite at the table couldn't finish it.  I had a bite of his also - it was the crust that made that calzone - such a lovely soft dough (also made by the folks at PsychaDeli).  I don't know about the combo of pepperoni and shrimp...but the teen liked it so that's all that matters.

Ginormous Calzone!

I had heard they had some excellent ribs so I ordered the half rack of ribs with herbed new potatoes, charro beans, and steamed vegetables with a salad (whew, I had to take some home - that was a lot of food).  The salad came out with a hot bread basket of beer bread - everyone had a piece and thought it was fabulous.  Beer bread may have to be a new recipe to try!  My ribs were fall-off-the-bone tender and moist.  They were slathered in some delicious sauce (I'm a sauce snob and I could eat this by the bottle!).  I suspected they were not going to be smoked ribs - not many places have smokers down here - and they weren't.  However, I would surely recommend them and would happily order them again!  The only complaints I had were the inability to see the ribs to cut them, the vegetables were sort of flavor-less (but I didn't really care - I couldn't even eat all the meat, beans, and potatoes - which had AWESOME flavor)...and I would have loved to have been offered a damp towel at the end of the meal.  I eat my ribs with my fingers...and I was to the point of licking them clean because the paper napkin was sticking to the sticky fingers!  Really small complaints in the big scheme of things.  I count this as an excellent meal!!!

Half-rack of BBQ Ribs - delicious!

We left The Padre Island Brewing Company in a happy glow indicative of a well-served, well-cooked, happily-eaten meal.  I can't wait to go back...my friend says they have one of the best bacon cheeseburgers on the island...gotta try that!

SPI FLIP FLOP FOODIE RATING:

4 1/2  – Lip smackin’ - good quality – flip flops will definitely be parked under their table again!