Got a recommendation. Place with great burgers and wings. We were
going to meet our insider in the know but she bailed on us,
fortunately we had good company regardless. The tavern is small,
exceptionally loud, bustling, and has that sort of uppity swagger
most things in Hudson do. The interior is pretty laid back
chic…imagine a bar in Manhattan trying to replicate one in the
village and you might get the feel. Our server was, well, under
pleasant. To be fair, we were waiting for our fifth for a while,
held off ordering for a bit and stayed to chat after we were
finished. Yes the place was busy and we were squatting at our table,
but she could have at least tried to camouflage her distaste for us.
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Maybe we didn’t fit in from the get go or she was just perseverating on lost tips from turning the table, didn’t matter to me. She could bring food to the table but her face made it evident she wasn’t interesting in hospitality of any sort. Too bad. The food was better than the service by far. We ordered a couple of different wings, three burgers, a pork sandwich and varying potato products with some additions. To start we tried some mac and cheese bites and a couple wing options. Has anyone had mac and cheese bites that were good? Not that we didn't keep eating them, but good? I still haven't. We had a short order of their fresh jumbo wings with a medium sauce. They’re average good. Nothing wrong, nothing you couldn’t find just about anywhere. We also had a 12 joint basket of their dry rub Louisiana Cajun wings. Now we're talking, a stupendously crisp surface gave way to juicy and steaming hot chicken. The crust had a forward and unapologetic kick. These are wings I would seek out again.
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Standard Medium Sauced Wings Are Completely Blown Away... |
...By The Super Crusty And Delicious Cajun Dry Spice Mix |
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The tater factor was pretty close to start, the waffle fries were
best and held their starchy goodness much longer than their
compadres. The sweet potato fries and the regular fries started off
just above average but were pretty quickly limp and dissatisfying.
We ordered chili and cheese on the side for the tuber options and I
found them to be ehhhh, and uuuugh. The chili had a pretty average
taste profile but had hung out long enough to be devoid of any
texture at all and nearly paste-like. The fries in each form were
good enough on their own that the chili didn’t add anything
worthwhile. The cheese. Well, the stuff they refer to as cheese was
essentially a throw away. Gross cups of pale yellow product failed
to offer dairy, salt or anything else you might want in even a
“cheese food”. Don’t bother with the additions for the fries. |
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Waffle Fries Topped The Starch Options |
And Could Only Be Hurt By This Nonsense |
We came in nearly unanimous on the sandwiches. The least favorite for all seemed to be the pulled pork. First, it wasn’t bad. Pig, a little smoke, vinegar, spices, it was all there, a good bit of it, piled on to a pretzel bun. Like the sauced wings, it was fine but nothing you couldn’t find anywhere that cares. There was also a small cup of mayo/vinegar mixed slaw which turned out to be as average as the pulled pork. All of the burgers a labeled as half pound steak burgers, and against the world their patties stand up for themselves. They achieve the strangely unique accomplishment in the burger world of tasting a great deal like beef. Whoda thunk? There is just enough seasoning to bring the natural flavors into the spotlight…you could do way worse. There was one burger with much more seasoning… all of our favs…but we’ll get to that in a second.
The least successful burger was the Fat Pat. Cheddar cheese, bacon,
egg, jalapeno and chipotle mayo on the pretzel roll. A more familiar
combo than our other two options, which just didn’t work out for
what seems to have been a single reason, the egg. EOE or EOM is what
you would expect on a burger but this egg was done well past the
‘dippy’ stage and the sandwich ended up being dry and crying out for
the luscious fatitude in the oozing yellow stuff. We had ordered all
three burgers mid, and while the other two showed up warm through
with a splash of pink in the middle, the Fat Pat patty was
apparently temped by the same dude who overcooked the egg. In most
places, it would be functional but the other two burgers showed what
Kepners is capable of, making Pat seem sad in comparison. |
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Pulled Pork Was Functional And Average |
The Fat Pat Turned Up Dry & Disappointing (Flat Pat) |
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I ordered the Santa Fe patty melt. Steak burger, on rye, topped with Andouille sausage, pepper jack cheese, peppers, onions, guacamole and chipotle mayo. Hello. Maybe Hola. Probably somewhere in between. The rye made for a nice departure from the pretzel buns, the guac had a nice shot of citrus, the veggies held their own, the spicy elements added a bit of Woo Hoo. I like patty melts. I like this more than the standard.
By far, the best burger of the night was created by students from
the Western Reserve Academy called the Unreserved. Must be some
program they have there. The seasoning really took this thing over
the top. The beef was combined with diced onions and garlic , and
then marinated with Worcestershire and Tabasco sauces. Top it all
with mushrooms, bacon, cheddar cheese, romaine lettuce, mustard and
ketchup and you have a burger that hits your tongue with force from
all directions. What really struck me was the Tabasco/Worshti mix
lending a bit of heat and a fistful of umami, which was simply
beautiful. Our 'plus one', put the whole experience somewhere
between “yummy” and “decadent™”. Of course, he might have just been
glad we only got $8 worth of pulled pork instead of $150. Just a
little inside joke. If you know what to get at Kepners, you can do
really well. |
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But Student Created Burger Was Incredible |
Ratings | |||||||
Food |
Service |
Ambiance |
What's Best |
What's Worst |
Overall |
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B | D- | B | A | F | B | ||
Dry Wings/Juicy Burger | "Cheese" |