Munch Goes to Hough's (Yesterday)

Tag : fabric tape

When not one but two Friends of Munch invited Munch to watch thegame at Hough's in Greenfield, Munch took it as a sign -- if Munchleft the house, Munch wouldn't have to think about house chores.Problem solved.
Hough's (for those reading aloud, Munch has it on reliableauthority that it is pronounced Huff's, not Ho's) opened a littlemore than six months ago in the spot that formerly housed PicklesBar. Munch knows this, because some of the sign from Pickles isstill visible.
Munch hates to get negative right away, but it cannot be overstatedhow badly Hough's needs a new sign. Their name is currently printedon a hanging piece of fabric, with a random duct tape patternunderneath, surrounded by the old Pickles sign starting to shredinto tatters.
The exterior is particularly disappointing because the inside ofthe bar is nice. Very nice.
The place has that perfect neighborhood- tavern, homey feel, with adark, shiny wooden bar filling the center of the room, tables andtelevisions ringing the perimeter and the owners busing tables.Friends of Munch grabbed a table close to a giant projectionscreen. At times, like when a giant hole opened up in WillieParker's football pants, it seemed possibly too close.
Shortly after sitting down, Munch spied a beer list on the table.And not just any beer list: Hough's offers more than 60 beers,virtually all of them priced at $4 or less.
Indulge Munch, if you will, in a rant. Any bar can stockHoegaarden, Guinness and Lindemans Framboise, congratulatethemselves on having a classy beer list and call it a day. Manybars do so, and frankly, Munch is tired of it -- although Munchdidn't realize that Munch felt quite so strongly until Munchinspected Hough's beer list.
It was inventive. Inspired. Simply splendid. While there werescattered imports on the list, there were many more brews fromPennsylvania (Troegs, Victory, Voodoo) and surrounding states(Great Lakes, Ithaca Beer Co). It was "eating local" for those on aliquid diet.
Maybe Munch is still a little pumped up from the Olympics, butforeign beers -- who needs 'em? USA! USA! Go Steelers!
Munch could go on about the beer list (for example, Munch reallylikes how they listed the alcohol content of each beer right nextto the price), but Munch is allegedly a food writer.
While the food menu was more pedestrian than the beer list, itwasn't bad by any means. Munch and Dear One Of Munch split aperfectly serviceable, though unremarkable, basket of nachos($3.50) and Munch ordered the chicken cheesesteak sandwich ($6.25)while DOOM ordered the steak salad ($11.99).
In truth, it is hard to screw up any sort of sandwich topped withcheese and grilled peppers and onions. That said, Hough's chickencheesesteak sandwich was delicious. The chicken wasn't fatty, theonions weren't too greasy and the bread was toasted for a nicecrunch.
Munch could review the steak salad, but Munch could also justreenact the "review" of DOOM, who is notoriously finicky when itcomes to steak.
Chew chew chew.
"The steak doesn't suck."
Chew chew chew.
"The steak is good."
And there you have it. Practically poetry.
The salad -- which was topped with french fries, cucumbers,tomatoes and cheese in addition to the steak -- was so big that itseemed to occupy a hungry DOOM for nearly an hour.
Let it also be said for Hough's that -- on a night when darknessfell on so many Steelers fans -- the place did not lose power. Andso Munch and DOOM went away fully satisfied at finding a winningestablishment at which to watch a winning team.