The Lager House – Latham, NY

This one has been quite a while in the making.

Back in December, a few friends invited us out to dinner at the Lager House, a location formerly home to Courtneys at 185 Old Loudon Road in Latham, NY, on a busy Saturday evening. We tried to go, but the restaurant, which is cozy and small, was packed, probably because of the live holiday music, but also probably because it was Saturday evening.

We reconvened on a Saturday afternoon in January. We were one of two tables, and that was awesome. Truth be told, there are only about 5 other tables and a somewhat small bar area in the place anyway. A detail to note is that the ceiling in the dining area is fairly low. I’m a relatively short guy, so I didn’t care.

The menu is fairly meager. In fact, you can probably find more variety at your local pizza delivery joint. I haven’t done it, but I’m sure that if you count up individual (major) ingredients in menu items, aside from bread and dough, there are probably less than 15 comprising the menu. And, if you’re dieting, the only thing you’ll be able to order is a salad, which isn’t bad, but it is certainly limiting. But, I’m telling you right now: you don’t go to a place like this on a diet.

The beer list is impressive, though. Lots of great stuff on tap; lots of great stuff in bottles. I settled on a Rogue Dead Guy Ale.

It’s a brown ale. Nice and crisp. Somewhat deep in flavor but not heavy.

As an appetizer, we ordered Baron Babies, which sound really interesting on the menu and were something that was carried over from the menu when the place was Courtney’s. I, at this point, asked our server if it was the same owners. His answer was no but that they kept that menu item because it was popular. It is also an easy thing to make.

They’re nothing more than small baked bits of pizza dough tossed in the toppings. They weren’t exciting, and weren’t bad. They were exactly what you’d expect them to be based on looking at them.

Since this was a late lunch and I had no dinner plans, I ordered a medium pizza ($12.95). I opted for the Memphis pulled pork pizza: House ale braised pulled pork; house made brown ale BBQ sauce, and mozzarella cheese, on a garlicky white pizza.

And I took two pictures from different angles because the sun was a killer that day.

The pizza was decent. I would have preferred it a little more done on the bottom, and the dough was clearly baked on a screen. The flavor of the pulled pork was very good. The sauce seasoning the pork was also good; it was slightly sweet and rich, but not goopy like BBQ sauce can be. I could have used a little more. I didn’t get much garlic from the cheese, and I wasn’t keen on the cheese that topped the pizza (it was bland and flavorless).

I got to look around at some of the other things that were ordered at the table. The chicken cordon bleu ordered by Cassie was rather large and seemed to be worth the $7.95 price. Someone ordered the sausage, peppers, and onion roll ($7.95), which was pretty huge.

So I guess what I’m saying is that you can get a fairly large, limited, mediocre meal with great beer for a decent price.

What’s wrong with that?