Today’s Tribune has an article about Gastropubs, which are basically bars with good beer lists AND good food. Not good food like, “Man, they’ve got the best chicken wings! 25 for a dollar! Can’t beat it!” Good food more like it has weird French names that aren’t weird if you know food, and they pair beers with entrees, and they use local produce, and not everything is fried! Sounds fantastic, right?

The name that’s been given to these pubs is a bit unfortunate, as the article points out. It sounds a lot like gastropod- snails and what not- but I guess it’s trying to combine gastronomy and… well, public house? I guess pub is obvious enough to not have to translate. Unfortunate name, like I said, though not as bad a combination as Snicker’s “satisfectellent“. Apparently the trend started in the UK and Ireland. Makes sense to me. I remember being in Ireland and being surprised by all the good food that the pubs served. So I’m stoked.

Anyhow, I hope this thing catches on. Having a nice restaurant that makes a big deal about how good its beer is is a great thing. Most fancy restaurants don’t have nice beer lists because they expect everyone to order wine. Wine at restaurants bottoms out at like 25 bucks a bottle, and that’s for whatever cheap junk stuff they have. Being able to expertly match my meal with some cool craft beer for probably no more than 8 bucks a pint? That’s fantastic. The article lists a few places that it recommends:

• Hopleaf
• BB’s on Hubbard
• Cooper’s

I’d add to that the Winds Cafe, which isn’t exactly fancy, but it has more than just your average beer list and more than just your average menu, though not much more… Frankly, the only exciting food it has is fried plantains, but it’s also really close to my house.