Dinner at The Republic in Farmingdale
At The Republic pub in Farmingdale, the menu features nine types of burgers. (March 5, 2013) Credit: Newsday Erica Marcus
Sometimes all you want is a burger and a beer. Both were on tap last night at The Republic pub in downtown Farmingdale. A board behind the bar listed 19 beers on tap. I asked the bartender for a wheat beer; he suggested Long Trail Belgian White. My pal went with the Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye IPA. We were both very happy.
Pretty much everything pleased me at The Republic. From a roster of nine rather elaborate burgers--the Omnivore ($12) features beef and a bean patty, the Oinker ($11) is topped with pulled pork, onion strings and Irish whiskey BBQ sauce--we went for big, juicy Cheddar cheeseburgers, and were glad we did.
The bartender, John Moran, was the only employee in evidence. In addition to dispensing beer advice, he tended bar, took dinner orders, ran the food to the tables. "What, you're not cooking?" I asked? "I could if I had to," he responded. Service was amazingly prompt.
At 8 p.m., we learned that Tuesday evening is trivia night. Ballots were distributed and, every few minutes, the music was interrupted by a trivia question. Most were pretty easy (“In which state is Grand Teton National Park?”) but we were both stumped by “Name the controversial singer whose name is a combination of two American cultural icons.”
Click here for the answer to that one.
The Republic is at 217 Main St, Farmingdale, 516-293-4400.
