527 Leonard Street NWWell, I didn’t plan on getting stranded in Grand Rapids, but that’s what happened. The snow has been terrible this past week and I decided it was better just to bite the bullet and stay in Grand Rapids overnight than try and make my way down a treacherous US-131 to get home.
When I woke up on the south side of Grand Rapids, I figured I may as well take advantage of being in town and not on the clock. There’s a number of breweries I need to try at some point so I thought it time to cross one off the list
I made my way back in to town to get to The Mitten Brewing Company on Leonard Street just a few blocks west of 131. The small, vintage baseball themed brewery takes up space in what used to be the Grand Rapids Fire Department’s Engine House #9. The awesome space keeps a lot of the Victorian era charm of this historic building. According to their website, a lot of care was taken to restore a lot of the original features of the building.
The main focus at The Mitten is the beer, but they’re actually pretty well known for their pizzas as well. Other than appetizers, it’s the only thing on the menu. Their pizzas ended up on Mlive’s 7 Pizza’s Not To Miss on their search for Michigan’s Best Pizzas.
The dining room was pretty full when I walked in a little after 1:00 on a Saturday afternoon. I started to head towards the bar, but I noticed a table open in the back. I wasn’t really looking to be social as I was exhausted and hungry, so I took the table over the bar.
From where I was sitting, I couldn’t really see the tap list above the bar. I was squinting to see what was up there when the waitress came over and asked if I was ready to order. I just asked if they had an IPA on tap and she pointed out a second chalkboard with a taplist right behind me. They did have an IPA (actually a couple) on tap, so I ordered the Country Strong IPA. This classic IPA had a pretty strong citrus-y finish too and went down really, really smooth. It tasted incredibly delicious after the night had I before.
Before she left, I asked to put a pizza order in to as I wanted to enjoy my meal, but I also wanted to get back on the road. I should have let her just do her thing because I overheard her later telling the table next to me about their amazing sounding Mac & Cheese pizza (with fried jalapenos and bacon) special….which I probably would have ordered, but my rush got the best of me and I just ordered the best sounding pizza on the menu instead.
My selection was the Da Meat Hook pizza. The 12″ gourmet pizza is a hand tossed, soft doughy crust topped with a house made tomato sauce, Italian sausage, pepperoni, ham, bacon, and mozzarella cheese. The pizza was loaded with all of those meats and while it was only a 12″ pizza, it seemed much, much bigger. The crust puffed up quite a bit, but it was very light and airy. The sauce was very tangy which was perfect with the saltiness of the bacon and ham. I was only able to eat about half of the pizza before I had to admit defeat and ask for a box to take the rest home.
The cost for the beer and pizza was just a little under $20. A little on the high side, but worth it for a special treat every now and then.
The Mitten Brewing Company is another incredibly strong West Michigan brewery. The food menu is limited to pizzas, but these are really tasty pizzas and really, is there anything that goes better with delicious beer than pizza?
Country Strong IPA
12″ Da Meat Hook Gourmet Pizza
Da Meat Hook
