The Bandwagon Brew Pub, reviewed by Iona Machado
Bandwagon Brew Pub, 114 N. Cayuga St, Ithaca, NY. Tuesday-Sunday, 4pm-1am, Monday 7pm-1am. 319-0699
THE COLD AND RAIN, as well as the dread of returning to school after spring break, prompted me to seek out some homey comfort food. Situated underground on North Cayuga Street, Bandwagon Brew Pub maintains a low-key, cozy vibe, with a bar, plain wooden tables, and a gray brick façade. The room is small and lit with plain metallic fixtures, bright but not overpowering. Local art dots the walls. While I wouldn’t call it a romantic venue, it felt like a great place for friends to get together to share dinner and beer.
The menu at Bandwagon is largely composed of American dishes such as pastas, pork tenderloin, and steak, which are uniquely paired with sweet ingredients like pineapple, molasses, and apricot. Most of the pasta dishes come with cream-based sauces, while other dishes are laden with meat. Salads are decorated with beets, apples, and candied nuts.
Feeling hungry, we started off with potato and cheese wontons, deep-fried packets stuffed with a perfect ratio of creamy cheddar cheese to potato, which were simply seasoned with black pepper. Served with a mild chive sour cream dip that could have been tangier for my taste, the wontons were much-appreciated, especially after the pelting rain I endured on my way to the restaurant. (Had I not been in the mood to warm up, I might not have enjoyed the wontons as much; on a normal day, they would have been too filling an appetizer for my liking.)
For my entrée, I ordered shrimp and andouille sausage over waffles in a red pepper-chili sauce. The waitress brought over a heaping plate of waffles topped with cherry tomatoes, spinach, shrimp and sausage, thoroughly doused with a thick, creamy red-orange sauce. The andouille sausage, typically found in Cajun cooking, was well-seasoned. In combination with the chili, I savored the spice kick. The hot flavors complemented each other beautifully and were fortified by the fluffy cornmeal waffles, which were soft but not mushy. Of course, spinach in cream is always a winning combination, which added an eye-catching dark green color in the midst of the warm reds of the tomatoes. In the end, the sauce in its quantity and its density filled me after eating about half the dish. (In retrospect, the potato-cheddar wontons were perhaps an overindulgence.)
The service, while amiable, was slow. The entire meal took close to two hours, and while I normally don’t mind taking a little extra time with a meal, I was not expecting that much wait. The restaurant did not seem particularly busy at the time, and as this was my first time there, I am not sure whether or not this was an anomaly.
I was more than satisfied with my experience at Bandwagon. Eating there is a balancing act: getting a beer, appetizer, entrée, and dessert could be excessive, especially since many of the menu items are pretty rich. All of it makes for great beer food, but if you are not careful, it is easy to feel full quickly – especially with one of Bandwagon’s specialty brewed beers thrown in the mix. —Iona Machado
Bandwagon Brew Pub is located downstairs at 114 North Cayuga Street in Ithaca, NY. For information, please see www.bandwagonbeer.com or call (607) 319-0699