Welcome to the first in a new series of restaurant reviews here at Ashvegas, written by Asheville foodie Gourmet Girl of the Blogapalooza-award-winning food blog SheWhoEats.
Here you go:
Gastronomical Experimentation at the LAB: The Six Steps of the Scientific Method as Applied to the Lexington Ave Brewery
Step One: Ask Questions
Ever since the LAB opened last Thursday, the question on all my friends’ lips has been, “do you want to go to the LAB again tonight?” With over 1,100 Facebook friends and nightly packed houses, they don’t need help from me, but I thought I’d take a culinary tour of Asheville’s newest brewery anyway. After tasting a hefty percentage of their menu, I think I can safely move on to the second step.
Step 2: Do Background Research
I didn’t know much going into it, just that the owners are a couple of local guys who also founded Echo Mountain Studios. I also learned they’ve been using the word “gastropub” with brazen abandon. As a late night marauder and post 10pm gourmet, this had my interest piqued.
Step 3: Construct a Hypothesis
As opening day neared, the tension mounted, and I occasionally peeked through windows to check out the rusty urban chic decor. Something told me these guys were into something good.
Step 4: Experiment
After four visits, I’ve concluded that the first taste was the best. I went for lunch, when it was not too crowded. I found the service helpful and efficient, although I still can’t decide if the colored lighting effects over the vats call to mind a disco or the United Terminal at O’Hare airport. I ordered the chicken pot pie, while my friend ordered the grilled cheese with tomato soup. The pot pie was the best thing I’ve sampled there. It surpasses similar attempts at the comfort classic at more established restaurants such as Sunny Point or Tupelo Honey, who have both offered it as specials in the past. The crust was hot, flaky, and perfectly browned, resting lightly atop large chunks of roasted chicken, buoyant butternut squash, sweet potatoes, bright green peas, and best of all, pearl onions. Their pot pie portion is perfect, and I would like nothing better than an order of this excellent dish on a mid-winter’s day. My companion was pleased with her grilled cheese, a decent Southern spin on the diner sandwich with an added kick of pimento cheese.
On another occasion I tried the butcher’s plate of sausage, bresaola and pate with cornichons and mustard. I enjoyed the large plate of various savory offerings, but I found myself wishing for crackers or bread slices to pair with the rustic charcuterie.
I’ve seen a lot of folks ordering the onion rings, but I was less impressed with their heavily breaded, greasy basket of rings. The fries, skinny and redolent of garlic and herbs, stayed crisp, tasted great and impressed my partners-in-dine.
In a town full of street vendors, German, Irish and English chefs, the LAB may need to step up their game with the bratwurst. Mine tasted dry and bland, rather than the juicy, herbed sausages I’d prefer. Many kudos to the LAB’s homemade pickles, sauerkraut and mustard, all of which were winning additions to the menu.
Enough about the food, let’s talk beer. This, in addition to a great location, is the reason for the nightly crowds. The LAB’s beer is nothing short of outstanding. From the beautifully balanced chocolate stout to the Belgian white, the LAB brews offer depth and variety I have rarely found in a single Asheville brewery. Their rich, buttery pilsner warmed the belly and heart, and the LAB’s white ale is so succulent, so easy drinking, I lost count a little too quickly. I also love their numerical bitterness measurement, a neat trick practically guaranteeing a less experienced beer drinker they will love whichever they order.
I do have one gripe. With all the staff, managers and owners milling about, they need a host or hostess seating folks when they enter. Each night was more stressful than the one before, table hunting I felt like Piggy from Lord of the Flies, looking for a table but instead finding humanity in its worst form of social Darwinism. I come to a pub to relax, not to argue over tables and chairs with my fellow Ashevillians. I think the vibe would be improved with some seating service, calmly funneling drinkers to the bar and diners to the tables.
Step 5: Draw a Conclusion
LAB’s first week has gotten off to a raucous start, and I don’t think that enthusiasm will wane in the weeks and months to come. I conclude that with their stellar beer offerings and inventive pub menu, The Lexington Ave Brewery will earn a place in Asheville’s pantheon of truly great and lasting brewpubs. Or was that a hypothesis? Science was never my strong suit.
Step 6: Communicate Your Results
Happy Reading, and Happy Eating!
15 Comments
They did a great job with the building but the beer has a ways to go. It is too carbonated. Will definitely go back and give it another try or too.
It took me 30 minutes to get a drink at the bar and the only reason I did get one was my friend (who also had been waiting for about 15 minutes) decided to wave her hand in the air in an obnoxious way. That is more than just being busy….a good bartender will at least ackowledge you. And this was early on a Sunday evening and not that busy. Menu looked nice, so may go back in a month or two…….
The beers they’ve had on tap since opening are the first batches ever pushed through that system. And for two of those first beers to be lagers and have them turn out as good as they did, that’s pretty impressive. Most of the breweries around here didn’t hit their recipe stride until at least a few months into operation. PIsgah’s pale ale tasted and smelled like old, dirty gym socks for pretty much the first year of their operation. The Wedge brews were way too sweet at first, but they seem to have really improved. Personally, I think the LAB’s beer is great for their first batches. The Wit is by far better than any other Belgian wheat beer in town, and the chocolate stout is spot on.
The beer is average, at best, for us who are so privileged to have so many great and adventurous local breweries. Here’s to hoping that the beer recipes will soon be on par with the food.
I knew someone would enter the conversation and flex their beer knowledge for everyone to see and talk about diacetyl. Agreed, it was a poor and inaccurate way to describe the LAB’s pilsner, which is actually quite good and on point for the style.
Anyone in Food service knows that a host/hostess sets the tempo for the kitchen and dining room. A quick an orderly turn of tables is the key to $$.
BeerLover, you are right, and I’d call the Pilsner "rich and malty" but definitely not buttery-worth trying.
As SheWhoEats described the pilsner in this review I don’t think I would ever want to try it! The pilsner beer style is a wonderful one which should be a clean and crisp lager beer! As she describes it "Their rich, buttery pilsner warmed the belly…" I think that there is some sort of problem.
Buttery flavors in beer are derived from diacetyl production. There are a few reasons that beer develops these flavors, one of which being bacterial infection.
Not gonna kill you, but I think I will stay away from the LAB!!
I agree about the seating – if there is no assigned seating then there should at least be a hostess or a sign to let customers know when they enter that it’s "first come, first serve," which is what we were told after we finally flagged a busy waitress. I really want to like this place in every way (and I do for the most part), but management decisions/gestures like this give it an air of "if you get a table, well, then you’re just lucky to be here and be seen, and we don’t really care if you walk out because there’s 20 more people behind you trying to get in."
We barely avoided a potential argument with another couple who came in after we did, but who swept in and tried to grab an open table we were waiting for. By setting the place up this way, they’ve placed all organizational responsibility onto patrons, and that’s never a good idea. It’s just going to lead to lots of bitterness and confusion.
Also, I don’t really understand what the strategy or point is of not having a host/hostess to organize and seat patrons. It’s certainly not a money issue, so what gives? Why would a restaurant of this caliber’s dining area be run like a fast-food joint or a cafeteria? It just doesn’t make any sense.
Having said all that, I really do love the LAB so far and hope they start listening to customers who want to see the place become even better. Each dish I’ve ordered there was exceptional for the price and portion, and the beer is some of the best I’ve had in the Asheville area.
The only other thing I felt was poorly planned was the entrance and the frosty drafts that waft through every time the giant front door is opened in the winter. The first few times we went there (when it was in the teens regularly there for a spell), my girlfriend and I had to keep our largest coats on throughout the entire meal just to stay partially warm, and we were sitting near the back! The roll-up door is cool and all, but couldn’t they have just put two matching doors on the street instead to create a buffer/fourier area for all the freezing people at the front of the house? Surely it could’ve been engineered in such a way as to keep the outdoor seating area open and airy during the warm months.
All things considered, the LAB pretty much delivers in every other way, and it’s to be expected that a new business in its infancy will have issues to sort out. I’m sure they will evolve and get better with time.
I agree 100% re: the seating policy (or lack thereof). Makes zero sense. I could see the bar side and maybe the patio being first-come, first-serve, but not the main dining room.
Agreed about the seating. Maybe we should stage a good old fashion bar fight over chairs and tables to serve as a wake up call for management.
Nice review, Gourmet Girl!
Thus the challenging paradox of excited diners….the buzz about a new place builds and builds weeks (even months, in this case) prior to opening. By the time a restaurant or bar throws open its door, expectations are fever-pitch high, especially in a city that takes its food and drink as seriously as Asheville.
Though I’ve certainly been guilty of visiting a place in its infancy and passing quick judgment (ex: chai pani), I think its unfair to hold that judgment without accepting the fact that every restaurant is going to be unprepared for the throngs of people queuing up at their door.
The best advice I can give to anyone who had a less than perfect first experience at LAB is – be patient! Have some compassion, and come back in a month or so. Restaurant owners work long hours even when their food machine is running smoothly, imagine LAB’s owners are doing double or triple duty right now.
I have visited 3 times since they opened.
Once with a group from work around 6:30p: it was almost impossible to find seating for our entire group (around 10-with some stragglers who arrived later) to be seated together for a good meal and socializing.
We ended up sitting separately in 2 groups (not ideal, but we were already there).
The responses the next day at work varied: most were positive, but the one topic that was discussed the most was the "lack seating" for a size-able group of folks who wanted to be seated together.
Maybe this will subside as the "new" wears off. But if not, as a group, we will probably not return.
It is less than welcoming when patrons have to interrupt others who have found a spot asking to have "their table" when finished – this happened twice to one of our group. (It makes you feel like "vultures are looming".)
Since we had some folks who came early and left, and others who "dropped in" we actually had folks who wanted to take chairs away from our table while we were we still at the table- one young lady didn’t even ask, she just walked up and took the chair.
I will add that several folks in our group have been on other occasions and had no problem with seating either as individuals or when coupled…. time will tell.
A group and I also went to LAB recently and had very mixed reviews, with comments at our table ranging from "great" to an "insult." I decided that I would send a letter to the management to share our experience. I never heard back from them. That’s more telling than any review I could write or read. I originally placed the blame on the inexperienced staff and kitchen, but it seems that this could be the result of a "trickle-down" theory.
It seems obvious to me that if I received a complaint from a customer, I’d respond in some way. Sort of the way I felt it was obvious that certain things did or didn’t happen on our visit. I think LAB obviously has some major issues that will be their downfall if they don’t start listening to their guests.
I’m not giving up on LAB. But, I won’t be going back for at least a month. I want to see if they get the "kinks" worked out before I waste my money there again.
I’ve been twice. The sliders kick ass also. I couldn’t agree more about the seating. I’ve called on two separate occasions, speaking to two different people, and received the same answer about seating each time: "We have no plans to have reserved seating, or a hostess". That blows. I hate hovering over someone as they are paying, and it pisses me off when someone does it to me; but that is about the only way to get a table. Maybe they will change their policies after seeing this, or after a fight breaks out over a table or two.