Goodbye Quay Street Brewery! R.I.P.

One of our favorite restaurants is officially dead. Last year a young couple purchased the restaurant from previous long-time owners. At first everything seemed to stay pretty much the same but our visit with Jake and Erin was a sad experience. The clues of negative change were, in hindsight, fairly clear. Clue 1: We had no trouble parking on the street right out front. Clue 2: The main level bar near the entrance was replaced by a huge, sterile room with big beer vats. Clue 3: There was none of the usual line-up to get a table on the outside terrace overlooking the Black River.

After we were seated we were surprised that everything on the menu seemed to be different and worse... NO DOMESTIC BEER in the place. Only expensive, heavy tasting "craft beer" was offered. These beers are never my favorite but especially unsuitable for a 90 degree beer-drinking day. Ominously the place was nearly empty at noon even though it was a perfect, sunny, warm Saturday noon. Even the new name, Thumb Coast Brewery, makes me want to thumb my nose at their new offerings.

The Muffaletta sandwich no longer comes with fries but was large and quite tasty. The lager beer I ordered was heavy and bitter and didn't quench my thirst. I ended up ordering water to cool off. The staff was eager to please and the view was still great but the total bill was considerably higher than past visits. Sadly, I doubt if I'll return soon. So long old friend.
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