Much like when Brewer Union Cafe rolled out their new breakfast menu, we knew we had to be there to try the new dinner menu too. Unfortunately, I kept forgetting to write down my thoughts and make a post about our meal so this is a couple weeks old. But fortunately I seem to have an uncanny ability to remember minute details about food, so let’s talk about Brewer Union Cafe and the dynamite team that is Erin and Christian Felix. Again. I promise I’m not a fangirl.
We got to Brewer Union a little late, but Erin was more than willing to take us in. We already knew we were diving straight into one of the new appetizers: fried burrata with tandoori butter sauce. Burrata is a weird and wonderful cheese, almost like ricotta stuffed inside a ball of fresh mozzarella. It’s creamy, gooey and delicious. And then you bread it and fry it and it’s like an elevated mozzarella stick (shout out to that one guy on one of my reviews who threw a temper tantrum over mozz sticks that one time). Somehow Christian managed to take the idea of a mozz stick and crank it up to 11 by substituting the standard marinara for a tandoori butter sauce. The earthy, savory flavors of garam masala, tomatoes and cumin blended together into a velvety cream sauce ties perfectly with the soft and creamy cheese which is then brought together by the crunch of the breading. And just to make it even better, there’s even some deliciously crisp thick-cut toast points to sop up the extra sauce with. This was a solid start to our dinner.
Chelsea wasn’t sure what to order, but Christian convinced her to try the Teres Major. Teres Major is a cut of beef that you don’t find on a lot of menus, but if you find it I strongly recommend it. It’s best described as the tenderness of a filet but the natural flavor of a sirloin. Brewer Union serves theirs with a black garlic demi-glace, beer cheese and bacon fried baked potato and sautéed spinach. The steak was cooked beautifully to a perfect medium and the demi could be served in a glass and I would unashamedly drink it. Well seasoned but not overly salty, the flavors of the steak worked wonderfully with the fermented garlic and demi-glace and the crisp of the potato smothered in bacon and beer cheese made for a heavy dish that warms your stomach with each bite. I’m a ribeye guy through and through because I want the fat marbled throughout the steak, but a teres major is up there in terms of flavor. This was a wonderful plate.
I went for the pork entrée: a 16oz bone-in center cut pork loin with apple onion agrodolce, yellow rice and charred carrots. This pork was THICK and seasoned heavily but not overwhelmingly. Coarse salt flakes added a texture to each bite brought even higher by the perfect medium-rare cook. Agrodolce is a sweet and sour topping typically made with vinegar, honey or sugar and some type of fruit. The crisp of the onions and apples cooked down with the vinegar and sugar makes a topping for the salty, peppery and savory pork chop that play off each other beautifully. Tartness from the vinegar, sweetness from the apples, the bite of the onion, salt of the pork. Every bite was a wild mixture of textures and flavors and I loved every bit of it. The rice was a house-made yellow rice that brought a great mellow and creamy aspect to counter the strong pork aspect while the carrots had a light char and earthy sweet flavor. I’ve always been an agrodolce fan and it’s not something commonly seen on menus at Italian eateries. If you’re feeling adventurous and want to try a combination of flavors that will rock your taste buds, this one is it.
As per usual, Christian, Erin and crew knocked every single second of our dinner clean out of the park. Of all the times we have been to Brewer Union there has not been one bite that didn’t work. The hospitality of everyone who works there, the smells coming from the kitchen, Christian’s attention to detail and ability to write a menu that has such unique flavors. Every bit of BUC is a win. During one of our conversations with Christian while we were there for dinner one night, he said something that stuck out to me and has been swirling around in my brain ever since. Syracuse, at it’s core, is a meat and potatoes city. Christian seems to have taken that mentality personally and continues to push the envelope of what constitutes as meat and potatoes in a city famous for their potatoes. I promise I’m not just a fangirl of Christian’s, I just really like good food. But I regret nothing because this is some fantastic food and if you haven’t made it out to BUC yet you are doing yourself a great disservice. OK, maybe I am a little bit of a fangirl. Worth it.
5771 Miller Rd. Brewerton, NY 13029
(315) 668-5207