New London's Half Keg Tavern serves ritual bar fare with skill and pride

October 23, 2019 12:00 am • Last Updated: October 23, 2019 2:35 pm

By Rick Koster
Day Arts/Features writer

Half Keg Tavern's cheeseburger and fries (Rick Koster/The Day)
Buy Photo Reprints

Here is a simple but important philosophical question: Is there a difference between "bar food" and "a bar that serves food"?

No, don't get out your textbooks on semantics. Instead, simply compare and contrast the grease-speckled, Xeroxed menu at a stand-alone neighborhood bar, one where regulars require a bit of tasty grease with their drafts, with the glossy, hymnal-like productions you'd find at one of those franchise-happy, "Rowdy Danny's Grille-Cabin & Sports Saloon" establishments.

The former does not change "seasonally," give catchy names to menu items or sections — "Our Famous Whiskey-Glazed Favorites"; "Humdinger Starters"; "From the Tsar's Butcher Shop"; "Sombrero-Wearin', South of the Border Delights " — and the latter doesn't have salmon, quiche, or anything that isn't deep-fried and can be made quickly on a hot-plate or small griddle.

While both have noble roles in our culture, I personally am more of a fan of "bar food" than the fare I'd get at a "bar that serves food." The Dutch Tavern, for example, is one of the finest restaurants Michelin never bothered to leave Europe to explore. Good! Michelin can stick with his tires — what's that about, anyway? — or his Danish pork neck slow-smoked over wood from the original cross, dressed with young cabbage leaves, and served in pine oil and on black currant leaves.

Of late, I've been hearing about the splendid bar food available at the Half Keg Tavern in New London. Like the Dutch, it's a tiny place peopled with folks who are probably there several times a week. You probably know the building: with its Quonset hut design, and in context, it DOES look like a half keg rising out of the earth across from Cedar Grove Cemetery in a tiny strip mall that includes a liquor store and Hamilton Street Market.

Inside, the culvert-like structure is instantly comfortable, and folks are welcoming if not overly familiar on first visit. There are several suspended TVs, a row of seats at the reverse-L-shaped bar running the length of the room on the left, a main aisle bisecting the building, and a row of two-top tables on the right. Beer posters and signs hang almost by rote, and signed dollar bills are taped to the mirror behind the bar.

Yes, the menu is small and exactly what I'd hoped for.

Hmm. Well, actually, the Half Keg menu does engage in a bit of marketing gloss by boasting "All Star Apps" and "Teresa's Home Made Sides." But that's not exactly "Mad Men"-style copywriting. In any case, the apps include, for example, house-crafted eggrolls (steak & cheese, pepperoni & mozzarella, beef taco, $2.50 each); "keg favorite" beef empanadas ($3 each) and fried pork dumplings with a sweet chili Thai sauce ($6).

Some of the sides are beef chili ($5), potato salad and tuna mac salad ($3.50), and mac-n-cheese ($4). There are also wings available in a variety of styles ($8 for eight). The main course options hit the high point of bar food cuisine with cheeseburgers, stuffed burgers, grinders, beef tacos, and wraps and sandwiches ($6-$10.95).

On each of my visits, co-owner Teresa Stomberg has been behind the bar, mixing cocktails or drawing pints from several spigots serving the usual Bud/Harpoon/Sam Adams-style offerings. She also retreats to the rear corner back there and churns out her very fine bar food. I've roamed in representative fashion across the menu and here's what I've tried.

Homemade Pepperoni & Mozzarella Eggrolls ($2.50 each) — Great fun. Homemade egg rolls are a real pain to make, so the Half Keg folks take the annoying shredded cabbage out of the recipe and replace it with — yes — bar food. Spicy slices of pepperoni and gooey melted mozz are ganged up inside the authentic eggroll crust and it's something I was proud to eat.

Cheeseburger with Side ($9) — A juice-happy slab of fresh ground beef, plopped on a bun designed to let the grease gently soak into the bread for that magical mix of flavores. There's fresh torn iceberg lettuce, fat slices of tomatoes, your choice of cheese, and of course onions/mayo/mustard. A truly fine burger. I opted for fries and that's when it all became truly excellent. These are thick, hand-cut, flash-fried beauties very much like — and I think this is the first time I've ever used this phrase because it's dear to my heart — my sainted Mom used to make.

Chicken Tenders with Side ($8) — Four medium-sized boneless breast offerings. They were moist but not particularly flavorful, with a deep, crunchy exterior. Tangy barbecue sauce added some torque.

Sausage-n-Peppers Grinder ($8) — I loved this. A halved, split grinder roll was stuffed with nuggets of sweet Italian sausage and tartly sweet ribbons of sautéed green peppers. The sausage kept tumbling out of the construct; that's a great thing.

Next time out, I'll try one of the stuffed burgers or, certainly, the chili cheese fries. I'm pretty sure you could put anything on the Half Keg fries — young cabbage leaves in pine oil, even — and they'd still be outstanding. But that's one of the many excellent things about bar food fare. It's designed to please. And the Half Keg does that wonderfully.

Half Keg Tacern's chicken tenders (Rick Koster/The Day)
Buy Photo Reprints