Schlafly Highland Park - Highland, IL

Going home for Christmas often provides the unique opportunity of reviewing restaurants outside of my traditional coverage area, and this year was no exception. It’s the first time in three years that I’ve been home. The universe gave me a gift: Schlafly Brewery of Saint Louis opened a location in the family’s ancestral home of Highland, Illinois during Christmas week. 

After coming to the USA from Switzerland, the founders of the craft brewery first put down roots in a small town not far from where I would be staying this Christmas. I saw the news of the opening through the old television station I got all my news from as a kid. It struck me as unusual for many reasons. Saint Louis, while not far away, so rarely extends the tendrils of its businesses out into these rural communities. It wouldn’t be until I actually visited that I’d find out the historical significance of the choice. It also promised a dining experience to an area often underserved.

So I planned Christmas Eve lunch with my father and my husband at the new restaurant, and we arrived ahead of the doors opening to make sure we could get a table. The location wasn’t taking reservations– and they may never. That wasn’t particularly clear. What was clear, however, was that we were not the only people in the region with this idea. Even ten minutes early, car after car arrived to park along Highland Square and wait their turn to walk into the doors of the old bank turned brewpub.

When you enter, it’s obvious that the place was once a bank. They even kept the vault around as decoration behind the bar. The high ceiling and long dining room feel like the sort of place you once might have stood in line waiting on a bank teller. The wide windows on the right side of the room look out into the renovated yard, which will soon serve as an outdoor dining and entertainment area. There are tables with chess boards permanently part of them and concrete cornhole boxes set into the yard. We can’t wait to see it full of visitors in the summer.

​
We were seated at a hightop for our early lunch, and there we ordered our drinks for the meal. I began with a flight. I also failed as a food blogger and didn’t get a proper picture of the beautiful thing. The opportunity to sample five different beers on draft was too tantalizing for me to remember my duty. My apologies. Their wintry haze IPA is delicious on draft, and I’ll be looking forward to it again next year when we return. We most certainly will be doing that.

The two appetizers we ordered arrived to our table with speed despite the growing crowd in the dining room, and we found ourselves pleasantly surprised. Pub pretzels with beer cheese and fried cheese curds– most unusual about them, however, is that the beer cheese was cold! We expected a warm dip for the pretzels, but we were not disappointed by this development. It spread easily so that we could coat our individual pretzels in the cheese.

The pretzels themselves, as you can see in the picture, had a great crust. They were warmed themselves which helped the cheese spread. Yummy!

The fried cheese curds that arrived to the table were definitely not the kind we get up here in Wisconsin. Skinnier but longer in shape almost universally, these curds were produced locally at Marcoot Jersey Creamery in nearby Greenville, Illinois. That didn’t take away from the taste, however. The white curds melted perfectly inside their fried coating, and the tangy marinara that accompanied them provided a great foil of flavor against the rich cheese. The lemon herb aioli did much the same work. I tended toward the marinara to leave the aioli for my tomato hating husband. The acidity of both made this a delicious snack with beer.

My father and I both ordered the Schlafly Smash, a double patty smashburger. The same beer cheese served with our pretzels came on the burger accompanied by a delicious house mustard, homemade pickles, onion and ketchup all between a soft brioche bun. The bun had some trouble holding up to the weight of its interior, perhaps too soft for the work it was being asked to do, but it ate well all the same. The bun didn’t fall apart on either of us– it felt a little too soft in the hands for me, however. I'm sure it didn't hold up when I sent it home with my dad as leftovers. I was so full from the appetizers that I barely ate half.

The fries are on the softer side, which isn’t a bad thing. You can tell that these are cut in house and fried with some care. They’re well seasoned, and they’re a welcome break from the richness of the burger that’s often only broken by the acidity of the light pickle in the burger itself.  Speaking of these pickles-- these are also done in house. I can't think of a single jarred pickle that tastes or looks at light as these did.

Something like the Schlafly brew pub isn’t often found in towns like Highland. Indeed, it’s probably the first of its kind that I’ve seen in such a small town. Ten thousand people, and now it’s home to a brewpub that could compete in cities four times its size. The Highland Park location will be a welcome destination for the rural residents of the area, no doubt. I know we’ll be back on every visit. The less I have to drive into the metro-east, the better!

You can visit the Schlafly website to take a peek at the menu not only for this location, but for all others that are part of the Schlafly family in the Saint Louis Metro Area. Plan your trip if Saint Louis is in your future, and you won’t be disappointed. They’ve been fighting the good fight for good beer in the shadow of Anheuser-Busch since the 90’s. It’s the least we can do to support them.