by John Hagan » Fri Sep 05, 2008 3:15 pm
I know its been awhile since anyone has added to this thread but we stopped in last night for the first time. Living out here in the sticks we have drivin by this place hundreds of times(near Claudia Sanders,Lou end of Shelbyville) and have never stopped. For some reason yesterday this old thread popped in my head and thought we ought to check it out. The outside is not particularly inviting nor is it a total turn off either,kind of a carnival stand crossed with a service station look going on. This didnt faze us,the gordita trailer is not much to look at either but as we know the food rocks. Once inside the door you are in a pretty large dinning room with hundreds of empty beer bottles that line the window sills. Its appears there are some more tables behind some curtains at one end of the room kind of hard to tell what that was all about. A few of the tables in the main room had some cardboard boxes pilled on them as though it was part of some unfinished project. While there were cars in the lot we didnt see anybody seated nor did anybody greet us at the door. We walked in kind of moving toward the back where we heard some noise coming from and found a little bar type area set up with about a half dozen card size tables stuffed in this small room. This "back room" was filled with a pretty diverse crowd. A handfull of business sales type guys, a couple of blue collar types,a guy and his wife out to eat,and a few other colorfull charters. The owner met us at the entrance to the bar area and gestured to a table in the room. I pointed to the bar and said we will just sit there. He looked a bit surprised but happy at the same time. I asked for the beer list and he brought a phone book size binder filled with tasting notes and commentary through out. I read a couple pages written by Roger Bayor that semed to be from a blog or something. I was overwhelmed and put myself in the hands of Sergio. Just bring me what you like that you have on tap. As I recall there were about 14 different brews on tap(over 600 in bottles) that included a fine Russain stout,great Belgiums,some Bells, I cant remember all that was on tap but everything he brought me was great. The place is covered in hand written commentary notes from the regulars as well as many dry erase boards showing the number of different world beers each regular has tried. Sergio was at the top of the list with over 700. The next down was in the 600s as I recall. This area is also covered up in beer bottles, they are on the wall,windows,all over the bar. Its really quite a collection. It kind of reminds me of being in a real beer geeks basement , a guy who never threw out an empty bottle knowing that just looking at it would remind him of that fine brew. I remember hearing about the cheesesteak before so decided to give it a try. This thing was huge. Anne and I split one and were both filled up. The meat was cut right,easy to eat but not so cut up that it lost its texture. The cheese was yellow but not of the wiz type. Served on good chewy fresh roll topped with grilled peppers and onions. The fries that came with this reminded me of the ones at Ollies Trolley just a bit more crisp. I am not sure I would take someone here for an anniversary dinner and its probably not a good first date place but if your into beer I would highly reccomend this joint. As we were sitting there I told Anne if Bordain ever comes to Louisville this would be right up his alley. I wouldnt go as far to call this place dirty,but it does have a charm all its own.We did poke our heads in the kitchen and it was very clean and orderly. Anne concluded that Sergio must be a bachelor as this palce shows no sign of a womans touch. No ,its not your normal bar and eatery(TGImcawfuls). When you order water they bring you a miller lite product. That sealed the deal for me, I am going back. So if you go, head toward the little room in back and let Sergio show off a really incredible selection of beer, made all the more impressive that its sitting right here in Shelbyville.
The tall one wants white toast, dry, with nothin' on it.
And the short one wants four whole fried chickens, and a Coke.
