Wholly Joe's/B.J.'s Brewing

There was much eaten during my stay in Columbus. The lunch special (Spinach Queso burritos at Las Margaritas) and my cheese stacked whole wheat veggie sub sandwich from Danny's Subs were fantastic. The lack of camera leaves these meals to the imagination. However, Wholly Joe's and BJ's Brewery were consumed and documented for your Web grazing pleasure.














In order to get warmed up for Chicago I visited a few of Polaris' Chicago style eateries, including Wholly Joe's. Joe's is owned by Joe, a South Side ex-pat, and it features a cornucopia of Chicago hits. Carnivores can have my brother's favorite Italian beef and Chicago style hot dogs. The veggies can enjoy a number of different pizzas, with deep dish and thin crust options and a number of toppings.

This isn't a vegan destination, but the pizza is really good and authentic to Chicago's unhealthy dining staples of intestinally encased meats, cheese on bread and salty beef with pickled peppers.














Originally from the left coast town of Santa Ana, California, B.J's Brew House is a rapidly expanding brew pub chain. B.J's locations can be found in eight states with 13 new restaurants slated to open later this year.

B.J.'s also features Chicago style pizza like Wholly Joe's. They brew handcrafted beers and cider. The Pale Ale, the Nutty Brunette, the Irish Red and the Stout were all very good. The stout is nitrogenated, contains 8 percent alcohol by volume and it makes a wicked Irish car bomb.

The food was decent. The restaurant recently opened and had severe issues with timing the appetizers and main courses. The server was gracious, but the timing definitely wasn't there.

There was pizza for the vegetarians. I can make no pronouncement about it as I did not try it. However, the fettuccini alfredo was well made, as was the angel hair pasta topped with tomatoes, feta, pine nuts, garlic and olive oil. There were a number of other vegan and vegetarian pasta selections.

The avocado egg rolls were interesting if unspectacular. Overall, the food was average at best. The restaurant may improve as they iron out the kinks. The drinks were very good. With the televisions, it should be a pleasant place to watch a game. Hopefully the kitchen can catch up with the bar.

Click on the Picasa link to see clips from both B.J.'s and Wholly Joe's as well as some pictures of random dogs.

Wholly Joes-BJs-Dogs