Social Kitchen & Brewery's Vegan-Friendly Menu Updates Cuisine à la Bière

Brian Yaeger

The Inner Sunset brewpub opens April 20.

​In yesterday's beer report on Social Kitchen & Brewery ― the Inner Sunset brewpub due to open Tuesday ― we said the menu would reflect a California take on French/Belgian cuisine à la bière. That's not a fancy way of saying greasy pub grub. It means that beer (and its components) becomes an ingredient for dishes that keenly pair with, yes, beer. In the past, we've seen Vietnamese-born chef Rob Lam infuse his menus with pan-Asian influences at Butterfly on Pier 33 and Eastside West in the Marina, but Social Kitchen finds him wading into new territory.

In a clean break from typical brewpubs, the offerings land squarely on the lighter, healthier side ― a third of the menu is vegan, another third vegetarian, with the rest for omnivores. The following menu (after the jump) is not complete, and there are no prices, but the listed items should alert the French and Belgians that their culinary technique has struck a chord:

Rob Lam.

​SMALLER
Housemade pretzels and pickles (with beer mustard)
Beer battered sweet potato tempura
Savory Belgian waffles (with hop butter)
Celery root and fennel chowder (with toasted barley malt and hop oil)

SALADS
Roasted chicken salad (beer-braised roasted Rocky, Jr.)
Beer Lovers Salad (apples, jicama, mâche, couscous, goat cheese, beer nuts, toasted malt, and hop essence vinaigrette)

SANDWICHES
Chicken salad club (with beer mustard and house-smoked bacon)
Mushroom dip (with Belgian Dark jus)
Beet steak (yes, beet) with Belgian ale jam

LARGER
Prather Ranch short ribs (with Belgian Dark Ale braise)
Sonoma Liberty duck breast (with sweet potato and duck confit hash and blackberry beer jus)

Opening April 20, 6-9 p.m.:
Social Kitchen & Brewery 1326 Ninth Ave. (at Irving), 681-0330