Kridz, Matt, and I went to
Destihl in Champaign last night.
First, lets clear up some rumors. I've heard several people claim they don't want to go there because it's a "chain". This is only the second restaurant/brewery opened by Destihl. If you are concerned that you are supporting a "chain" restaurant, then you should also boycott any Nieto bars (7 Saints, Guidos, Jupiters, Billy Barooz, Jupiters at the Crossing, Highdive, and Cowboy Monkey). If ownership of more than one bar makes it a chain, then you should also avoid going to the Blind Pig and the Blind Pig Brewery. Heck, you can also skip going to Esquire Lounge and Black Dog Smoke and Ale House.
This place isn't a chain, there are things that are common at both restaurants, but it is far from a chain. There are several "chain" brewery restaurants out there: Rock Bottom, Ram, Gordon Biersch, Hops, Granite City... some are good, some aren't. Granite City is one of my least favorites, but even if one opened up in town, it would do well. Regardless of the chain status, each Rock Bottom brewery produces their own beer, and several of them win awards each year at the Great American Beer Fest, and at other places.
Again, Destihl isn't a chain.
Now, down to our experience.
When we arrived (without reservations, at about 6 pm) we were immediately able to find a place for the three of us to sit at the bar. As a tall table in the bar area became available, we moved to that. You can sit in either the very large dining area, or sit in the bar, I'm more of a sit in the bar kind of guy.
The dining area looks huge. It looks like it will have one of the largest seating areas in downtown. Only Jim Goulds might have a larger seating area, but I'm not sure. There is also a private room that can accomodate parties of up to about 16. They can probably accomodate larger parties in either the bar area, or in the dining area (I'd recommend calling for reservations).
The place seemed very clean. It was bright and inviting. The brewhouse itself was right near the front door, by the bar area, just reinforcing that they make their own beer.
When we sat at the bar, we each ordered three 4-oz sizes of beer, Matt got the Tripel, Quadrupel, and Deadhead Double Red Ale; Kridz got the Black Angel Stout, Roadblock British Red Ale, and the Von Linne Apricot Wheat Ale; I got the Antiquity Rye Wine, Jacob's Ladder American Brown Ale, and the All-the-Wiser Imperial Hefeweizen. All the beers in sample size range from $1.25 to $2, which isn't a horrible deal. They also have one ounce glasses and can give you a taste of each of the beers. Their menu currently lists 16 beers.
When we moved to the table, we ordered some appetizers. Everyone so far had raved to me about the beer battered bacon. So, I ordered that. Kridz got the deviled eggs, and Matt got the pretzels. The bacon was really good, it wasn't like sex in my mouth (like I figured it would be, but I probably had too high of expectations) but it was really good. The bacon was kind of peppery and felt a bit greasy, but I guess deep fried bacon will do that. The deviled eggs were outstanding, there was bacon in it, and that made it great. The pretzels are stadium style, and there are two of them; they came with a delicious mustard and a nacho sauce that tasted really good (I'm assuming it's not from a can). I saved the rest of the mustard, which was sweet and tangy, for my fries later. The pretzels came across, to me, as slightly doughy, but still good.
To eat, I got the Wagyu burger. It's a half pound, and it's only like $12 (or something close) that's a good value. I ordered it medium rare. I think it came with a form of bleu cheese on it. There was also tomato, lettuce and onion (I removed the tomato and let
tuce), and a side of fries. It also came with barbecue sauce, if you want to "western" your burger. I used that sauce for my fries. There was a similar tangy note between the bbq and mustard. They were both good on the fries. I shared part of my burger with Kridz, Matt, and the Rick, and they all seemed to enjoy it. It was very good... but, the bun seemed a little dry to me. Also, one side of the burger appeared to be well done when I bit into it, and the other side seemed a little less than medium rare. It was good meat, as if I just squeezed the bun a bit, grease with some redness would come dripping out.
Matt got a chorizo and mushroom pizza. Wait, Matt DESTROYED a chorizo and mushroom pizza. The crust is very thin. You definitely aren't going to be filled up on crust. He was either hungry, or the thing was great. I'd guess a combination. I had a bit of the chorizo, which seemed to be like a spicy sloppy joe. The mushrooms were good too, although Kridz thought they looked burned.
Kridz got a cheese pizza. She had filled up on the appetizers, and was able to
only eat a slice or two of the pizza. Again, very thin crust. She liked it, but was full from part of a pretzel, beer battered bacon, two deviled eggs, and about 12 ounces of beer (not counting the beer we had before at Radio Maria).
There are several televisions in the bar area, and the staff was very accomodating in finding the Bulls game for us.
As we were watching the end of the game, the booth nearest us got what looked to be carrot cake. There were three guys at the booth, and this piece of cake was the biggest I've ever seen. Seriously, it was a huge friggin piece of cake. It was three layers, and it looked like each guy there could eat a layer, and not want any more than that.
After I finished my three beer samplers, I ordered the Bar Sinister Mild Ale. If you aren't a very well seasoned beer drinker, this will probably be the beer you'll want to drink. If you like Bass, or Newcastle, or just aren't that willing to expiriment, this will be a good one for you. If you are a light beer drinker, you'll probably want to drink the Champaign Blonde Ale. Matt later ordered the Frankengluten Belgian Sorghum Ale. (If you have celiac's this is the beer for you). We didn't really like this beer too much. It had a weird flavor to it, that reminded me of... lipstick.
The cost for me and Kridz, including 6 samples of beer, a pint of the Mild, two appetizers, a pizza, and a Wagyu burger was around $50. That's not horrible for what all we got. When we left, I was uncomfortably full. So that's a good sign.
Sadly, the bartenders need some training on what they are pouring, why they are pouring it that what, and how to pour. In each tap area, they have the really cool glass rinsing station. So each glass is presented after being freshly rinsed. I heard one of the bartenders tell a patron that it was done "to chill the glass". Not once did any of them mention that it was for helping head retention. I corrected our server and told him it was to fill any pits in the glass, which are areas that can trap air and cause the beer to excessively foam.
The next issue I had with the bartenders is that they continually stuck the nozzel of the tap into the beer as it was filling. Sure, the inside of the tap is where the beer flows through, but the outside is where dust, lint, dirt, and other crap goes after you get it wet and sticky.
I discussed with someone else, that it was odd that we didn't know any of the bartenders. Downtown Champaign has several bars, and most of the bartenders have worked at other bars before (or concurrently) and we didn't recognize any of them.
So, don't avoid Destihl because you think it might be a chain, it's not. The food is good, and plentiful. The beer is good. The staff needs a little more training. But it's a good place to go for around $50 for an evening.
