Christopher Klinge
The Hindsight pilsner pairs perfectly with the killer pimento cheese and biscuits.
“Working Draft” has been an apt name for a brewery that’s undergone a number of revisions since opening in early March 2018. The original food partnership changed, some beer names have changed, and the food menu has evolved. Working Draft has a small kitchen fueled largely by Dan Fox’s Heritage Tavern and Fox Heritage Farms. The taproom recently expanded its weekend food service hours to include lunch and late dinner and has become something pretty close to a Real Restaurant.
Working Draft Beer Company fits with the Williamson Street vibe nicely. The taproom aesthetic is both urban and urbane, syncing with young families and dating couples, tabletop gamers and yoga practitioners. There’s a sprawling graffiti-esque mural that blends well with the ubiquitous soft-industrial brewery look. A cushiony, kid-friendly lounge corner and an utter lack of heavy metal attitude complete the room’s refreshing, “all are welcome” charm.
The brewery’s first menu felt imported, ready-to-eat, with minimal prep required: some shareable boards of cured meats and cheese and nothing more complicated than a couple of Heritage Tavern-y sandwiches. Cut to months later, though, and while the sandwiches are still fairly simple, there’s a culinary flair provided by the leadership of kitchen manager Jon Churan that doesn’t just feel like the airport version of a cool restaurant.
The lamb sandwich is a smaller, tidier gyro, but you won’t hear me complaining about that. I’m fairly certain mine arrived on the toasted bun of the barbecue pork sandwich instead of a Madison Sourdough ciabatta — and that’s an error in its favor. This bun is the perfect blend of sturdy and soft, very similar to the bun on which the Robin Room serves its Church Basement Ham Sandwich. The meat and cucumbers don’t slide out when you bite in, despite the yogurt sauce. It’s very satisfying without requiring a sheaf of napkins.
The barbecue pork might be even better. The shredded meat has a deep smoky flavor, and between the sauce and the slaw, there’s just enough moisture without making the sandwich sloppy. Again, the bun does yeoman’s work, holding the whole thing in a tender but toasty way.
That ciabatta roll is fine for a ciabatta roll, but it has the body of one of the moons of Mars, and that awkward potato sort of shape makes for a Cuban sandwich that’s like a boulder of meat, cheese, spicy mustard and pickle. It’s a delicious sandwich, but it’s also a jaw workout.
Interesting and worthwhile sides are as crucial as a good sandwich lineup. I count the grain bowl as a side, despite its placement in the “mains” section. It’s a bit one-note, very agricultural, but our modern human tongues demand a little salt now and then, and there’s hardly any in the grain bowl.
I had high hopes for the charred broccoli salad, as well as a short-lived special of blistered shishito peppers. Blistered, charred, burnt, vulcanized — treat a vegetable rudely with flame and I am on board. Here for it, as the kids say. Sadly, these vegetables stared down the kitchen and the kitchen blinked. I wonder if having a simple vent hood or exhaust fan would give the kitchen license to really let loose with the burner.
The killer app of the Working Draft menu has to be the pimento cheese and biscuits. The pimento cheese is mild and thick and cheddar-heavy, perfect for spreading on the small, triangular biscuits. The biscuits themselves were slightly overdone when I tried them, but if they were any more tender, the stiff pimento cheese would tear them apart.
Of course, Working Draft is a brewery first, a fact evident in the skimpy paper boats all food is currently served in. Overheard chatter behind the bar indicates that these may be ditched in favor of something sturdier. The food should have a better place to sit, considering all the great glassware Working Draft deploys.
The Hindsight pilsner, formerly the unfiltered Zwicklevision (until we all learned New Glarus actually holds a trademark on the name Zwickel), is a perfect pair-all for the WDBC food menu. Pulp Culture is a solid entry in the local hazy IPA game, and Working Draft demonstrated admirable dedication to quality control by dumping a subpar batch of double dry-hopped Pulp Culture before its planned release.
I’ve liked Working Draft since it opened, but the updates have been welcome. The bar team has always been warm and generous, and now that food ordering is available along the entire bar (not just at the far end where the kitchen sits), the dining experience is almost equal to the drinking experience. That’s a good revision.
Working Draft Beer Company
1129 E. Wilson St.; 608-709-5600; workingdraftbeer.com
Bar hours: 3 pm-10 pm Mon.-Thu., 11 am-11 pm Fri.-Sat., 11 am-9 pm Sun.
Kitchen hours: 5 pm-9 pm Mon.-Fri., 11 am-9pm Sat.-Sun.; $2-$11
