Some friends and I found ourselves at a place called Delta Grill a few nights ago. The restaurant featured New Orleans style decor, food, and drinks.
I started off with a sweet cornbread muffin with butter and pint of Blue Point Toasted Lager. I really liked this beer! And Blue Point Brewery is a local company – it’s on Long Island.
For my entree, I chose the blackened tofu salad. My mound of mixed greens was topped with cherry tomatoes, scallions, portabella mushrooms, cous cous, and blackened tofu with a mustard-y dressing on the side. The fresh vegetables really shone through in this salad and the cous cous was an interesting addition.
Nate was very excited to get huge pulled pork po boy for only $10. Quite the deal for Manhattan! Some extra crispy waffle fries were served on the side – I tried a few and gave them two thumbs up 
After dinner, we headed to The Pony Bar in Hell’s Kitchen. This brew-pub was just featured in the NY Times blog The Pour, so we were super excited to check it out! The atmosphere of the bar reminded me of an old western saloon. The walls and benches were wooden and empty barrels served as tables.
The wall behind the bar featured the day’s menu of draft beers. Everything at The Pony Bar is American Craft beer – no bud light here!
I started off with a Hell or High Watermelon Wheat Beer from 21st Amendment Brewery in San Francisco, CA. My beer was described as a light, straw colored American-style wheat beer that is brewed with 400lbs of fresh-pressed Watermelon in each batch. This beer was very interesting – I definitely noticed the watermelon flavor! However, I’m not sure if I would order this again…the beer and the watermelon did not seemed to meld together very well. It was almost like drinking beer with a watermelon after taste. Oh well, at least it got me in the mood for summer!
About half-way through our beers, the bartender rang a bell and shouted something that sounded like “Beer!” Later on, we learned that this meant a keg had been tapped and a new barrel was being opened. The mood of the bar was very energetic, but not too loud for us to carry on a conversation.
The beer was good, the atmosphere was jovial, and the prices were reasonable. Bravo Pony Bar!
