Went for a bike ride (the motorcycle kind) on a late Tuesday afternoon instead of a rescheduled dentist appointment and on the way back stopped in at the new(ish) Iron Hill Taphouse in Exton.
We mainly chose this stop over because of a brief conversation I had with one of the chefs a few weeks ago - about the lack of vegetarian options on their menu. Well, pescatarian, technically, since we do eat seafood. The menu is really good, but having just the two meat-free main options - Grilled Mahi Mahi Tacos and the Chilled Asian Noodle Bowl - does get old after a few visits, good as those dishes are. So while I was getting beer to go, I engaged in some friendly banter, and offered my partially solicited opinion about adding a plant-based meat substitute to the burger menu.
A couple of weeks later the chef, whose name I regrettably do not remember (Dave, I think?), happily announced when I ran into him getting still more beer that the Impossible Burger was now on the menu.
To make a short story longer, when we got tired of riding around in the sun, we decided to pop back in and check out the Impossible Burger.
While waiting at the bar, bartender Chad brought us our beer flight:
Galaxy Quest
Grove Fresh
The New Normal IPA
Vibranium IPA
Sorry, the Vibranium was gone by the time I thought to take this picture:
We started in on it, picking a drink from opposite ends of the flight tray - Jessi picking Vibranium while I grabbed the Galaxy.
Pro tip: when sampling, leave The New Normal IPA for last. It is so sharp and bright that every beer after it tastes like dishwater. Good dishwater, but still.
All the beers were excellent; Grove Fresh made me think of orange juice instantly, which makes sense, given the name.
Vibranium is presented as an IPA, but it’s a way better stout. It’s almost as dark as a stout, and has the characteristic coffee/burnt notes. It was quite good.
All the beers, including Galaxy Quest, were so well balanced that you could drink them without focusing on any particular detail, which, in my opinion, is a sign of a well-crafted beverage. I’m a fan of Galaxy Quest also because the movie is awesome. The beer does not disappoint either.
At the end, Chad let us sample La Zamba (cheers, Chad) and it ended up being Jessi’s favorite.
Now, on to the food. Chad wasn’t actually sure if the Impossible Burger was on the menu. That was disappointing - come on, you have to know stuff like that, but I guess in a place where you order your own at the food counter, not every staff member is trained on the menu. Fine.
Jessi came back and told me they didn’t have Impossible Burger anymore. Thankfully, that turned out to be a prank, as a few minutes later the Mahi Mahi Tacos and the Impossible Burger arrived. Having received the requisite hot sauce, we dug in.
The Mahi Mahi Tacos are fantastic. You get two, plenty of fish, and I do recommend the hot sauce. The ingredients are well proportioned and everything just works. The crunch from the slaw and the melty mahi mahi, complemented by the cilantro sauce tang combine into one of the best tacos you’ll have. We get it every time (esp since there aren’t too many other options), and are never disappointed.
The Impossible Burger was well crafted. The patty is very thin, which was disappointing, but the chef knew what they were doing. They piled it high with fried crispy onion strings so the burger looked like a burger should - and it was good. I’m a big fan of spicy ketchup, so as I mixed in the hot sauce into ketchup and dipped the burger into the concoction, the entire combination made me very happy.
Interestingly, the burger isn’t on the menu as of August 26th 2021. I hope they’re not ashamed of their vegetarian creation - it clearly deserves a place alongside its cow-flesh companions.
All in all, it was a satisfying experience. I hope the impossible burger stays on the menu and gets additional treatments - I’m happy that the chef is up to the challenge of providing a really satisfying vegetarian experience to those of us who choose that lifestyle.