One of my friends has been telling me about Steel Bender Brewyard for awhile. We finally made it there. I rarely go to that part of town. I will now.
Steel Bender is my kind of place. Not only does it have great beer but their food is really delicious. We started our visit with a flight tasting. Holly, our server, suggested since this was our first visit that she could pick a flight for us. This is the first time I have ever done something like this. I told her I was here for the sour beers, which were several in number. Holly picked a tasty selection of sours and a stout for dessert. As you can see in the photo, there was a tasting tray of four beers.(6) The tray is labeled. I thought the beers were delightful. Each sour was pronounced. I had the (From left to right) Funky Pucker, Raspberry Dynamite, Blackberry Dynamite and the Blue Bullet Stout. This is one of those places where the hard decision turns out which beer you like the best. Each beer was excellent in its own right. It turned out that my favorite was the Funky Pucker which was made with currants. The lady at the next table asked what I was drinking. She thought that they all looked beautiful. I had to agree. My better half had a more traditional tasting of IPA, Red, Amber, and a Sour. This sour, Kettle Run was delicious. There are several options to bring home some beer. We had our growlers(12 dollars a growler). My growlers are the large ones coming in at 64 oz. I saw the Raspberry And Blackberry Dynamite at Total Wines and More in Santa Fe. But to the food…
The menu is interesting and diverse. We found an “Impossible Burger” (14) with fries. The bun was toasted and buttered. There was a tomato, lettuce, and a few rings of red onion. You are able to pick other toppings that are included in the price. We chose Green Chile (of course) and something called brewers mustard. Both were excellent choices. The Green Chile had a nice kick as did the mustard. The mustard had all kinds of mustard seeds in it and was a dark yellow in color. The fries were crispy and hot and came with a delicious truffle ketchup. That was some good ketchup! There were several types of fries like loaded, smothered, and asiago truffle. Thank goodness the menu translated. Loaded had bacon, cheese and scallions and were served with sour cream. Smothered fries were fries smothered in housemade red or green chile and cheese. I could figure out that Asiago truffle fries were exactly what their name was. There were also two choices of sietan and a fish and chips dish. There are daily specials but Monday had the only meatless dish, a Roasted Apple Sandwich.
The burger and fries went really well with Steel Bender’s beer. Holly was a very helpful server. She made several excellent suggestions.
Steel Bender is open Sunday through Thursday 11 to 10 and Friday and Saturday 11 to 11. This is a nice family friendly place. I really liked the mixed demographics and the friendly vibe of this place.
Santa Fe City Different Foodie 