A
century-and-a-half ago, if you stopped at the large brick building
on 3rd and Main Streets in Dubuque, you were likely in search of
a new covered wagon for your continued trek across the Midwest.
If you stop there now,
chances are you’re in the market for a microbrew.
The building once housed
the showroom for the Augustine A. Cooper Wagon Factory, the largest,
most respected wagon factory in the Midwest. Now called Bricktown,
the building is home to the area’s best known brewpub and
restaurant. Bricktown, which also houses a basement bar, pizza place
and a banquet facility, continues to uphold the reputation the wagon
factory used to enjoy.
History, atmosphere,
nostalgia, food, drinks and entertainment – Bricktown offers
the whole gamut. The Blackwater Grille on the main floor features
a hickory wood grill and microbrewery. The Underground Bar downstairs
offers live music, comedy and generous drink specials, and the adjacent
Fat Kat Pizza boasts the area’s most unique pizza. Upstairs,
Bricktown allots 6,000 square feet for two banquet rooms popular
for reunions and wedding receptions.
“There’s
something for everybody here,” says Blackwater Grille manager
Brian Hoffman about the Bricktown building. “It’s casual,
relaxed. There are numerous choices of food, beer, cocktails and
entertainment. We get college students, adults, tourists and everybody
else.”
Blackwater
Grille
Windows surrounding the
first-floor restaurant provide abundant ambient light to the main
dining area. It reflects off the large copper brewing tanks in the
center of the room with a warm luster. In the back of the room,
shelves stocked with premium liquor overlook a bar that centers
eight white microbrew taps. The smell of a hickory grill fire intensifies
near the kitchen, from which the restaurant specializes in steaks,
chops and ribs.
The brewery has the capability
to brew over 70 recipes, but it specializes in eight craft beers,
including root beer and seasonal brews. Each one has its own identity,
its own signature, Hoffman says, but the brewery’s ales are
the most popular.
“Ales are generally
not bitter, whereas a lot of microbrews have a little aftertaste
and bitterness to them,” Hoffman says. “Our Scottish
Ale is fairly balanced with malt and hops. It’s probably the
most popular among beer connoisseurs.
And they have a little
higher alcohol content,” he says.
Bricktown also offers
“The Mexican” a Mexican style beer, “Black Eye
Stout,” a rich, dark beer, and “Laughing Ass Ale,”
a light, mild beer. Hoffman says customers appreciate the variety,
yet some stick to their favorites. Customers in groups often opt
for the restaurant’s $14.50 “drink tower,” which
is a tall cylinder with an ice reservoir and spigot that holds 84
oz. of beer.
The best part, according
to one customer, is the price. Microbrews are available individually
in 16 and 20 oz. glasses for $3.25 and $4, respectively. Compared
to the prices at many brewpubs, Hoffman says customers get more
brew for their buck at Blackwater.
“It’s relatively
inexpensive to brew,” Hoffman says. “And we like to
keep them in competition with Bud and Bud Light so people have no
reason not to try them.”
Underground
Bar
Beneath the Blackwater
Grille, the Underground Bar features a dark, yet clean, atmosphere
popular among students of Dubuque’s four area colleges. The
outside walls of the bar are tunneled underneath the sidewalks on
3rd and Main Streets, giving the bar’s name a literal meaning.
In the evenings, especially
weekends and Wednesdays, it’s packed. The Underground’s
drink specials bring in college students like standing water attracts
mosquitoes. Wednesdays are 50 cent domestic bottles. During the
weekend, buy a $5 plastic 20 oz. cup and get $2.50 double shot calls,
$1.50 double wells or $1 domestic tap beers. Underground manager
Shane George says the drink specials make the Underground Dubuque’s
hot spot.
“It can be pretty
tough to get around in here when we’re at capacity,”
George says. “It’s usually wall to wall. We usually
run out of Bud products.
We don’t sell much
top-shelf liquor,” he says. “Stoli Raspberry is pretty
popular, but for the most part, the premium liquors and the microbrews
are sold more upstairs. This is a college bar. They’re looking
for the specials and the cheap drinks.”
And the entertainment.
The Underground has several flat screen televisions tuned in to
sporting events. It hosts parties for major sporting events –
including Hawkeye football games. Wednesday night is stand-up comedy
night. The Underground’s comedy résumé features
national acts including Dustin Diamond, who played Screech on the
’90s sitcom “Saved by the Bell,” and Dave Attell
of Comedy Central’s “Insomniac.”
Though the Underground
admits 19-year-olds, alcohol is served only to 21-year-olds wearing
wrist bands that indicate they are of legal age to drink. Four bouncers
patrol the floor on busy nights, George says, making sure nobody
is drinking illegally or excessively. And they strictly enforce
the rules, he says.
Fat
Kat Pizza
Connected to the Underground
Bar, Fat Kat pizza offers a slice of laid back atmosphere that brings
Bricktown full circle. Customers enjoy the soothing sounds of jazz
and blues music while eating what the restaurant claims is the area’s
most unique pizza.
The menu features deep
dish pizza, traditional pizzas including meat combo, cheeseburger,
vegetable, BLT, Hawaiian and taco pizzas, and specialty pizzas unique
to Fat Kat called “The Supreme,” “Tomato Basil
& Garlic,” “Garlic & Oil,” “The
Greek,” “Chicken Alfredo,” “Spinach &
Artichoke” and “Chicken Fiesta.”
“Fat Kat attracts
all types of people,” George said. “It’s popular
among the lunch hour crowd, kids come in for pizza after school,
and some college student might eat pizza before going out.”
Manufacturing
Success
The old brick building
on Dubuque’s 3rd and Main Streets once manufactured the finest
wagons in the Midwest. Story has it that Henry Ford first sought
to put his internal combustion engines in Cooper Wagons, but the
factory owner turned him down, thinking automobiles would be no
more than a passing fad.
Now the building manufactures
something for everybody. Whether it is beer, wood grilled steaks
and chops, pizza, cheap drinks or entertainment, Bricktown has a
product for every consumer. The factory that once satisfied 5,000
customers a year with quality wagon craftsmanship now satisfies
exponentially more with its diverse set of hospitality venues.
Augustine A. Cooper would
be proud.
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