Free State Brewery - Lawrence, KS

The actual catalyst for starting this blog was our recent move to Lawrence, KS. Lawrence is a nice little (pop. ~85,000) college town with a semi-historic downtown district full of charming little shops and eclectic restaurants. We thought it would be fun to "eat at every restaurant on Massachusetts Street" and review them all. Truthfully, we aren't going to eat at all of them - pretty sure we'll skip Pizza Hut and Jimmy John's. However, I would like to check out most of the local ones. We might get a little sick of bar food, though, since there is an abundance of local bars on Mass Ave.

Speaking of those, I thought it would be appropriate that the first Lawrence post be about the Free State Brewery, ostensibly the "first" restaurant on Mass St. The main part of Mass St starts at 6th Street (proceeds to about 12th), and Free State is between 6th and 7th.

It's an interesting place, and nearly always buzzing with activity. It is obviously a local hangout, with plenty of University of Kansas students (about a fourth of the town's population, I think) as well as a good number of other local folks. They have a variable selection of their brewed-in-house beers, as well as other typical bar fare.

If you look at their food menu, you will notice some atypical bar fare. There are things like a New York strip, gumbo, pastas, and other seemingly "upscale" entrees, in addition to the expected hamburgers, sandwiches, nachos, etc. The menu appears, at least at first glance, to be "upscale bar food".

Since first coming here several months ago, I have been to the Free State a number of times. I don't really want to talk about everything I've had there and exactly how it was, so I'm going to boil it down:

- Cheddar Ale Soup: absolutely the best thing on the menu. This is the best beer cheese soup that I've had anywhere. It's not overly "cheesy", but they obviously use good cheese (pretty sharp cheddar, as far as I can tell), the vegetables were sauteed to the right consistency, and I really didn't have any complaints about it. Pretty much every time I've gone to the Free State, I've gotten a cup of this soup. If you go there, you should not pass this up.
- "Upscale" food: I've gotten both the gumbo and a steak. Gumbo was just OK (hey, you're not in Louisiana) and the steak was sort of disappointing. I'm a bit of a beef snob, but I'm pretty sure it was chemically tenderized. It had that mushy consistency that was a dead giveaway. Also, I ordered it medium rare and it came out medium.
- Burgers/sandwiches: above average. The burger WAS cooked correctly, and they have a good selection of them.
- Salads: I actually got a salad once, and it was decent. Not much else to say about it.
- Beer: Like I said, they have a bunch of their own microbrews, and the selection varies depending on what they have available that day. One thing that is kind of neat is the sizes - you can get a 4 oz "taste" for something like $1.50, which is an interesting way to try them all. Their barleywine is very malty, which makes it pretty hearty. If you're looking for a hoppy barleywine, look somewhere else. Personally, I think overhopped stuff just tastes bitter, but some people like that.

We also went to the Free State with a large group (about 30 people) one time. If you ever have a chance to do that, well, pass on that. They are not used to groups that large, and the service was not good. With the amount of money we were spending there, I expected a lot more, and they didn't deliver. With smaller numbers (like 4 people), I've never had an issue with the service. Stick to small groups.

So, bottom line: if you're looking for decent bar food, and interesting local atmosphere, and microbrews, it's worth checking out. If you do, get a cup of the Cheddar Ale soup. I'd recommend that accompanied by a burger or something. Stay away from the other entrees - in my humble opinion, not worth the price or calorie intake.

It's a tough call, but I think this one gets 3 hungry emoticons. It was on the bubble for 2 1/2 because of the poor service experience we had there, but the cheddar ale soup brought it back up to 3, by the skin of its teeth.



Blog postscript: I apologize for the lack of pictures in this post. We went to the Free State before we really started this official "reviewing" blog, so we didn't take any pictures of the food. Just for reference (and since the atmosphere is a good part of the reason to go to the Free State), here is a picture of the restaurant, decorated with Christmas lights: