Two Roads Food Hall & Bar Opens in Stratford From Two Roads Brewery

The Two Roads Food Hall & Bar is now open at the brewery’s expanding campus in Stratford. The food hall, in an expanded space which formerly housed garage-themed PizzaCo, now incorporates three food concepts: Skull City Taquitos, Roost House Chicken, and Industry Schnitzel and Sausage, with a full bar. 

All three concepts are handled through a single kitchen at the newly designed space, and ordering is done through kiosks at the food hall, or inside the tasting rooms at the Two Roads and Area 2 breweries, with delivery right to your seat. 

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If food hall head chef Tim Lonczak sounds familiar, it’s because you may remember the Meriden native’s name from Heirloom at The Study Hall in New Haven, and most recently at Isla & Co. in Fairfield. Already acquainted with former Isla manager - now Two Roads hospitality manager - Ben Paré, the pair joined with restaurateur Frank Klein to bring the food hall to life.

“It’s really exciting to do, because I don’t know of any brewery in Connecticut doing anything like a three-brand, fast-casual concept,” said chef Lonczak. “It’s familiar dishes, but elevated, changed up a little bit.”

The Food

We began with the schnitzel and pretzels. The soft, twisty, and lightly browned pretzels were huge winners at the table. Dusted with salt and herbs, they arrived dunked in paper cups of a tasty, tangy Road 2 Ruin IPA beer cheese. This instantly became one of my top favorite iterations of the classic beer pairing: the increased depth of flavors putting it up there with the wood oven baked pretzels at Five Churches in New Britain. 

The schnitzel itself was a generous portion of pork chop - thin, but still juicy - with crispy breading, and a thoughtful topping of pickled vegetables, almost like an Italian giardineira.

“Seasonal vegetables are coming,” said the chef. “We’d like to get back into local farms, with ingredients for Industry and Roost House. The acidity and pickling works so well with the fried foods, as well as the craft beers.”

The schnitzel was served with a scoop of fresh, mustardy, German style potato salad with skin-on red potatoes. It’s a hearty dish, either as a post-session beer diffuser, or as a liner for pints to come. Other offerings from the Industry concept include sausage sandwiches, salads, and hot dogs with a variety of toppings, like spicy relish and sauerkraut.

Chef Lonczak says the plan going forward is to work with Two Roads master brewer Phil Markowski, to create some specialty beers, and beer-paring events, in collaboration with the food hall. Their first is a light, crisp option with lime zest called Skull City Lager. There’s a full bar with several Two Roads options on tap, and adult slushies for hot weather, including a frozen daiquiri with Fairfield rum, and It Takes Two 2 Mango, with mango, apricot, citrus, and Two Roads vodka.

I tried three kinds of Skull City taquitos, which are helpfully color-coded by your order. In total, the four options go: blue corn = citrus and cilantro chicken, red = 8-hour braised beef, with chipotle, jalapeno and onion, white corn = bean and cheese, yellow corn = potato and nopal (prickly pear cactus). The three arrived topped with guacamole, white cheese sauce, and cilantro, with my personal preference in ascending order from the mild potato and nopal, to the herbal chicken, and the spicy shredded beef. If I were to get three of a kind, it may actually be the chicken, for a lighter experience, but I would definitely make sure to pair any of the above with the chef’s outstanding, smoky rice and beans. Rice bowls and salads with add-ons are also options.

“9 out of 10 times, people are coming with their own personal favorites for a fried chicken sandwich,” said chef Lonczak when we discussed Roost House. “We have to at least hit that mark, but we use thigh meat for our sandwiches, for some better flavor.”

Their spicy chicken is dry rubbed in spices, before a buttermilk soak, and a drench in additionally spiced flour. It’s not Buffalo or Nashville style in heat or texture, the focus is on crispy, juicy chicken. It’s hot enough to get your attention, but restrained enough to keep from spoiling your tastebuds for whatever else you get up to that evening. The standard fried chicken sandwich comes with a drizzle of southern Duke’s mayonnaise, and both sandwiches come with an acid kick of house made pickles, and macaroni salad or cole slaw.

The biggest surprise of the Roost House concept turned out to be a cold tumeric-spiced chicken salad sandwich, this made with pickle-brined breast meat, golden raisins, and fresh herbs. It’s more lightweight and clean than the fried alternatives, and the chicken is available this way as a topping on salads. We had our sandwiches alongside a softened kale salad with parmesan, lemon Caesar dressing, and bread crumbs. 

While saying goodbye to PizzaCo may feel like a bit of a loss (we’ll miss you most of all, ‘scamotz pie), the new Two Roads Food Hall & Bar lends a ton of new flavors to your next brewery visit.

Two Roads Food Hall & Bar

1700 Stratford Ave., Stratford

https://www.toasttab.com/tworoadsfoodhall/