Brazen Hall Kitchen & Brewery
800 Pembina Highway
204-453-7980
Facebook: @brazenhall1
Twitter: @brazenhall1
June, 2018
The former Round Table was one our favourite places to go for prime rib and at the time they announced their impending renaissance, I thought it nervy and ambitious to mess with something successful. Months later, Brazen Hall emerges, not only with a new brand, but with a new focus on craft brewing.
Instead of the warm, elegant and cozy dining rooms with fireplaces, the dining room now looks sleek, modern and energetic. The restaurant capacity looks like they cut it in half to make room for the brewing apparatuses. The menu leans towards pub-type fare, moving away from the continental, fine-dining feature, although Brazen continues to serve their famous prime rib on Friday to Sunday.
Waiting for our food gives us the perfect opportunity to sample their beer flight, consisting of:
- Steel Cut Blonde Ale: It’s an ale but it tastes much more like a lager to me than an ale. The menu lists it as 20 IBU (international bitterness units) but I would rate it much lower than that. I overhear the owner say that they cut back on the yeastiness to move this beer closer to mainstream demands (read: Bud Light). That’s not what I look for in a craft beer.
- Jarpur Amber Ale: That’s more like it. This well-rounded ale has the depth I see but a fair amount of body and clean taste.
- Biere de Garde: I love this one too, which tastes a tad heavier than the previous brew. This submission has a slightly fruity nose with hints of honey and spice.
- Oatmeal Stout: If you like stouts, this should fall right in your alley. Smooth, semi-sweet (off-dry) and chocolatey, this stout differs considerably from the famous Guinness stout.
- Gokstad IPA: I love IPAs, mainly because I love hops and the bitterness associated with them. They list this one at 55 IBU but it tastes bitterer than that. There’s a hint of citrus, augmenting this well-rounded IPA.
Ah, dinner time. The Smash Steak comes as a flat iron cut, made sous vide and seared afterwards. I am a big fan of the flat iron steak. The flat iron is normally a tougher cut (the tougher the cut, the more flavour it has) but if done right, it can be tender as top sirloin (with much more flavour). Interestingly, Brazen sous vides (poaching in a plastic bag at low temperature) the steak before searing to give it the blackened surface. Sous vide purports to cook food very evenly because of the long cooking times. It’s somewhat successful here but the steak is no longer medium, as promised on the menu. This is well done, in the cooking sense, not the tasting sense, although it tastes well too.
The chimichurri sauce gives this steak a South American accent, which can be great for the worldly but distracting for the steak purists. The thin fries are well made, skin on and not greasy. The gravy has herbs in it—I would guess thyme, perhaps rosemary.
Both thyme and rosemary are powerful herbs and they can easily take over a dish. If used in proper amounts, they add a dimension to the food if you cross the fine line and overuse, that’s all you taste. There’s a tad too much herb in this gravy and that’s all I can sense.
The burgers come “served on scallion potato bun” but I neither taste nor see scallions in the bun. It’s a good, fresh bun, I just don’t see any hint of green onion. The menu describes the patty as made with beef and Winkler Farmer Sausage. I can tell that it’s not a pure beef patty but I don’t feel the sausage adds anything to the meat. I would go with a fattier, more powerful sausage as a blending partner, rather than the bland farmers’ sausage.
There’s plenty of bacon in here but I only see one slice of mushroom. The Trappist cheese tastes great but I would like to see more of it. The crispy onions make a great complement, as does the exquisite blueberry, maple catsup. The lettuce perkily lies on the ingredients, adding much needed greenery to the meal.
I am very happy that Brazen decided to keep the prime rib on the menu, even though it only appears on weekends. As you can see, you get a hefty portion with your order and it's done to perfection, complete with the charred rind and the rosy, pink interior. The meat tastes juicy and moist, barely needing the jus, except for a touch of saltiness. There's more fat in the cut than I like. Often, restaurants don't like to adulterate the look of the slice but the glob of fat could easily have been purged and replaced with a garnish or a side.
The Yorkshire pudding is cooked well, light and airy on the texture. It's a bit light on flavour but here again comes the jus to the rescue.
By the size of the crowds and the frequency by which Brazen Hall turns away customers because they're full, I'd say the transformation meets with success. I love seeing more craft beers produced in this city so I welcome the addition of the brewing facility very much. The food tastes every bit as good as it used to so if you were a fan of The Round Table, you'll likely be a fan of Brazen Hall.
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