KClinger’s Tavern

Beer:
Food:
304 Poplar Street, Hanover
633-9197

I agreed to let a Central Pennsylvanian guru of brew talk me into reviewing the food at a place that has 39 beers on tap including two hand pumps, more than 400 craft and imported bottle selections and 3,275 members in its International Beer Tasters Club. The place is KClinger’s Tavern in Hanover.

KClinger’s slogan reads, Come for the Beer … Stay for the Food! My opinion? The food at KClinger’s Tavern is definitely secondary to the beer. A quick glance at the sample menu on their web site and the description of their 10 oz. New York Strip Steak as, "dropped on the floor, wiped with an old rag, then grilled to your liking … " had me knowing not to take the food all too seriously. We all agreed, however, to dive into a couple of unique beers at KClinger’s and partake in some light fare and sandwiches, often a bar’s best grub.

KClinger’s Tavern has the typical aged bar look, with TV’s all around and beer signs in every window. Small tables covered with plastic cloths and topped with a wide variety of condiments are arranged in neat rows. Black vinyl banquet chairs or non-cushioned hardwood booths are the choices in seating other than at the bar. Appropriately so, beer bottles are everywhere as they line the dining room and are stacked at the bar. Wooden beams graze the ceilings of all three rooms, while antique sporting equipment and stale smoke coats the walls in the designated smoking area of the tavern.

Two firkins (small kegs) featured on the cask conditioned hand pumps at $5/pint were CamRA (Campaign for Real Ale) beers — Nick Stafford’s Nightmare Porter and Ballards Nyewood Gold. Go for the Gold if you want an extra strong bitter, with a slight taste of herb and honey. The Nyewood Gold actually won the "Gold" (metal) six months ago in the strong bitters category at the Champion Beer of Britain, CamRA’s Great British Beer Festival.

To go with the Gold, we wanted some Crispy BBQ Onions as listed under the appetizer section of the menu. The intriguing description of thinly sliced, golden onions lightly seasoned with sugar and spices sounded tempting but we quickly learned that they are no longer served at KClinger’s. The menu just hadn’t been changed. Adversely, out of twelve wondrous beers ordered from the beer menus, all were available.

We pondered the menu again over beers from one of the best micro breweries in the U.S. – Anderson Valley from California. A full-bodied Anderson Valley Belk’s E.S.B. was powerful with a hoppy bite that stayed longer than the beer itself. Anderson Valley Oatmeal Stout is an exceptional Stout, not masked by the patent malt that makes other Stout beers less distinctive. Just confirm that with the one member of our party who decided to drink nothing else but Stout beers the day of our visit.

With these hearty beers we decided to order that quintessential bar food, hot wings, or KClinger’s Wings ($5) at KClinger’s Tavern. The wings renewed the spirit, as they were crispy, meaty, and spicy. They can be ordered hot, regular BBQ, honey BBQ or spicy BBQ. Next on the food front was John’s homemade Chili ($2-cup; $3.50-bowl), a chunky chew with beef, sausage and vegetables having good flavor, but not too much spice in its tomato base. Add beans if you like, but it is quite good without the beans. Even the meatless version, Bill’s Chili, with peanuts and textured vegetable protein (TVP) packed a lot of flavor into a $2 cup.

How does this sound? - "Chesapeake Crab Dip ($8). Creamy, cheesy and crabby, served in an oven-baked Boule bread with toasted sourdough bread stix." We thought it sounded good … until we tried it. The bread bowl held the dip, which had a heavy, rich mayonnaise base that masked a distant taste of crab. There were threads of crab in the dip, but we would have preferred if crab had lingered a bit and not just skipped through. Chesapeake to me, also, says Old Bay seasoning. This dip could have benefited from some Old Bay if they had cast some in the dip instead of using it in their coleslaw. Eating out of a loaf of bread can also be fun, indicative of medieval times when bread was the vessel for all food. Way back when, only the gluttons would eat the bread when they were through with the real food, while the more demure gave the bread to the servants, the poor or the household pets. Unfortunately, none of the elements of KClinger’s crab appetizer were worth giving to man or beast. Another round of beers, please.

KClinger’s has a liking for Rouge beers out of Oregon as you can tell by the variety they carry. Word has it that an east coast production facility will be opening later this year so Rouge will be even more prominent. For now, we had a liking for a pint of the Rouge Brutal Bitter ($3.50), and at $2.50 a pint, KClinger’s own Brown Ale.

Big Hole Mythical White Grand Cru ($3), served in a pilsner glass, was a luxury beer we savored — light and golden, hazy, sweet and spicy — it is a good choice for those who like light with a bite. Ah, yes, back to the bite — we accompanied the Grand Cru with what turned out to be the best bite of the day. The Hindenburg, ($6). Toasted rye bread housed a moderate amount of lean pastrami and melted swiss, encased with sauerkraut and typical thousand island dressing that simply flavored the pastrami take on a Reuben sandwich without making it a messy ooze or drip.

Meaty and dense, KClinger’s 1/3 lb. Mushroom and Swiss Burger ($5.50) hardly lost any of its precooked weight when grilled, served on a small kaiser roll that resembled a hamburger bun with a twist on top. This burger, however, deserves more of a bun to carry its beefy flavor. Substitute sweet potato fries coated with cinnamon sugar for the tavern fries, and you will find them thin, not too crisp but extremely flavorful. They are best when served piping hot.

As a Pilsner is a good beer to accompany fish, we thought the world’s original Pilsner, Pilsner Urquell from Czechoslovakia ($3) was a natural for a tuna steak sandwich. Aside from being the world’s first Pilsner, it is also, arguably the world’s best Pilsner. When I ordered the Zydeco Charlie sandwich ($6.50), a 4 oz. tuna steak grilled with Cajun seasoning, the waitress’s eyes lit up as she said that I would be very happy with it. But, when the time came to place it in front of me, she apologized profusely and said it is usually bigger — pointing to where there should have been another whole section of tuna meat, obviously missing as the bottom of the kaiser bun shown through. That same kaiser roll that barely housed the burger drowned my diminutive tuna steak. It must have been the tail end of … the tail end. The cajun seasoning in the tuna sandwich did come through loud and clear, however. And, I was lucky it did as the accompanying plastic cup of cajun mayonnaise had started to see its day. Right beer, wrong sandwich.

If you enjoy great beer, in a down and dirty tavern setting, by all means go to KClinger’s. If you enjoy light fare and sandwiches, just know that it may be hit or miss. Do you remember that strip steak dropped on the floor and wiped with an old rag? It’s off the menu now, but still available on the web site, reminding all not to take the food here all too seriously.