6970 Texas DriveHave I mentioned how much I love the brewery scene in Kalamazoo. What’s that? I have? Good. Now I’m going to tell you again. I freakin’ love the brewery scene in Kalamazoo. So many great breweries and more popping up all the time.
The newest addition is Texas Corners Brewing Company. As the name implies, the brewery is in Texas corners, on Texas Drive, near the corner of Q Avenue and 8th Street.
It’s really hard to miss as you pull in to the business center of Texas Township. The brewery took up residence in t-51 he old church on the corner of Texas Drive and 8th Street.
J and I had been wanting to stop in for dinner for quite some time, but we’ve been so busy recently, we couldn’t find time. Last week, J’s mom came to visit and she really the enjoys craft beer scene in Michigan, so we thought this would be a great time to finally check out this new hot spot.
We pulled in to the parking lot at 5:30 on Friday night. We hadn’t planned on going so late, but other things came up, so by the time we decided to go to dinner, it was after 5:00. There were a few spots in the parking lot, but once we walked up the steps and could see in to the brewery, we knew there was going to be a wait.
We ended up waiting a little over 35 minutes for a table. There’s really not a waiting room, so I took L back outside so she wasn’t running in to people waiting in the little hallway connecting the door with the dining room.
When our name was called, we were taken to a four top near the bar. The pictures of the space are deceiving, It’s a little smaller than I thought it would be and, as you would expect with the high steeple ceilings, it’s also a little loud.
Our waitress came over to get drink orders while we looked over the mouth-watering incredible food menu. Texas Corners Brewing doesn’t only do beer. They also have a number of hard ciders on hand at any given time. In fact, they have more cider on top than they do beer right now.
I wanted to try a couple of beers, but there’s not enough for a flight. Instead, I just ordered two of the three beers they have on tap. One while we were waiting. One for dinner.
The waiting for dinner beer I ordered was the 3 Brothers IPA. It’s an IPA made with Chinook hops. It was crisp and refreshing, but not overly bitter or hoppy. My mother-in-law also ordered this beer.
For the dinner beer, I ordered the P-51 Porter. The name is an homage to “our late grandfather” who was a WWII P-51 Mustang pilot. The beer was very smooth, very malty, and had just a twinge of cocoa to finish it off.
Even if you’re not in to beer, the food menu makes this a destination in the Kalamazoo dining scene. The family that owns TCBC are also farmers. You may know them as the family that owns Schultz Fruitridge Farms in Mattawan. As you can imagine from a family that has been farming for decades, almost everything at TCBC is farm-to-table and sourced locally.
Both my mother-in-law and I thought burgers sounded like a fantastic choice for dinner. I picked the Texas Corners Bacon Burger. The free range beef patty is topped with house cured bacon and sharp cheddar cheese. At first glance, the sandwich looked a little on the small side, but it packs so much flavor that the size didn’t really matter. If you’ve never had free range beef, it can be hard to justify the expense, but the meat tastes so much better than typical ground beef. It has a cleaner, more robust flavor and this patty was perfectly cooked with a slightly pink center. The sandwich came with long, thick cut fries that were nice and crispy on the outside and light and fluffy in the middle.
Mother-in-Law ordered the Black and Bleu Burger. The sandwich came with the same free range beef, but it was topped with bleu cheese, cajun spices, and southern slaw. While I thought the burger was a little on the small size, she thought it was perfect. A lot of times she will cut a burger in a half and take part of it home. She didn’t have to do that with this sandwich. She also got the steak fries with her sandwich.
Both L and J ordered flatbreads. We weren’t offered any sort of a kids menu, but after ordering, we noticed another kid near us get a plate of what looked like chicken strips. Thinking about it now, they could have just been wings off the appetizer menu though. It didn’t really matter because they had a Kids’ Flatbread on the menu which was pretty basic with just fresh mozzarella and a red sauce. L loved this little pizza. She surprised us all and ate all but one piece of 8″ pizza. We couldn’t keep up giving her new slices and she scarfed it down. I was able to get my hands on just a little bit of it and I have to admit, I could see why she was eating so fast. The fresh cheese and sweet red sauce on top of the toasty bread was delicious.
J’s flatbread choice was the Caprese. It consisted of heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese. This surprised me a little bit because J doesn’t usually like tomatoes, but she really did love this flat bread. She didn’t eat quite as much as L, but she took the leftovers home and enjoyed it for lunch the next day.
Our bill for this incredible meal was right around $65. We paid with cash and then quickly got up so someone else on the ever growing wait list could have our table.
Texas Corners Brewing Company is quite a treat for craft beer lovers and foodies alike. The menu of farm-to-fork specialties is amazing and the constantly growing beer and cider offerings are more than enough to keep people making the short trip to Texas Corners.
3 Brotehrs IPA
P-51 Porter
Texas Corners Jazz Burger
Kids’ Cheese Flatbread
Caprese Flatbread
