Dishing out pizzas, pub food and delicious entrees
A father and son duo, both Catasauqua residents, teamed up to renovate and reopen the Catty Corner Neighborhood
Pub and Pie back in September, 2018.
The fruits of their labor are now open for all to enjoy, with a fresh new restaurant and bar that is dishing out not only pizzas and bar food, but delicious entrees as well. Jay Cimerol and his son Tyler Cimerol reworked the building, which is over 100 years old and once housed a church.
Most recently, the structure was home to the Catty Corner Restaurant & Bar, which shut down in early 2017. The new pub opened late last November, giving the neighborhood a new spot to catch winter sports.
The menu at the pub includes many items you might expect to see at a bar, like pierogies, chicken tenders, and mozzarella sticks, but there are some interesting dishes here as well. From the Inner Harbor Fries, topped with crab meat and hollandaise, to a Cajun flat iron steak, there are appetizers and entrees that can either serve as a quick dinner while grabbing a pint, or a more involved sit down meal.
Salad varieties include Asian tenderloin salad, and a list of char-broiled burgers offers toppings from bacon, mozzarella cheese, and barbecue sauce (the ‘Little But’) to ‘the Bruchster,’ with bacon, Swiss cheese, and sautéed mushrooms.
The Mexican portion of the menu has quesadillas, tacos, and nachos, while the sandwiches include classics like the Cuban, the Reuben, and cheesesteaks.
The pizza menu has regular slices as well as specialty pies, like the German (steak meat, onion, mushrooms, and hot peppers) and the veggie option, topped with broccoli, spinach, tomato, mushroom, onions, and green peppers.
Setting and decor: The main bar of the Catty Corner Pub has your typical neighborhood pub feel, with TVs lining the perimeter for sports events.
Parts of the restaurant give a nod to Catasauqua’s industrial heritage with machinery in the establishment’s logo, several historical photos as wall graphics, and cut metal gears suspended above the bar adding a polished, historical feel.
We sat in the dining room area — a separate part of the restaurant that feels a bit more spacious than the bar, with TVs lining the room. There was live rock music while we dined on a Tuesday night. We heard everything from System of a Down to Beatles’ covers.
Food: I started with the tuna bites ($10.95) which came with a respectable amount of tuna chunks that were well-seasoned with a spicy, salty Cajun blend and unceremoniously paired with a side of zingy mango vinaigrette in a plastic take-out cup. While fine, I was expecting something along the lines of morsels with a seared exterior and rare interior with something of a nice presentation.
Faring better was my friend’s eggplant rollatini ($6.95) which
had two large, breaded eggplant pieces stuffed full of ricotta, topped with more cheese, and doused with marinara. Though I’m not an eggplant fan, this was a fantastic dish that I would grab again.
For my entrée I went with the Catty Corner Cuban ($10.95), which was a tasty take on the classic sandwich. Instead of the classic pressed Cuban bread, it was served on ciabatta bread and branded with a charred “CC” — a nice touch. The chopped grilled flat iron pork, a stellar double-smoked ham, the requisite mustard, pickles, and Swiss cheese were all high quality and made for a filling, welldone sandwich.
Even the side of fries, cooked just right to a beautiful goldbrown, were on point.
My friend’s iron works chicken sandwich ($8.95) was just as excellent. She got it in a wrap, and although they flubbed and gave her a tomato basil one instead of plain as requested, the wrap itself was great. Flamegrilled and chopped chicken was paired with a barbecue sauce that leaned vinegary rather than sweet, marrying well with the sautéed onions, pepper jack cheese, and spicy jalapeños to deliver a great varied and balanced flavor.
Fresh shredded lettuce cooled it down a bit and added a nice bit of texture. Her side salad was relatively plain — cucumbers, red onion, tomato, lettuce, and cheese, with a pre-made packet
of dressing, but was comprised of crunchy and fresh ingredients.
The most welcome surprise of the night was my other friend’s pickle pizza ($19.95 for a 16”). The pizza’s perfect, thin and crispy crust was topped with a garlic ranch sauce, cheese, and thin pickle quarters strewn across.
As someone who avoids anything ranch, I was delighted that the flavor was muted, instead of dominating. It meshed nicely with the pungent garlic, and was offset by the lightly tangy pickle chips. For a pizza that caused some consternation and stir on the internet last year after a Webster, New York, pizzeria went viral for its take on the pie, it was a new twist and a delicious one that left us unexpectedly in awe.
Service: Unfortunately, unlike our meals, the service left something to be desired. When we arrived at the restaurant, we were one of only a few groups in the dining room that quickly became swamped with a dinner rush by which the staff seemed completely overwhelmed. Although our food came out relatively quickly, when we were more than ready to get our check, our server had disappeared for over 20 minutes, extending the dinner far past when we were expecting to head out.
The bottom line: From their new takes on classic dishes like the Cubans to their strange-butdelicious pickle pizza, and despite a few missteps, the Catty Corner Pub’s cuisine was an excellent stop. Dinner for three with one beer totaled $71.40.