Paw Paw Brewing Company
929 E. Michigan AvenueWe don’t usually go out to dinner on Friday nights but we had only one kid as L was in Wisconsin with J’s parents on vacation. I got off work a little early and J suggested we do something.
I hate crowds and I hate waiting at restaurants which is why we usually go to dinner before 5:00. I’m not old. I’m just cranky.
I didn’t really have a lot of ideas as anything I really wanted I knew we were going to have to wait. On my drive home, I came up with what I thought was a really good idea. Let’s go to Paw Paw.
Paw Paw Brewing Company is on the east edge of Paw Paw on Michigan Avenue…which becomes Red Arrow Highway when you get out of town. They’ve been in this building for a little over eight years. J has never been there, but back in 2012, J’s mom and I went for a beer and at that time, I was surprised when I got there and found a food menu. Fast forward six years and we’re driving to Paw Paw because of the food menu.
There’s not much of a parking lot behind the building so people were parking along the street on Hamilton Street. There’s an entrance off the back which is where we walked in. The small dining room was packed. There are only a handful of tables in the small space with mugs hanging from the walls. There was a musician in the back of the room playing to the small crowd.
We walked through the dining room to see if there were any seats in the bar but that was a bust too. There is only one table in this area and it was taken. The bar was full as well. We were getting ready to walk out the door when someone at the bar started talking to J. During that time, someone who is either a regular or somehow involved noticed us looking for a table and he asked a guy sitting by himself if he’d move to the bar so we could sit.
The table we moved to was quite comfortable yet with B. The higher than normal table only had backless stools and there was no way we were going to trust him on that. A lady at another table pointed out there was a high chair in the corner. B hasn’t sat in a high chair in quite a while but it was the best solution at the time. A little later, the table behind us left so we quickly swooped in and grabbed that one so B could sit on his own next to us.
Ordering is done at the bar so J decided what she wanted and I headed up to do that and grab a couple of menus.
J picked a high alcohol mead that they no longer had so I ordered the regular mead. It was tasty but she was looking for something a little stronger. That’s probably not what she would have ordered if she had been with me when I placed it.
Friday night is flight night so I took advantage. I was going to do it anyway but the three bucks off was pretty cool.
The waitress handed me a slip of paper to write down my selections while she worked on J’s drink.
I have had some of Paw Paw’s beer in the past so I tried to stay away from them. I started with the darker beers picking Ladder 3 first. This beer is listed as a Red Lager on Untappd but I don’t think that’s what they were calling it. It was a smooth, tasty beer but not something I’d drink a whole lot of.
The second drink I picked up was Cafe 237 Coffee Stout. As the name implies this is a coffee stout mad with local coffee. Another good one to sip on but it’s pretty strong. You gotta like coffee to drink a full pint of this one.
Beer number three was Laughing Paw Pale Ale. They call this one an English style pale. Good and sipable. A little bitter and a little roasty.
The fourth beer was Taste It, Find Oat. Another pale ale. Another fine beer.
Beer five was the Weekend Away IPA. This is their Session IPA. Very smooth. Very easy to drink with that good hopiness you expect in an IPA.
My last beer was the Great DIPA. No surprise (as I say every time), this was my favorite. Juicy, bitter, and something I could drink all day.
By now, J was on to her second drink. This time, she got the Oak Aged Cyser. It was a delicious drink..pretty sweet, a little woody from the Oak. This is the one she would have ordered the first time.
B was being so good so we thought we’d give him a special treat and order him a root beer. Like L, he wasn’t a fan. Their house made root beer is very sweet. It’s delicious…but sweet. I went and grabbed B a cup of water and that’s pretty much what he drank.
The last time I ate at Paw Paw Brewing they only had a few panini sandwiches. The menu has expanded quite a bit and even includes burgers everyday now instead of just on special.
I ordered the Western Burger. This sandwich is a 1/3 pound of ground prime rib, Cheddar cheese, a sweet and smokey BBQ sauce, jalapeno infused bacon, and onion straws on a bakery bun. The burgers are cooked on a grill right outside the back door and assemble in the kitchen just inside. This burger had a crispy outer edge with a warm, pink middle. The BBQ sauce was more smokey and sweet and the bacon was super crispy and added just a hint of heat to the sandwich.
The side choice is chips. I picked regular which is Block & Barrel’s Kettle Chips. Block & Barrel is Sysco’s private label. I’ve seen these other places. They’re good and compliment the burger.
J picked the Southern BBQ Pork Panini. This sandwich is roasted pulled pork, a sweet and tangy BBQ sauce, slaw, and Provolone on an herb focaccia bread. J really enjoyed this sandwich. The BBQ covered all of the meat which didn’t have a smoke flavor because it wasn’t smoked. The slaw was nice and crunchy but let the flavor of the BBQ sauce shine through.
She picked the tortilla chips for her side. Like the kettle chips, it’s another Sysco private label called Casa Solana. I also added in some cheese sauce to her chips for dipping which made the yellow corn chips even better.
There is no kids menu so we ordered B a cheese quesadilla basket. A 10 inch tortilla is grilled with a blend of cheeses and served with tortilla chips and a chicken tamale. B continued he streak of nothing much at restaurants taking just a bite of the quesadilla and eating a few chips. We took most of it home and he did eat some later when we told him that was the only option. J and I both tried the tamale but we were pretty stuffed and didn’t finish it.
When we got close to wrapping up, I went back to the bar to cash out with the bartender. Our bill was a little over $50 once I added in a pint glass to add to my collection.
Paw Paw Brewing Company is getting better with age. I liked it last time I was there and I liked it even more this time. The beginning of the meal was frustrating until we could get a table but I’m glad we stuck it out and just kind of rolled with it. B was being good which really helped or we would have bailed. There are so many more beers I didn’t get a chance to try on this trip that we may need to make another (off peak hours) trip back down Red Arrow soon.
SW Michigan Dining 