Been meaning to try this place for, well, over two years now, and finally made it in. One of our servers told us their third anniversary is coming up this summer, and I can't believe it's already been that long. Tempus fugit.
You're on the new Roy Street here, for sure. It's two ways now, and most of the buildings have been spruced up in some way. The Masonry is one of the spruced, taking over part of the last building on your right before you turn to go up the counterbalance to the top of QA. They're small, and it's a busy little road, but they do have a parking garage tucked in behind. They host an awful lot of beer events here, and sometimes they take out all the furniture to make room for people. And still have a line out the door, even when it's already SRO. Include me out of those shenanigans, but otherwise count me in for whatever these guys are doing.
First and foremost, you don't have to be a beer geek to like their beer program, and you don't have to be a foodie to love their kitchen. You can wander in just because you like pizza and beer, which is about as individualistic as driving on the freeway. But if you do happen to be really interested in unusual beers and ambitious cookery, these guys can for sure take care of you.
Back to the beginning: you walk in past a little sidewalk patio that seats about 4, and into a room with a short bar, a medium-sized communal highboy table, and a few 2/4-tops down the side. The walls are all done up with graffiti-esque murals, and the light fixtures are all recycled beer bottles. The tables are sturdy wood and lightweight metal frames. It's informal with style. There's a big beer bottle cooler that the servers manage, and there's a display kitchen with a big wood-fired brick pizza oven smoldering away. They leave printed menus and beer lists on the table. They have crates of vinyl behind the bar, and they cranked everything from John Coltrane Africa/Brass to the Stones to newer stuff over the course of a few hours. We even got to hear the first 12 bars of "Jumpin' Jack Flash" at 45 RPM.
The beer program here is highly specialized, but they clearly gets lots of locals who are just happy to knock back a flagon o' suds. I heard people at other tables getting names wrong and knowing nothing about what they were ordering, but the staff were super welcoming and patient with them, and they ended up loving what they were drinking. I really appreciate beer places that take the time and effort to be nice like that. We went through the beer list and caught some rare treats; those ended up being sold out. They offered some even rarer treats from off the menu, so no hard feelings by any means.
They host all kinds of special events centered around beer--brewer's nights with tap takeovers, and mini-fests centered around a country or region or style, with all kinds of rare stuff pouring and cracking. I hate packed sweaty crowds, but if you don't mind them, you should check those out.
The food here, though--damn. This place could stand on its own just by the merits of the kitchen. We had the beer clams, which were probably the best clams I've ever had. I'm trying to be as objective as I can about this, and I just can't remember having better ones, or even equally good ones. A little bitterness (beer) in the broth, a little richness (butter) but not too much, celery, leeks, fennel, seasonings, a little kick, and dozens of fresh butter clams. Mmmmm-hm. We had the yam gnocchi, which was not as sweet as you'd think, and had nice smoky counterpoint from chopped bacon, and good seasoning otherwise. Perfect heavy chew to them without being doughy mush. The pizza was incredible--prosciutto and fig with herb frissee and shaved cheese. The dough was nice and light airy with a good chew to it; I could go crackerier and crisper but that's the tiniest of quibbles.
In the end, 3 rounds of beers, clams, gnocchi, and pizza were $106. Not cheap, but this was a big meal and very reasonably priced for what we got. I'll definitely be looking for any reason I can think of to come back. read more