Rikenejaks Brewing Co.

Mario Pacetti Thursday, June 23, 2016 Comments Off on Rikenejaks Brewing Co.
Rikenejaks Brewing Co.

First off, I want to apologize for not putting out a article in our last issue, but I have been so busy with work and family that I have not gone to any new places in a couple of months.

One of the places that has opened during this time is an old name with a new location, and that is Rikenjaks Brewing Company. It is close to 10 years now that the original location closed down, and I really don’t know the entire backstory on what caused them to close shop, but I and a lot of Lake Charles fans are thrilled they made a return.

Now, I have been very vocal about the fact that I didn’t see how they were going to fit a brewery inside the old Italian Villa location. As the project went on, I didn’t see any real expansion in the original structure, which again had me wondering whether they were rushing to find a spot, and were just going to make the best with what they had.

More time passed, and they started working on the outdoor patio and bar area, and I was very impressed with the design, and how it looked along Ryan St. I must admit I had already made up my mind that this was not going to be the best situation, because the Italian Villa location was already small, and they only had the kitchen, and now they were going to add an area that was dedicated to brewing their house brews.

We had just finished our son’s third birthday party, and Mac was going to stay the night with his nanny, so we decided to make a move and go check out Rikenjaks. Chelsea and I are not dark beer drinkers, so the Old Hardhead was not going to be an option, but we were going to give the Contraband Brown Ale a shot. Unfortunately, they were completely out, so we just got a couple of Ultras to drink.

I have been seeing all kinds of pictures of all the food they have been preparing, and I was extremely excited about getting a chance to try it. We started off with the spinach and cream dip with tortilla chips. This is always a safe appetizer to start with, and I really liked the sour cream on top of it. This was no attempt to recreate the wheel, but a fresh tasting start to our menu, and one of those items you can’t go wrong with.

For our entrée, we decided to get the Fish Tacos; you can have them grilled or fried, so we went with one of each.

The fish was cooked perfectly both ways, which doesn’t always happen, and the taco kept the same overall flavor. They have a jalapeño ranch that I thought was the perfect sauce for the tacos.

They send out a cup of black beans that has rice and cheese and a bit of pico in it, and I can’t lie, I just loved the hell out of it. It was so simple, but the flavors worked so well together.

The other entrée was the Fontina Turner, which is a grilled cheese sandwich, and a house tomato soup. They used fontina, cheddar and pepperjack cheese on a perfectly toasted panini bread, and I’m going to tell you, I could eat that sandwich every day. The bread was buttery, and the cheese was melted just right.

Now, the tomato soup was not a typical pureed down tomato soup; it had a thickness to it that I wasn’t sure about, but if you want a grilled cheese and tomato soup in Lake Charles, you need to be here, because that soup was the bomb.com.

Now, I had my reservations about how the layout of the place was going to work, and I was wrong about them not having enough space; they used all the available space but didn’t give an overcrowded feel to the place. They could have no business outside due to weather.

I really love the outside seating being next to Ryan St., because it gives you a feel of being more engaged with the neighborhood than if the seating was set further back.

I can see us spending quite a bit of time here, as the rest of the menu looks very interesting, and there are at least 10 more items I can see myself enjoying. Plus, it is really a great place to go with a group of people and sit outside and enjoy some good weather.

There was only one thing about the place that really didn’t make sense to me, and that was that the place was kid friendly. I have a son, and I enjoy taking him out to eat with us, as he loves to eat as much as I do. But this is a bar with great food. They are a brewery, and there is no way around that; and there were at least 10 kids under the age of 11 sitting down. It just seemed odd to me. There was a little girl sitting right next to me playing game app on her phone that were so loud that I couldn’t enjoy the live music that was playing.

I am sure this won’t be popular with some people, and for that I am sorry, but I never in a million years thought I would see kids at this place, so I was caught off guard by it. It will in no way prevent me from going back. I just can’t see bringing my own son there.

That is the only negative I experienced in our visit. The staff was friendly, and the food came out right on time. The owner, Jay Ecker, was very attentive to all the guests, and he was more than happy to assist the staff.

Get out there and show some support to the folks of Rikenjaks Brewing Company.

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