The Stinking Rose

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 1:34 pm

Has anyone been out to try the place since John and the CK crew took over the place? I'm thinking of making a trip out there Family Day weekend, but the reviews on Restaurantica were less than glowing

SteelbackGuy · Post by **SteelbackGuy** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 1:47 pm

I've heard it stinks.

co · Post by co » Fri Feb 27, 2009 10:38 am

I made the trek up there from Port Hope a couple of months back. I'm a big fan of Church-Key and was looking forward to a new destination drive for lunch but I was very disappointed with the pub. My wife and I went there for lunch and I asked for menus when we sat down only to be informed that there were none aside from a blackboard that listed about three or four food options. The waitress was kind enough to offer alternatives in the area but, after a brief look at the options we drove to Peterborough to eat a late lunch at St. Veronus. It may not be John's goal to make this a food destination, but if you're going out that way for lunch you may wish to see if the menu's expanded since my last visit. This is a little tardy for the Family Day weekend plans but information nevertheless.

GregClow · Post by **GregClow** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 11:45 am

My understanding is that John intends for the food at the Stinking Rose to be as local and seasonal as possible. So it makes sense that they have a short chalkboard menu.

Not ideal if there's nothing you like amongst the choices, of course, but I'd personally rather have that than a large and unfocussed menu ("something for everyone!") made up of typical frozen/processed/pre-fab pub grub.

co · Post by co » Sat Feb 28, 2009 1:06 pm

That was my impression too Greg which is why I was disappointed. Quality over quantity and a strong push towards local product are two of the reasons I so respect John's way of doing business, it's just that the options were too limited. There was one sandwich option, I believe a soup and some nachos if memory serves me right. Admittedly it was not long after John took over the joint that I visited so they may have expanded the menu since my last visit. I'll likely stop by the next time I'm up picking up beer at the brewery and update this link if one of you fine bastards don't beat me to the punch.

Holy Smoke · Post by **Holy Smoke** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 4:11 pm

The Menu is Simple and it is written on a chalkboard.

The Soup- Everyday a different homemade soup, made from local ingredients where ever possible.

The Sandwich- Changing daily, Most often, Grilled or Roast, Local Beef, Tamworth Pork, Jersey Giant Chicken, Shropshire lamb or Bison. No meat has travel farther than 25km to the pub.

The Burger- Same as above a changing daily menu of hand formed ground Local Beef, Tamworth Pork, Jersey Giant Chicken, Shropshire lamb or Bison.

The Veggie- Most often grilled in season veggies in a press sandwich, maybe some local empire cheese.

Meals are served with in house made chips, and/or salad in season.

Greg hit it on the head I don't want to open portion controlled zip locks and have a ten page menu. 85% of our sales is Ontario craft beer, mine and others. The rotating menu at the Stinking Rose is mostly for me BC I eat there most days.

John

tupalev · Post by **tupalev** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 6:51 pm

I'm looking forward to finally checking it out when I am home for Easter John - sounds like my kind of place. I have to put in my keg order for Spring revival as well!

Jeff

TJ · Post by TJ » Thu Apr 16, 2009 4:41 pm

tupalev wrote:I'm looking forward to finally checking it out when I am home for Easter John - sounds like my kind of place.

Did you manage to get there? Any good?

I plan to visit on the 24th and swing by the brewery afterwards to pick up some West Coast Pale Ale while I'm in the area. Can't wait. It's such a neat little brewery with a lot of character.

And for what it's worth, as a general rule I find the larger the menu, the worse the food is. I kind of like the idea of a simple menu.

tupalev · Post by **tupalev** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:53 pm

Unfortunately I did not get a chance to stop by the Rose...Easter Weekend was just too busy. I did manage to stop by the Church and get their last two growlers plus some Northumberland in bottles - they were pretty wiped out for stock from the long weekend (they were open Good Friday), so hopefully it has been restocked for you on your visit. It doesn't hurt to call ahead to avoid disappointment though.

I'm in the area once/month, so I'll try the Stinking Rose another time...

TJ · Post by TJ » Thu Apr 16, 2009 8:41 pm

Cool. Thanks for the heads up.

TJ · Post by TJ » Thu Apr 30, 2009 9:18 am

I was here last Friday afternoon.

It's very...quaint. Small. Pretty standard pub decor, with a piano, guitar, banjo and drums holding the promise of live music at night.

There were mostly Church Key brews on top, five or so, with the exception of Durham's Black Katt. I gather from some of the tap handles I saw stored over the bar that the taps rotate.

The bottle selection was Ontario craft stuff. Mill Street, Red Cap, um... etc...I probably should have looked more closely, but I seldom pay much attention to bottles when there is good stuff on tap.

As for the food selection,well...it is what it is—four items on a chalkboard. So if you happen to be there for a pint and get hungry you're in luck! They have food. Snacks, too. But as a food destination this might not be the best place to go.

When I was there they were out of the sandwich option, so it came down to a cream of mushroom soup, grilled cheese, or a Bison burger.

As none of those appealed to me, I did manage to convince the bartender/cook to grill me up some peppers and mushrooms and whatnot and make a sandwich out of that for me. It wasn't bad at all for what it was and bonus points to her for her willingness to make something that wasn't on the menu.

Overall it was a nice spot to have a pint Ontario craft beer on tap which is pretty novel in small town Ontario, and worth a stop if you're visiting the brewery from out of town.

midlife crisis · Post by **midlife crisis** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 6:15 pm

Found myself in the Trenton area on the weekend so made the trek to Campbellford for a visit. I realize it's located in a small town and so shouldn't be compared necessarily to places in larger centres, but a couple of things were quite disappointing. One, there was no food on at all. I knew about the limited menu and was quite happy to have almost anything on offer, but the kitchen was inexplicably closed until 4 p.m. Whatever. But the most disappointing thing, by far, was that there was exactly one Church Key beer on offer, the Cranberry Maple Wheat. How can a pub that is essentially the Church Key brewery tap have one Church Key beer on draught and none at all in bottles?

They had a good selection of other draughts I guess - Duggings [sic] #9 and Black Oak Seasonal - but I didn't need to drive to Campbellford to enjoy those. Also, the server was cheerfully ignorant of anything relating to craft beer. I had to figure out what the Seasonal was, for example (it wasn't that hard); and I don't want to come down on her as she was pleasant and welcoming, and apologetic about the various shortcomings, and again I don't necessarily expect the same standards in a small town pub. But some Church Key beer would have been nice!

zane9 · Post by **zane9** » Wed Sep 08, 2010 4:04 pm

midlife crisis wrote:..Also, the server was cheerfully ignorant of anything relating to craft beer...

To the proprietor, this should be seen as completely unacceptable.

Bizarre.

SteelbackGuy · Post by **SteelbackGuy** » Thu Sep 09, 2010 12:44 am

zane9 wrote:
midlife crisis wrote:..Also, the server was cheerfully ignorant of anything relating to craft beer...
To the proprietor, this should be seen as completely unacceptable.

Bizarre.

This seems to be the norm for so very many "craft beer" bars across this province.

midlife crisis · Post by **midlife crisis** » Thu Sep 09, 2010 11:34 am

I agree, and to be fair this is a very small pub in a very small town, so again I think she should be cut some slack. Also, she was pleasant and attentive, so no big deal. It's just that she was almost comically unaware of what beers she had to offer -- we actually had to point to the particular tap handle we wanted our beers poured from. But again, it's a tiny place and this was no particular inconvenience. I've also since heard that Church Key may have had some production issues lately and that would be the reason why their beers weren't better represented -- if true, that makes sense.