Restaurant Review: ELMER SUDDS

So after seeing an article in the paper a few weeks ago about a local bar offering gourmet pizzas and locally brewed beer, we decided we needed to check it out. After work on Friday, Randy and I headed to Elmer Sudds (http://www.elmersudds.com/) for our three favorites: beer, pizza, and wings. Elmer Sudds is a small bar located in the Heights section of Wilkes-Barre. It's been there forever and still has the charm it did when I was there years ago for my cousin's joint bachelor/bachelorette party. It's dark, hot, and tiny.

We started with 2 local brews from a local brewing company called Breaker Brewing Company (http://www.breakerbrewingcompany.com/). I had Goldies Strawberry Blonde, a light wheaty beer. It was easy to drink, but I didn't taste any hint of strawberry. Randy had Anthracite Ale, a dark beer, reminiscent of Guinness with a hint of coffee. It was a smooth, good sipping beer.

We got the Greek gourmet pizza and a dozen butter garlic wings. The pizza was square, sliced into 8 slices. It had a nice and crispy, yet light crust. It was topped with red sauce, kalamata olives (yum), yellow and red bell peppers, mozzarella and feta cheeses, and topped with oregano. (We 86ed the red onions.) It was delicious. I loved the combination of olives and peppers. The feta made it a perfectly salty pizza. I'd rate it an 8, if it had fresh mozzarella, it would have been a 10.

The wings came out right after the pizza. Let me tell you, these were the largest wings I have ever seen at a restaurant. They were huge and covered in loads of minced garlic and sitting in a nice puddle of butter. They came with celery (or carrots) and blue cheese. They were extra crispy, clean, meaty, and garlicky. They were awesomely garlic. Randy thought there was an obscene amount of garlic and scraped some off of his wings. I scooped more onto mine. We were pretty stinky the rest of the night.

The food at Elmer Sudds was really good. You can tell they take pride in it. They offer standard bar fare such as appetizers, sandwiches, pizza, and wings with their own touches. I would go back to try their goat cheese pizza next and maybe their crab cakes. The only thing that was lacking was air conditioning, we were so hot. Poor Randy was sweating. And the atmosphere is nothing great, it's your standard, dark pub. My only complaint is they didn't have any Michelob, but they do have over a hundred other brews.