East Idaho Eats: Pocatello’s Union Taproom serves ‘pub grub’ from a refined kitchen
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POCATELLO — The Yellowstone Hotel in Pocatello offers something few others can — the opportunity to enjoy three separate dining experiences and atmospheres in a single building.
The Yellowstone restaurant is an “elevated” dining experience with fancy meal prepared by highly trained kitchen staff. The 313 Whiskey Bar boasts one of Pocatello’s largest selections of whiskey.
East Idaho Eats: Pocatello’s Yellowstone Restaurant offers meld of casual and classy
And the Union Taproom offers over a dozen drafts beers — many of which are from local breweries — to go with its classic “grub pup” menu. The catch is, though, that grub pup is made in the same kitchen that cooks The Yellowstone’s menu, by the same cooks.
“The cool thing is … when anybody comes down to the Hotel Yellowstone building, we likely have something for everyone,” owner Jennifer Erchul said.
The Taproom menu, unlike The Yellowstone’s, focuses primarily on the types of food one would find at a sports bar — food you can eat with your hands. As Rory Erchul, Jennifer’s husband and co-owner, said, the Taproom is home to things like chicken wings, turkey burgers and one of the best burgers in town — a burger that costs only $5 every Monday.
“People come in just for that all the time,” he said. “You know, the great thing about the $5 burger is that it’s cheaper than eggs right now.”
For EastIdahoNews.com’s visit, the Erchuls had their kitchen make a burger, a fish and chips basket, and an appetizer order of The Yellowstone’s signature Brussels Sprouts.
The sprouts are cooked with sweet chili oil, bacon and sesame seeds, giving them a bit of sweetness and tang to go with the classic bacon sprouts served on so many dinner tables. And the burger truly is a classic, though even it is finished with a special touch — a garlic aioli that could be perfectly serveable on a large spoon.
The real revelation during the visit was the fish and chip basket.
It boasts everything you look for in fried fish — a crispy exterior with a juicy flaky interior. But, and you have heard this before, it has a special significance. The Yellowstone kitchen makes its own delicious tartar sauce to accompany the fish — in fact, all the sauces served at The Yellowstone are made in-house.
Now open for lunch, these delightful items and many more are available at the Union Taproom starting at 11 a.m., Monday to Saturday.
The Taproom also hosts daily specials — including $5 burger Mondays. The fish and chip basket or fish sandwich are just $9.99 every Friday and the chicken wings Rory believes to be the best in town are 99 cents each every Thursday. Thursday is also $2 off pints night.
Rory was also clear that children are welcome at the Union Taproom daily until 9 p.m., at which time it becomes 21 and older. That means everyone can enjoy the nightly entertainment, from DJ trivia Wednesday to open mic nights on Friday and live music on Saturdays.
“This isn’t like a lot of other bars that stay open until 2 o’clock in the morning and people are rowdy,” Rory said. “Our clientele come in for some great food, some good beer and then they typically go home.”
Along with the new offerings only months old at the Taproom, Jennifer and Rory have some other exciting things in the works.
Rory is currently remodeling a room in the back of the building to serve as a private party room — the Yellowstone Bison Room. Once completed, sometime before the summer Rory said, people, will be able to rent the room for things like parties and business meetings.
There is also a Yellowstone food trailer coming soon, Jennifer added.
The trailer will be used for both catering order deliveries and as a food truck aimed at getting The Yellowstone’s tasty food to a wider audience.
The Union Taproom is located at 299-201 W Bonneville Street and is open Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to midnight.
To see the complete list of the Taproom’s daily specials, visit the website — https://theuniontaproom.com/ — or the Facebook page — https://www.facebook.com/26taps/.
If you want to make a recommendation for the next destination to be included on East Idaho Eats, email Kalama@EastIdahoNews.com and include “EATS” in the subject line.
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