Sunday, August 6, 2017

Ludington Bay Brewing Company (Ludington, MI)


- "Adult Mac & Cheese" -

Rating: ⭐️⭐️1/2

Presentation: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Nothing novel here, but with the generous seasoning covering the top, things looked promising upon first glance. 

Flavor: ⭐️ 
Surprisingly, there was almost no flavor whatsoever in this dish - disappointingly insipid. The flavor reminded me of a béchamel sauce before the salt/pepper is added - I think that even a dash of salt would've made a big difference here.

Creaminess: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Even though this mac was a letdown in a number of ways, the creaminess was up to my standards. There was plenty of cheese sauce to go around, and a good deal of body to it. This cream sauce would've had 5 stars in the bag, had it only tasted like something.

Cheesiness: ⭐️⭐️
There seemed to be a fair amount of cheese in this dish based on the gooeyness and body of the sauce, but oddly enough I could hardly taste an ounce of it. Again, sadly blah.

Texture: ⭐️⭐️
New category, how thrilling!
The firmness of the pasta fell somewhere in the middle of the spectrum; not exactly mushy, but by no means al dente. I definitely would want a firmer pasta from a dish that has no other texture elements. Unfortunately, the noodle and the sauce really blended with one another to produce a fairly platonic texture. However, if I'd chosen to add a topping, this rating may have been better.

Overall Experience: 
Not the best culinary experience in general. Not only was the mac dull, but the food took an unbelievably long amount of time to come.

There are two factors, however, that interest me in giving Ludington Bay another shot in the future:
1) You can choose to add ribs, wings, or pulled pork to the mac, which I suspect would improve the dish a bit. 
2) Ludington Bay Brewing Company is a newer establishment, so all of these issues have full potential to right themselves in time.

For those reasons, I am not yet writing this mac off, despite the mediocrity of this first go. 


Menu Link:http://ludingtonbaybrewing.com/menu.html

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