GETTING SOCIABLE
I don’t often make a foray into Brantford, but one of my editors gave me a recommendation so I made the trek to check out Sociable. It was right off the highway from the King George exit and I was not disappointed.
We drove up and saw the red sign with the lighted arrow pointing toward the patio of the restaurant. The building was a collage of materials, including rust red, and silver corrugated metal, giving it a funky, artsy feel.
Inside, it was a fun, laid-back tavern. There were high wood ceilings, speckled with hanging Edison bulbs, wooden tables, and TVs throughout. A shuffleboard table stood near us, in front of the garage doors, which led to the patio. However, when we looked at the beer menu, we knew this was not your everyday tavern.
You know you are in a place serious about bevies when the drinks menu has over three times as many pages as the food menu. That is not to say the food was limited, just that the alcohol was in an abundance, punctuated with quotes by John Lennon: “Count your age by friends not years. Count your life by smiles not tears.” We could add, “Count your meals by beers.”
We decided on a build your own beer sampler to honour the effort put into creating the beer list. I got a Fairweather, which was lean and mean, with a light salty, sour finish. It managed to be both enjoyably smooth and a bit complex. The Bellwood beer (Toronto), was light with a hint of fruity hops. Collective Arts “Life in the Clouds” was not dissimilar — also a lightly fruity refresher. Last, I had the Bell City Eureka cream ale, which of course, was the hometown brew. This was lovely — pleasantly musty, with bitter notes, it was my favourite. My companion was equally pleased with her flight.
Our server, Brittney Day, was well-informed and walked us through the beers, giving further description when we inquired. As we waited for our food, we played a couple rounds of shuffleboard, taking sips of our beers between turns. The music morphed from Zeppelin to Johnny Cash, to Jimmy Buffett.
At this point, I mentioned to my companion that it reminded me of a Beertown light — Beertown being the restaurant in Burlington. There was a particular flavour of whimsy mixed with the seriousness about beers that felt familiar.
We sat back down as our server brought our appetizers and I asked her who owned the restaurant. She said it was run by the Charcoal Group, which indeed included Beertown. She said that they like to think of themselves as Beertown 2.0, a more laid-back version for the Brantford crowd.
And it was. The dishes weren’t all served on wooden planks and there was just a lighter feel to the place. Plenty of kids and families were there along with the more social crowd, meeting up with their buddies. Everyone looked comfortable and relaxed.
We left the shuffleboard table as our appetizers came out. The first was on a rectangular white plate with a half head of iceberg lettuce at one end for making the wraps. I’d never seen iceberg used for this before, but it worked fine. The bowl on the other half of the plate contained the filling: roasted chicken with lots of veggies, including napa cabbage, red peppers, carrots and bean sprouts. My companion and I thought the napa was a bit redundant with the lettuce but the rest mixed together to form a respectable wrap, along with hoisin, peanuts and lime.
The other appetizer was a charcuterie plate with pretzels and pickles. The cauliflower pickle was a bit on the aggressive side, but the pickled onions were right on — just a bit of sugar to tame them. But the star was, of course, the pretzel. The meats were tasty, served on a piece of butcher paper, but next to them, in a paper bag, were thick soft rods of warm pretzel, which were delicious, dipped in the small cassoulet of cheese fondue on the side. Cheesy, a little winey, with a touch of spice — don’t mind if I fon-DO. The other dipping option was a spicy honey mustard.
The bowls (there were four on the menu, including tuna and salmon) were quite the hit, our server informed us. My companion ordered the power bowl, which was full of healthy goodness. Tons of quinoa with a crunch from the chopped apple, it was hearty with kale and had a sweet depth with the mustard, honey, and nuts. It was a little on
the sweet side but didn’t err too much for me.
We watched the dueling grandmothers baking contest on TV while I delved into my entree, a French roast beef dip sandwich. Sociable does go beyond sandwiches and bowls, with a steak frites, fish and chips, and pad Thai also available. But I was in the mood for a good sandwich and I loved what I got. It was so meaty and there was a big kick from the horseradish mayo. Bonus, the bread was baked in house and was the perfect texture: soft but held together.
The desserts looked familiar when they came, almost the same as what I’d had at Beertown. The very, very sweet toffee pudding, the deeply chocolate brownie and a perfectly acceptable cheesecake.
We played another couple of rounds of shuffleboard and I notched this restaurant in my memory for my next visit to Brantford.