For this brewery/bar& grill Roulette, so we went with the Irondequoit Beer Company (“IBC”). There were 10 Rouletters including two guest Rouletters (one who also was a guest at the Nosh review). Everyone else was a returner from our roster. Nine turned in their reviews. Another week, another lesson learned: the portions are WAY bigger in the suburbs. Learning from the Strangebird situation, I erred on the side of ordering more food. That turned out to be a mistake: there was so much food, and it came out so fast that things got cold and people got full very quickly – please keep that in mind as you read the reviews. You live, you Roulette, you learn.
Warm Bavarian Pretzels: Served with Beer Cheese or Pub Mustard for Dipping are usually baked. Not these! The fact that it seemed to be deep fried instead of baked was interesting and fun in a funnel cake meets pretzel kind of way. This fried fairground delicacy shocked us from the gate – crunchy like a roller coaster. Some Rouletters loved the texture and the novelty of this idea. Others noted that a lye-baked pretzel is perfect on its own and frying for improvement doesn’t cut the mustard. Speaking of – everyone agreed that both dips complimented this unusual pretzel nicely. ⭐ 3.7⭐
The award for most polarizing dish of the night goes to the Cauliflower Bites: Gluten free crispy fried cauliflower tossed w/ our housemade stay gold sauce, sour cream, cojita cheese. Rouletters were either impressed by the crunch and crisp with a delightful balance of sweet and a little spicy these managed to pull off. Two Rouletters who don’t usually like cauliflower liked this dish and three Rouletters listed this as one of the top dishes of the night. If you had them a little later, they got mushy, oily, and soggy. Some Rouletters also found them too sweet. Fun fact: the sweet bbq sauce was almost identical to the sauce in the Chicago Burger at Niffer’s in Auburn, Alabama. ⭐ 3.4⭐
The lowest rated dish of the night was the Mexican Street Corn Dip: Sweet corn, onions, jalapeños, sour cream, lime juice, cilantro and seasoning topped with cotija cheese served with housemade chips. The biggest issue was that it was more like a corn salad with a few ideas than an elote dip. We probably would have loved this if it were creamier: like, take half the existing dip out, and replace it with sour cream / cream cheese, and then mix that together – it’d be unstoppable. Some Rouletters really liked the homemade chips and others found them a bit on the stale side. At the end of the night, this was the dish on the table with the most food remaining. ⭐ 2.6⭐
In a tie for top dish of the night was the Pickle Spears: Breaded and Fried spears w/ sriracha ranch. In an odd twist, this was also the second most polarizing dish of the night. First, It takes some chutzpah to fry a spear instead of a slice. Second, the breading actually stuck to the pickle (which is a physical impossibility that somehow they got right). Rouletters were either like “We love a crispy-ass pickle. So yummy, so well fried! Dipping sauce was a joy.” or “I think fried pickles work better in chip form.” Here’s a weird thing: the menu says it comes with Sriracha ranch, but at least two Rouletters reported a berry flavored dipping sauce. This lowered at least one rating. Quite the mystery. ⭐ 3.9⭐
The other dish tied for top dish of the night was the Irish Nachos: Sidewinder fries topped w/ beer cheese, bacon, green onion and sour cream. For the perfect Irish nachos, little more is required than perfectly composed cheese sauce, bits of bacon, and excellently fried potatoes. They nailed that here and two Rouletters ranking this one as a top dish. The cream and scallion garnish were bonuses. From the soft in the center and crisp on the outside sidewinder fry to creamy cheese topped off with the scallion bite, this was a great combination of textures and flavors. Some folks were looking for a bit of heat and got that covered with some hot sauce.⭐ 3.9⭐
Next up was the Ricotta & Charred Bread: Rubino’s fresh ricotta cheese w/ parmesan cheese, fresh basil and drizzled w/ olive oil. Served w/ charred Amazing Grains sourdough bread. Who doesn’t like nicely made charred bread and fresh ricotta? Here the char on the bread was lovely and one Rouletter liked this dish best. Ultimately, the ricotta was fresh, tasty, and…unfinished. Ricotta, even when well-made, is an ingredient and not an end unto itself. There are some places around Roc that make stellar ricotta, so if you’re going to do it, you better do it right. In this käse, some salt & olive oil or honey would have finished this nicely and made this a lovely dish. ⭐ 3.6⭐
What does it say about us that only 5 of the 9 Rouletters who turned in reviews tried the Summer Salad: Buttercrunch lettuce, Strawberries, blueberries, goat cheese and slivered almonds w/ raspberry vinaigrette dressing? For those who tried it there was a continuum of experiences. At the top we had “Tangy! Fruity! How I like my salad and how I like my men.” In the middle we had “berries were nice. It was a salad. I struggle to be excited about salad.” At the bottom we saw “Honestly if this skipped the lettuce it would have been delightful. As it was, there was too much berry going on (we didn’t need two kinds of berries AND a berry vinaigrette), and it was too sweet to pair well with the lettuce. Minus a point and a half for the lettuce.” So there you have it. How much do you like berries? ⭐ 3.4⭐
The second highest ranked dish of the night was the Wings: Eight Crispy Wings served with Blue Cheese and Celery: Spicy Korean BBQ w/ Sesame seeds/Green Onion, Lorle Citrus BBQ. The wings were crispy and cooked very nicely. Also, the sauce was well-balanced and super tasty. You bite into these juicy, crispy wings that think “Hell yeah: curls just right into heat and gochujang!” The blue cheese bothered some Rouletters who felt that this didn’t really add to the Asian vibe. Other Rouletters were more like “we’re in Roc – of course there was blue cheese. Are you new?” One Rouletter had this as their top dish of the night.
⭐ 3.8⭐
The other flavor of Wings: Eight Crispy Wings served with Blue Cheese and Celery: Garlic/Parm was less successful. They were a bit too dry, both as a product of being a little too crispy, and also they seemed to not be adequately sauced. A couple garlic/parm loving Rouletters found the flavoring nice enough to overcome the dryness. We wonder if the amazingness of the saucy Korean BBQ caused thtis more arid and lightly flavored offering to pale in comparison. ⭐ 3.1⭐
Moving on to one of the dishes IBC is known for, we had the Salty Bread Pizza Special: Grilled Chicken, Bacon, Sriracha ranch, Colby jack cheese, green onions on Amazing Grains salty bread. As one might imagine of a salty bread (which is like an amped up focaccia) pizza, this was unstoppably munchable. Overall, the quantity of toppings and the combination of them was great: it was indulgent and wonderful with two Rouletters naming this top dish of the night. A few Rouletters found the crust a bit too thick or the toppings inconsistent. Where we all agree is that the buttery crust that was just a little crunchy is why the Amazing Grains salty bread has become such an iconic part of the Roc culinary experience.⭐ 3.6⭐
The Sandwich Special: Meatball Hoagie. Meatballs, Housemade Marinara, Housemade Ricotta, Parmesan, Fresh Basil. Served w/ Fries was just an all-around good meatball sandwich. Great flavor and cook on the meatball. Sauce was good, bun was good, fries were good! It was satisfying to bite into: sloppy and saucy in all the right ways plus definitely a great value, as it was huge – one Rouletter named this one top dish of the night. ⭐ 3.7⭐
For our final dish we had the App Special: Fried Mozzarella. Served w/ Housemade marinara and Parmesan. Fried cheese with marinara sauce that had just the right amount of kick – what isn’t there to like? Rouletters particularly enjoyed having some fried mozzarella that wasn’t a stick – big selling point and one Rouletter had this in the running for top dish of the night. The only tip we have is maybe having the sauce on the side so these puppies don’t get mushy. This would probably be less of an issue if we had less food to move through at the same time. ⭐ 3.5⭐
In a tie for worst dish of the night we have the…drinks? The thing that really tanked this score was the cocktail option. There was one that wasn’t in a can and it wasn’t very good. If you’re going to offer house-made cocktails there should be at least a few options. If you go with one or two, they better be really spectacular. Unfortunately, the IBCocktail: Pineapple, Orange Juice, Black Button Vodka and Orange Wedge was weaksauce: it tasted like very acidic orange juice without an opinion. If the cocktails were the only part of the menu at this brewery that brought down the score we would be inclined to separate out the beer and let that stand on its own. Here it was more of a mixed bag, so we’ll keep the drink score as an aggregate.
If you love fruity beers, this place will be your jam. Stop reading this and go to IBC immediately. Some Rouletters really dug this, which is good because only two of the ten beers were not fruity. One of those was a vanilla cream ale that was so strong that it tasted like we were drinking a vanilla air freshener. The other was a brown ale. The IPAs were fruity. The sours were fruity and the Kolsch was fruity and the blonde ale was fruity. You reallytasted the fruit, and there was no reprieve. This fruit-heavy focus seems the be a theme at IBC. ⭐ 2.6⭐
The highest score of the night in any category was the service. We were a big crew ordering a lot of food and drinks: our server did a great job with our huge order while being personable, attentive, excited, friendly, and accurate… what more do we need in a server? Fantastic. We’re not sure what perfection would be but our waitress (was it Stephanie?) was so present and actually seemed to have fun with us. We were a boisterous, silly group and the way she echoed and matched our fun was admirable in a hospitality setting. Plus, the soccer mom manager walking by checking in was clearly good management skills. Loved it. The only ding we had on the service actually had to do with the kitchen: they didn’t pace this food. It all arrived at almost the exact same time. ⭐ 4.5⭐
For our miscellaneous notes, we start with parking as it can be a point of frustration: IBC has a decent sized parking lot, but it fills up fast if they’re busy (and they are frequently busy). During the warmer months they have ample outdoor seating with heaters for those Fall evenings. Very nice touch. The portions are huge and a terrific value. The place is clean and you grab your own water (which I actually love because I drink a ton of water and this just makes me feel less weird about that). They frequently have live music from local artists, and we love seeing businesses support our local talent. Here’s our one big issue: the restrooms are single stall, standalone bathrooms with exterior locks – but they’re gendered (there is a men’s and a women’s restroom). Totally unnecessary, uninclusive, and out of compliance with NYS rules. Not only do non-binary folks have no place to safely go, but the women’s line is almost always super long. Both of these issues would be solved by making them all-gender. Aside from that, it’s clear that this place is customer and Roc centered: Tasty food, nice portions, local ingredients (with shoutouts to local businesses!), local musicians, outdoor space to take full advantage of our non-winter months, and incredible service. ⭐ 3.9⭐