The 21st Street Taphouse, which holds the modern Vero restaurant record for longest work in progress, finally opened its doors last week – and the finished product may turn out to be worth the wait.
This restaurant occupies the Miracle Mile space that once was BrewGrrs, and in remodeling it, there appears to be nothing brothers Marc and Kenny Bortnick haven’t thought of.
If a large bar with 42 brews on tap including a variety of craft beers isn’t enough, there is wine and an array of alcoholic beverages. Along with enough big-screen TVs to show every sports event imaginable, there is a jukebox customers can operate by cellphone.
And oh, by the way, the Taphouse has food. Quite a variety of food – good food, ranging from sliders and wings, to garden fresh salads, to steak frites and fish & chips. While the hand-cut fries are a work in progress, the menu has something for everyone.
Headline news: In a town where there aren’t many places to both eat and drink after 10 pm, the Taphouse plans to offer everything on its menu right up to closing time (currently 11 pm weeknights, 2 am weekends). Our guess is the Taphouse quickly becomes the go-to place for Vero’s late night crowd.
Look & Feel: Totally redecorated, with a 38-seat blue copper top bar, lighted steel wall made by a local artist, and a plaster and rock wall, you’re not likely to recognize anything remaining from BrewGrrs. New high top tables and booths can accommodate more than 100 people (not counting the seats at the bar). Umbrella tables in the outdoor bricked patio area (soon to be open for dining) will ultimately seat another couple dozen.
Food: On our initial foray last week, we sampled more than a half dozen appetizers, salads, burgers, sandwiches and entrées.
Best of the appetizers were the crispy chicken wings ($10.24). These were really good. We tried them with all three of the sauces – the “Carolina Reaper” sauce (very hot), the “Cattleman’s BBQ sweet tangy sauce” (too sweet for our taste), and the “Taphouse Style home-made wing sauce” (our favorite).
A close second among appetizers were the fish tacos ($6.99). We also tried both the Caesar salad, and the Indian River salad ($7.99, but large enough to share). The latter was very refreshing.
For sandwiches, I passed up the “Taphouse burger” ($16.50) – an 8-ounce patty topped by a heaping of pastrami, creamy coleslaw and pepper jack cheese with a fried egg on top. Sounded a bit over the top to me. Instead, I ordered a build-your-own burger ($9.99) with lettuce, tomato, pickle, with an added charge of $1.50 for grilled mushrooms and $1 for onion. A good burger.
From the sandwiches category, we tried the steak bialy ($15.25) – tender slices of seared Waygu beef, served on a bialy with fresh baby arugula, red onion, and a creamy horseradish sauce. Good, but even better was the beer braised short rib sandwich ($11.25).
Finally from the entrées, my husband sampled the fish and chips ($15.50) – fresh cod flash fried in the Taphouse’s special beer batter.
For dessert, we shared an order of bread pudding ($7) with bourbon sauce. One of the better ones around.
Service: On our visit, we had an excellent server – and one of the co-owners was a very visible presence in the dining room, making sure we and all other diners were happy.
Prices: Prices range from $3.50 for a cheeseburger slider, to $6.99 for fish tacos, to $10.24 for crispy chicken wings, to $16.25 for steak frites. With a couple of drinks, our guess is a party of two is likely to spend in the neighborhood of $60 to $70 including tax and tip.
Initial impressions: From the day nine months ago that the brothers Bortnick bought the former BrewGrrs restaurant, they have told people they intended to create a neighborhood bar and grill unlike anything Vero had even seen.
The totally transformed interior – sleek, yet inviting – speaks for itself. But even more important than the look is the feel: The ambiance they are creating at the eastern end of Miracle Mile is a winner.
I welcome your comments, and encourage you to send feedback to me at tina@verobeach32963.com.
The reviewer dines anonymously at restaurants at the expense of Vero Beach 32963.