Photo by Kevin A. Roberts
We weren’t really expecting to find oxtail poutine in the old Shenanigans space in Edwardsville, Illinois. In fact, we were surprised at quite a few items on the menu at Social Gastropub (2 157 Center, Edwardsville, Ill.; 618-692-5156), whose name is indicative of its aspirations in both food and alcoholic beverages. (This is actually the second location of the restaurant; co-owner Mike Graber is a native East Sider who opened the first one about a year and a half ago in his current home of Perrysburg, Ohio, a suburb of Toledo.)
In addition to poutine, braised beef cheek, fish tacos, and ramen are staple dishes like calamari, baby back ribs, and ribeye steak. The sprawling menu also includes buffalo chicken egg rolls and other unexpected hybrids. With nearly 40 food choices on an extensive menu that changes every few months, as well as a range of drinks, consistency was our biggest concern. Fortunately, we only encountered a few minor letdowns.
Poutine is the Quebecois counterpart of a slinger: French fries topped with cheese curds and gravy. Social Gastropub elevates the dish with a veal demi-glace and shreds of rich oxtail.
We found similar riffs throughout our meals: boursin on toast, mildly spicy chorizo with a dozen plump mussels, a tangy mix of goat cheese and feta with roasted cauliflower. Ramen was served in traditionally deconstructed fashion, with green onions, a couple of halved boiled eggs, thin, round bright-red slices of Fresno chiles, broccolini, and a medium-thick slice of braised pork shoulder. Currants and kale added sweetness and an interesting texture to the pork ragu, served with house-made potato gnocchi.
At $25, the garlic-seared ribeye was the most expensive item on the menu. Oddly, our server didn’t ask how we’d like our steak cooked. Even stranger, the kitchen allowed a well-done steak to make it into the dining room without ever asking the server, “Are you sure?” On the other hand, a different server had taken our beer order and successfully encapsulated the styles and flavors of about eight of the choices on the draft menu, leading us to an aromatic double IPA, Plague Bringer from Excel Brewery in relatively nearby Breese, as well as a more complex double-red IPA, G’Knight from Oskar Blues.
The drink menu includes wine and craft cocktail lists of moderate length. Some 20 taps dispense microbrews from near and far, but the bottle list tends more toward mass-market products.
Yes, at Social Gastropub craft beer lovers and Bud drinkers can easily coexist—just like traditionalists and adventurous diners.
The Bottom Line: When hitting on all cylinders, this gastropub in the Metro East is a gas.
