Whether you prefer light lagers, dark porters or bold, hoppy pale ales, we can all agree that beer requires food. It’s why taprooms book food trucks, and why run-of-the-mill wings and sliders are still pretty tasty. But certainly we can also agree that beer food can and should be spectacular even before we’ve had a few too many pints. Fortunately, two of the city’s newest destinations crafted for craft consumption subscribe to this belief.
Beerhaus does beer food right.
Beerhaus, the MGM Resorts-operated suds hall at the Park, keeps things simple and satisfying. To match an ample selection of drafts, bottles and cans from all over—including plenty of local brews, which is always nice to see on the Strip—there are sumptuous sausages, rotisserie meats in sandwich form or served with salad and potatoes, and happy snacks like pretzels with beer cheese ($6) and fried pickle spears ($7). The best bites are the shaved beef sandwich with horseradish slaw ($15) and the plump, snappy brat ($8) with smoked bacon onion jam. Keeping ultra-casual, you choose your food at a counter, even if you’re sitting at a big table with your friends playing board games and ordering beers from your server.
PT’s Brewing Company, from the eponymous group that operates 50 bars around the Valley, takes a vastly different approach with a bold menu upgrade. Located in the former Tenaya Creek brew space in northwest Vegas, this is where the signature beers now available at all those bars are made, and PT’s went all out to create cuisine worthy of the enterprise.
PT's Brewing Company's pork ’n’ beans, braised pork shoulder over a country bean stew.
Their pretzel ($10.99) is a giant Bavarian one. This brewery does ramen with seared pork belly ($9.99), a deli-style sandwich with house-made pastrami, roast beef and corned beef ($16.99), a chicken pot pie and paella laced with shrimp and calamari ($18.99). And even though it’s over 100 degrees out and a dish called pork ’n’ beans ($17.99) sounds silly, it’s one of the best beer foods ever, an island of ideal braised pork shoulder over a sublime country bean stew. This is delicious cold-sober, so imagine how great it will be after a pint or three.
Beerhaus The Park, 702-692-2337. Monday-Thursday, Sunday, 11 a.m.-1 a.m.; Friday & Saturday, 11 a.m.-2 a.m.
PT's Brewing Company 3101 N. Tenaya Way, 702-333-7151. 24/7.
