River Trade Brewing Company
We’re about a week away from the kids’ next competition and that means they want to be at the rink as much as they can.
The only day either of them take off is Saturday because there is no ice available in Kalamazoo on Saturday.
L’s practice time started fairly early (at least for us) on Sunday morning and that was going to make it hard for us to meat J’s parents for Mother’s Day breakfast/brunch. I suggested instead of Sunday morning we meat Saturday evening for dinner. J and her mom both thought that was a a good idea so that’s what we planned.
I told then to pick where they wanted to go and they both told me to pick where they wanted to go. I was put on the spot when we were having the conversation and there wasn’t really anything that came to mind right away. We initially decided on Latitude 42 but I was never super on board with that. We had just done that exact same thing on J’s birthday because I was told to pick where J wanted to go for her birthday and I didn’t have a lot of ideas then either.
Over the next couple of days, J and her mom had talked about Forget Me Not in Three Rivers. J’s mom saw pictures of the soft serve she and B got the previous weekend and thought that looked really good. I said why don’t we just meet in Three Rivers somewhere then. It was then I remembered a brewing not too far away that I’ve been looking for an excuse to go to.
We ended up meeting in Constantine at River Trade Brewing. The small brewery took over the 175 year building Constantine Brewing occupied a few a years ago. The restaurant is on Washington Street which is now BL-131 after the moved US-131 to a bypass around town. There is street parking on both sides of Washington Street or on side streets around the downtown area. We happened to pull up to spot on one side of the street while my in-laws were pulling in to a spot on the other side of the street right around 3 PM on Saturday. There weren’t a lot of changes made when River Trade Brewing moved in. You can still see the lettering for Constantine Brewing on the awning hanging over the front door.
The restaurant is divided in to two spaces. When you walk in the door, there is a bar immediately in front of you with older style backless bar stools.
There are also a few small tables with these same bar stools built in to the walls.
The other room is more of the dining room. We headed straight there since there were six of us. All of the sitting in this area is large, heavy picnic style tables. The decor brings out some of the best part of the historic building using the exposed almost 200 year old bricks and well aged hard wood floor as focal points that blend with more modern exposed duct work, wood paneling and metal siding as a contrast between the new and the old.
The waitress was also the bartender. She was working both rooms but we were before the evening dinner rush. We were the only table in the dining room and there was only a couple of people in the bar so she was able to handle both.
The beer list is written on a chalkboard posted up near the entrance to the dining room. It was kind of facing the other way when we sat down but since we were the only ones in the room, she turned it around so we could all see.
I saw a couple of IPA’s on the list and picked the Anamorph Hazy IPA. I don’t drink nearly as much as I used to but I still like a good juicy hazy IPA when I do.
My father-in-law is more of a Miller Lite guy but wanted a beer. I asked the bartender about the two pilsners on the menu. She said the Bonebright would be less hoppy so that’s what he ordered. Fun fact, the Bonebright IPA is named after the Bronebright family who were the first family to give birth to a baby in Constantine.
J and her mom both ordered the River Trade Berry Cider.
The menu at River Trade has a lot of interesting options to choose from. The flatbreads were tempting but I ended up ordering Jalapeno Smashburger. I made it a double to get two patties. Those two Vander Farmers Wagyu beef patties (yeah…all the burgers are wagyu patties) are topped with (a lot) of fresh jalapenos, a jalapeno mayo, crumbled bacon and pickled red onion (left off). The smash burgers had a great crispy edges to them but feel like they’re missing a little something as there’s not cheese on this burger. The fresh jalapenos and jalapeno mayo gave each bite a delicious, peppery, spicy kick and the bacon gave it a little saltiness and added on to the crunch. This would have been a really delicious burger with a couple slices of cheese but even without it was still really tasty.
The sandwich comes with chips but I upgraded to the sidewinder fries. You’ve seen these before. They’re kind of a cross between a potato wedge and a curly fry. The waitress offered ketchup but I like these as they are and just ate them with a bit of salt and pepper.
J and L both ordered the Crispy Goat Cheese Arugula Salad. This salad is really simple. It’s got an arugula base and it’s topped with fried goat cheese, red onions, and croutons. A balsamic vinaigrette is served on the side. Both J and L left the red onions off. L loves goat cheese and was very excited to see this on the menu. There were two fried goat cheese balls on the salad. L tore them up and crumbled them on her salad. Both of them said the croutons were also delicious and helped extend the flavor of the salad. L quickly cleared her bowl then ended up finishing J’s too. She was a really big fan of this salad.
L helped J finish her salad because J and her mom also ordered a Garlic Parm Grilled Baked Potatos. J really liked this. It was a baked potato that had been smashed flat and grilled then topped with garlic and parmesan cheese. These potatoes are a really good deal. This one is only $4 and it’s a lot of deliciously grilled food.
J’s mom ordered one of the flatbreads. She picked the Hot Peach which is sesame oil, peaches, bacon, mozzarella, crushed walnut and hot peach sauce. Almost nothing sounded good to me but it all looked really tasty and she really liked it. A whole flatbread was too much for her though so she took half of it home.
J’s dad ordered the Beer Cheese Burger. I almost ordered this one too. He did a double smash patty. The burger is topped with RTB Beer Cheese, onion crisps, whole grain mustard and pickles.
There is a kids menu but I forgot to take a picture of it. It has a lot of the usual type meals. B ordered a simple cheeseburger and chips. He devoured the burger. He almost had it done before I even got my plate. He ate a few of the chips but L stole most of them. They were just out of the bag kettle chips but L was really digging them.
I grabbed the bill when the waitress set it down but my father in law grabbed it away from me as I was reaching for my wallet. I did notice it was about $125 for the six of us with four beers.
Heading down to Constantine for dinner was kind of a last minute choice but it was a good one. Everyone was happy with their meals. My in-laws had no idea that they were so close to Constantine. My mother-in-law had been seeing ads for Harvey House and wanted to go there but didn’t know where it was. Now they have a couple more restaurant options pretty close to them. River Trade turned out to be a great spot to meet them for a Mother’s Day dinner.
SW Michigan Dining 