Review: Grin and beer it at Weeping Radish Brew Pub

By Sonja Barisic

JARVISBURG, N.C.

The menu has changed a bit, but the beer is still good and the pigs still fly at The Weeping Radish Brew Pub.

The pub is part of a farm-brewery-butchery on 24 acres in Jarvisburg, N.C., just miles from the entrance to the Outer Banks. Goats out front gnaw the grass and sunbathe on the roof of their pen.

The pub features hormone-free meats and sausages made by The Weeping Radish's master butcher using animals from local farms; many items also are for sale at the counter.

Shortly after my husband and I ate a pleasant meal at the pub in April, a new chef came in. We returned this month to check out changes to the menu. The 60-mile drive from Norfolk took almost two hours as we got enmeshed in holiday weekend traffic. The restaurant was almost full when we arrived, but we were seated within a few minutes. From there, service deteriorated as the staff had trouble keeping up with the crowd.

While we waited 50 minutes for appetizers to arrive, my husband enjoyed a pint of Radler ($4.25), a bright, zesty blend of beer and lemonade, and I sipped the brewery's newest beer: IPA 25 ($4.25), a mild India pale ale brewed in honor of The Weeping Radish's 25th anniversary this year. Owner Uli Bennewitz, who hails from Bavaria, opened the original brewery in Manteo, N.C., and moved to the current site in 2006. All the beers are German-style lagers and brewed without preservatives; you can try samples by ordering a beer flight. The pub also sells its beers in bottles to go.

The caprese stack appetizer ($8) was unremarkable, with bland tomatoes. Because the server made a mistake in our order, our second appetizer arrived 10 minutes later. The pig wings ($7) - balls of pork atop bones that serve as handles - were offered as a special. While the wings were tender and juicy during our last visit, this time they were dry. We wondered how long they had been sitting in the kitchen as we waited and grew hungrier.

A garden salad ($5) was full of flavorful greens grown on The Weeping Radish farm, unfortunately overpowered by the zesty ranch dressing. The sandwiches we had tried previously, such as a patty melt and grilled ham and cheese on a pretzel loaf, have been replaced by more ambitious items, like a Cuban panini ($8) and pork schnitzel ($11). The panini improved a few bites in when you could taste the pickle, cheese and mustard as well as the meat. The schnitzel was hearty, but at three-quarters of an inch thick (yes, we measured) it was more of a chop than the expected thin cutlet.

More enjoyable was the sausage sampler ($16) with sauerkraut. All five sausages we tried - bratwurst, beer brat, apple brat, andouille and garlic andouille - were worthy of any beer hall in Germany. For $3 extra, we added the liverwurst, a German liver pate the restaurant combines with sweet potato. Spread on a pretzel along with bits of red onion, the sweet yet savory liverwurst was outrageously good. The liverwurst won a 2011 Good Food Award in the charcuterie category. The contest, in San Francisco, recognizes outstanding American food producers and the farmers who provide their ingredients.

Service was so slow, we feared we wouldn't get to order dessert before the restaurant closed at 4 p.m. (it no longer serves dinner). When we got our server's attention with less than a half hour to spare, we found out the brewery also makes root beer, the basis of a refreshing float with vanilla ice cream ($2) that was big enough for two adults to share and a nice way to end a solid but somewhat uneven meal.

Sonja Barisic, snbarisic@gmail.com