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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