Almost 12 years ago, the Dining Divas were born to do ethnic eatery blogs for the Visit Lafayette – West Lafayette website. There were 4 of us, and the VLWL staff did most of the other non-ethnic restaurants. Then Covid hit, we missed a couple of years, and when we regrouped in 2021, we added some Divas and even some Dudes and broadened our focus. In the new iteration of our blog, we have reviewed some bars, dives, diners, breakfast joints, as well as trying to keep up with the ever-expanding ethnic food offerings in our increasingly multicultural community.
And so we ventured out to Teay’s River Brewing and Public House on S 9th. We arrived to the aroma of hops from the brew house, and were taken to a large booth which easily accommodated our large crew. Teay’s has a very welcoming atmosphere and lots of space.
Jeff Burnworth (owner partnering with Jason Cook, the brew master, and Jon Hodge) runs the kitchen and stopped by our table to chat. Covid was rough for them, as it was for so many, and made the operation leaner, but they made it through and are ramping back up. After a couple of years of running the kitchen himself, Jeff said they now have an executive chef and a new menu as of August. That area of town was underserved by restaurants and now with Walt’s Other Pub and Teay’s, it’s a destination. People think they are competitors, but they are friendly ones. When one house does well, the other does too. One new menu item that Jeff had resisted for years is the smash burger. It’s now a popular choice. We didn’t try the beer, but Teay’s is a brewery and proud of their products. Jeff called out the Luscious Brown and the Voice of Many Colors, a cherry vanilla sour. They also make the 6th Street Cervesa for the 6th Street Dive.
We started out with some appetizers: excellent Smoked Chicken Wings with an assortment of rubs and sauces, perfectly cooked Cauliflower ‘Wings’, and Chicharrones, which Jerry said were the best he’d ever had.
Tetia is a regular visitor to Teay’s and recommends the Roasted Vegetable Salad, any pizza—great freshly made crust, the Brussels sprouts, Candied Pork Belly, and Smokie’s Sampler. However, she chose the Angus Smash Beyond Burger, not exactly on the menu, but any burger can be made meatless at Teay’s. The Ghost Pepper Jack gave it surprising heat and the fries were crispy and abundant.
Jo also goes to Teay’s where she can sit on the patio with her beloved Bubba and feed him the crust from her 4-Cheese Pizzas. She loves the combination of feta, Asiago, parmegiano reggiano, and mozzarella on a garlic cream base. Bubba wasn’t with us, so the crusts went home in a doggie bag.
Ken had Jambalaya from the lunch menu. Chock-full of andouille, chicken, and shrimp, he said it was “wonderful!” Much spicier than he expected, which he liked and highly recommends it. Accompanied by a cornbread muffin.
Jerry was very happy with his huge Smoked Sausage Sandwich. The sausage was sliced and piled high, with sautéed onions and peppers and Alabama white sauce. As always, we were impressed with what Jerry can put away.
Iseral had the Soup & Salad option. He chose chili for his soup and loved how spicy it was, a theme that seemed to run through our lunch.
Linda had a lunch-sized Sausage & Pepperoni Pizza and was happy it wasn’t too spicy! It was just right with crispy crust and melty cheese.
Kay had the Hunter Salad, which included half a sliced avocado, a sliced hard-boiled egg, chicken, oven-roasted cherry tomatoes, lots of blue cheese, and pork belly croutons. She didn’t eat all her lettuce, but didn’t leave a single pork belly croutons for anyone else.
We recommend you stop into Teay’s for the ambiance and food, but be sure to try their beer—you can read the great descriptions on their website. We’ll be back for that later.
