Review: BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse
Author: Smokin DB | Filed under: Food Reviews, Location: Greenwood, IN
BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse
1231 US 31 North
Greenwood, IN 46142
317-881-3500
http://www.bjsbrewhouse.com/
Actually attached to Greenwood Park Mall this chain outfit started out in SoCal as a Chicago style pizza joint presumably to satisfy the cravings of ex-pat Midwesterners. It has now morphed into much more. The pizza is still on the menu but so are a host of other dishes. The menu is not as complex as Cheesecake Factory, but it is still pretty thick. As an added bonus, they have some really good beer. Although not brewed on-site, there is a great list of craft beers from Blondes to Reds, Porters and Stouts. There are eight beers that are always available along with a couple of seasonal additions. The staff explained to me that this particular location simply did not have room for the brew equipment. So, the BJ’s branded brew is shipped in from another location.
What I Got: With a menu that looks like the phone book for a small town, making a selection can be tough. For whatever reason, I was hooked by the Fish and Chips. I guess it was Ash Wednesday so that had something to do with my selection.
Big planks of Pacific Cod breaded and deep fried utilizing BJ’s Blonde in the batter along with thinly cut French Fries. Yes, this might sound like a bit of grease overload, but honestly, this was awesome stuff. Neither the fish nor the fries were the least bit greasy. Fried foods don’t necessarily have to be greasy. Proper oil temperature and good batter results in good food. The batter was crunchy and had the slightest hint of beer flavor, which is always a good thing in my book. With a splash of Malt Vinegar the perfectly cooked large flakes of Cod were shoveled down in no time. The fries were good too but really the fish was the star of this show, ah, I mean plate.
Would I Buy It Again? You bet! This wasn’t cheap. It was $11.25 for the fish in chips plus the beers and app and my bill was over $20.00 per person. But, this wasn’t the fish and chips that your average Knights of Columbus is frying up on Fridays this time of year.
-Smokin DB
OMG, I’m sooo glad to see someone else singing the praises of PROPER oil temperature!!!! When fried food is saturated with oil, it’s often because the oil wasn’t hot enough! Alton Brown will back me up, lol. Glad to see these people know what they’re doing. The fish looks amazing
Kinghts of Columbus…ha ha. I am always tempted to hit the church fish frys.
Have you had fish and chips from Claddagh? I would say king of the hill in Indy. If so, do you like this better?
“The staff explained to me that this particular location simply did not have room for the brew equipment. So, the BJ’s branded brew is shipped in from another location.”
I’m no so sure that’s entirely true… My understanding is that BJ’s has a few central brewing locations, but that most of the restaurants don’t brew. So it’s not so much that they don’t have the room as much as they don’t need the room.
Their website: “Our breweries are located in Southern California, Northern California, Nevada, Arizona, and Colorado.”
That’s breweries in four states and restaurants in 13 states (California, Nevada, Arizona, and Colorado plus Oregon, Washington, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Florida). That beer has a few miles on it.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
I LOVE this place. I’ve had their chicken parmesan (delicious!), the appetizer margherita pizza (awesome), the dessert cookie trio, and a pasta dish I can’t remember (it was good, but not as great as the chicken). My husband likes to get their sampler of beer — you can get 7 samples (which are probably 4 oz each, maybe) for $10, I think. The only thing that didn’t impress me was their house side salad. It had a few shreds of carrot and a bunch of iceburg lettuce. That’s it. No cheese, no croutons, no bacon, no romaine…. But I will go to that place every chance I get!
Okay, I actually went today for lunch. The pasta dish I had before was a shrimp with champagne sauce (just okay). Today I had shrimp tacos – super tasty with AWESOME guac sauce!