A short time before we left Colorado, I expressed to @mrsbozz my desire to visit a "real midwest steakhouse" on our drive home. I figured our stop in Topeka, KS might be the perfect opportunity to fulfil that desire.
Unfortunately, in my early research, I found three things would stand in the way of that dream. The first was the fact that many of the steakhouses in Topeka were national chains. I can go to one of those any day here, so it wouldn't have been very special to visit one there.
Second, it appeared that many of the non-chain steakhouses were actually quite fancy and if you know anything about @mrsbozz and I, we aren't really fancy people. On top of that, we went out to Colorado to watch softball, so we really didn't bring the appropriate clothes for a trip to a fancy steakhouse.
Finally, the one steakhouse I did find that didn't look super fancy and wasn't a national chain didn't have many options on the menu for a non beef eater like my wife. I didn't want to make her settle for a bland hunk of grilled chicken, so we decided to try something else.
Blind Tiger Brewing is tucked away in the southern part of Topeka, just about halfway between the city center of Topeka and the town of Pauline where the Combat Air Museum is. We didn't make it to the museum, but I am so glad that we took the time to visit Blind Tiger.
The name Blind Tiger goes back to prohibition times when illegal drinking establishments were called Blind Tigers. They would often display stuffed tigers to indicate to patrons that they served alcohol after hours. These bars disguised as "animal exhibits" were quite popular during the prohibition years of 1920 to 1933.
The establishment is actually pretty large with a lot of different seating areas. We got ushered back to this small area near the bar and started looking at the menu.
Staying true to their prohibition roots, there was a monitor that had a live stream of the Sumatran Tigers from the local Topeka Zoo. I thought that was a really cool touch and I actually didn't realize the significance until I started doing the research for this post.
Of course being a brewery, @mrsbozz and I felt obliged to sample some of the wares. I tried a delicious brown beer and my wife got something light and fruity I think. They had such a huge selection that I actually would have loved to get a flight, but I knew I had to get us back to the hotel and we had another long day on the road the next day.
The beer was absolutely delicious and if you ever get the chance to try out one of their brews, I highly recommend it.
We decided to get an appetizer of chips and queso before we ordered our food. Unfortunately, it came with ground beef in it, but @mrsbozz did a pretty good job of eating around it. It was honestly some of the best queso I have had in a while. The flavors were really on point, but we didn't realize how large it was going to be. We didn't even come close to finishing it and by the time our meals came out, we were virtually full.
I originally ordered the meatloaf as I am a pretty big fan of this traditional midwest staple. Unfortunately, a couple at a table who had been seated after us, but got their food order in before us ordered the last two, so the waitress had to come back and have me change my order when she found out.
Instead, I decided to go with the BBQ sampler platter. It consisted of burnt ends, brisket, and pulled pork. I selected the baked beans and mashed potatoes and gravy for my sides.
The BBQ was great, but I honestly expected nothing less from this part of the country. The mashed potatoes were okay, but nothing that knocked my socks off. The baked beans with little bits of brisket in them were absolutely phenomenal.
@mrsbozz got a chicken sandwich that came with a honey mustard sauce that she said was really really good. As I said before, we were already pretty full just from the beer and queso, so we ate maybe half of our meals and took the rest to go along with what was left of the queso.
I thought we might want a snack later in our hotel room, but honestly, we were so full we just went to bed and the queso ended up going to waste.
The rest of the food we ate on the road the next day for lunch and it was just as good the second day!
Over our thirteen day trip out to Colorado and back, we had our fair share of places that were hits and misses when it came to eating. This one is definitely one of those that I would consider a hit and if you are ever in the Topeka area, you need to do yourself a favor and visit Blind Tiger. I know if I am ever in that area again, a stop will be on the agenda.
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It all looks so good! I wish I could pull up a chair and join you for the meal. Love the tiger theme, as well, and the tiger cam. They're one of my favorite animals.
It was a really special place for sure. They took the theme to heart.
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I love the design of the establishment and the decoration, it seems to be a very cozy place, the food looks delicious too :)
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It was so good! I have a feeling pretty much everything on the menu was awesome!
I'm glad you enjoyed there :)
Looks like you found a good place! I didn't know that about tigers and prohibition. Very interesting!
I didn't either honestly, but it's a cool little factoid you can carry with you now!
You guys have some seriously good eateries and some seriously good food options in the States. You don't realise how lucky you are! Man that food looked super awesome, and I bet it tasted like that too.
Based on what I have seen here, I do consider us lucky, but you have to remember a lot of it comes at a cost. Treats like this are few and far between otherwise you find yourself broke or in a very poor state of health! I'd never be able to eat like this every single day.
We’ve found that going to a brewery is the best way to get real food when you’re traveling. Where we live we are pretty spoiled in that there’s still a lot of local restaurants which is awesome but when we are driving to places like florida or somewhere most of what you find are chain things which sucks. Then we realized a brewery or place of that sort usually has actual food not garbage so you made a great choice here! The food looks delicious for sure. Glad you enjoyed it!
That is a great point. You are often going to find more quality and home style food at a place like that. They also do a really good job of being sure the dishes pair well with the beer.
That sounds like an awesome place! It may not have been a steakhouse but their BBQ and brewing skill sound like they were just right. Interesting fact about the tigers, I hadn't heard that before.
Thanks! It was really awesome. My only disappointment, if you can even call it that was the mashed potatoes. I am a bit of a mashed potato snob. Believe it or not I love the fake powdered ones that you just add water to.
That looks like a 'proper' beer :) Did they have anything for those who don't eat meat? When I was working in DC we went to a Morton's, but they had salmon that I would eat. I didn't like to deprive my colleague of a good steak. That was actually my first trip to the US.
I am not sure, I would imagine they had some fish options, but I didn't really look. I do love a good porter, stout, or brown ale. I'm super excited that it is almost Oktoberfest season!
This looks like exactly the type of place we'd love to go on our road trip, we were looking for some authentic BBQ steakhouse. I think my hubby would love this, especially their own brewery
It was really good. I'm sorry you guys didn't get the chance to stop there.
Looks great! you guys go to some cool places, cheers!
We try! Some of them hit the mark, occasionally we find a miss!
Yeah, that's the odds I guess. Keep on keeping on sir!
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STOPor to resume write a wordSTARTThe food is pretty good and the place is pretty nice too.