Walt & Whitman in Saratoga Springs

Brewery owner Will Crager, along with his parents Bill and Kathy, is literary enough to make Walt Whitman the star of the same name (the bills are featured in poetry books), and the sisters on the marketing side have come up with the pretty one. Bearded Whitman logo. But, according to COO Shawna Jenks, the insertion of the “&” between Walt & Whitman reflects a “shared personality” with Whitman Brewery and Taproom in the renovated exposed brick basement and Walt, a cafe (and future in -house roaster) comfortably furnished in upstairs excavations. Jenks describes the business as a double header with “coffee as a morning crutch” and “beer to save the day”.

We venture downstairs, where Madonna and Johnny Cash are among the legends who look at vintage posters and vinyl album covers on the walls for Korean barbecue wings with gochujang pear and ranch kimchi and ricotta Four. Fat Fowl whipped and reduced to life’s essentials with candied lemon, sea salt and grilled fougasse for transport. But since this is a pub, you can still get an instant-skinned Sabrett’s “Michigan-Coney dawg”, covered in mustard and Coney’s meat sauce, to demolish on a couch by the fire. .

Stepping into the faucet room, where all the wood / brick tropes are in place and the shiny brewer is there – behind glass, natch – we taste the Dick Murphy Lite, a pilsner that sells most. weeks, and a dark doorman called Light & Sound Discipline. If, like us, you love your beer sour, a brightly colored Now, Forager Berliner weisse, packing 400 pounds of tangy Boysen fruit or raspberry per batch, will do the trick.

The kitchen operations anchor is an armored brick oven resembling a war relic dragged out of the Hudson River, a beast where Schatko sets his signature Detroit pizza on fire. Digged with your finger like a focaccia in anodized platters, the leavened dough is layered with cheese before the sauce and baked at 650 degrees on a rotating lava rock. Whether you choose the sweet and savory speck, grilled jalapeño and pineapple, grandfather’s crumbled sausage or the cacio e pepe with parmesan and freshly cracked pepper, they are unmoulded into large rectangular plates fringed with crispy cheese where it is crusted on the sides. If you share, prepare to fight.

You probably don’t expect a Persian cucumber salad – those cute little cucumbers you see at the store – but order it for the refreshing crunch and Asian soy and lime dressing zapped with sesame, chili, and tears. of joy. Dip into a spicy cold ramen inspired by a dish from Momofuku in Manhattan and garnished with crushed fennel, candied cashews and soy-marinated mushrooms, or Schatko’s reimagining of Italian wedding soup in pho form: the neck bones and wing tips simmer slowly overnight with cinnamon, cloves, charred onion and star anise for a fragrant clear broth drizzled to the frenzy of Parmesan with bucatini pasta and meatballs. his grandmother below. Change gears and tour the subcontinent with a mild wild mushroom madras curry, crispy basmati rice and a burst of “hay” of fine chips.

You can easily spend a few hours in this dual-use space sipping beers, stocking up on Ceremony Roasters coffee, flipping through pages of poetry and rock ‘n’ roll books while Harry Styles swaps hooks with Phantogram and them. Rolling Stones. Even non-beer drinkers will feel right at home with a menu that notes magnanimously: “(We) recognize that some are drawn to wine, spirits and other craft drinks.” Bar manager Ryan Wood is working on a solid cocktail program that includes a homemade Cynar pear shrub in an Okey Dokey and simple eucalyptus syrup in the gin-based Spill the Tea. Look for spruce tips and spent hops in a cocktail this spring.

Dinner for two with drinks will cost approximately $ 85 with taxes and a 20% tip.

Susie Davidson Powell is a freelance British food writer from upstate New York. Follow her on Twitter, @SusieDP. To comment on this review, visit the Table Hopping blog, blog.timesunion.com/tablehopping.