When it comes to good food and drink, there’s nothing to satisfy your heart and your stomach like a hearty meal at a classic pub. Burgers, beer, and pub food at an affordable price have made traditional pub houses the favorite eating-out choice for years — but there’s a new contender in town. Expanding on the beloved British restaurant tradition, gastropubs are the up-and-coming eateries making pubs even more popular.
What’s a gastropub, though? From gastropub origins to menu offerings and where you can eat in one today, we’re here to educate you on everything these new, improved pubs have in store.
History of the Gastropub
Classic pubs originated hundreds of years ago before Medieval times in Europe as establishments for community members to convene, converse, and make merry with a menu of mostly alcoholic beverages. They evolved to serve simple English pub fare, like fish and chips, shepherd’s pie, and bangers and mash.
Gastropubs positioned themselves as more refined, more diverse expansions of the traditional pub. Although the term “gastropub” was first coined in the 1990s, when new owners took over the Eagle Pub in London, England, establishments meeting the definition have existed since the 1980s.
Offering a robust assortment of higher-end food and drink, including fine brews, an expanded menu, and fine-tuned, unique takes on classic pub fare, a gastropub is essentially a modernized pub with a wider, higher-end menu. As part of the pub’s continuing evolution, the gastropub has helped modernize pub food and encouraged both its growth and popularity in food culture.
How Has the Gastropub Evolved Over Time?
Because pubs began as establishments mainly focused on drink, the self-introduction of the gastropub both reinvigorated and revolutionized the pub scene. With the first technical gastropub emerging in the 1980s in Canada and the first official gastropub opening in the 1990s in England, the food phenomenon began to spread and take over the United States for the next decade or two. Initially offering craft brews and original cuisine, brewpubs across the world have evolved to embody their own atmospheres complete with cocktails and brews, signature takes on classic pub fare, and full-service, multi-meal menus.
What It Means to Be a Gastropub Today
Today, being defined as a gastropub means something unique to each business. Some pubs like to keep it close to home when it comes to the original English tradition by offering a core menu of refined pub fare and alcohol. Others spice it up with incredibly diverse menus of innovative cuisine, fine-tuned pub food, craft brews, and mixed drinks alike. There are also those that add their own region-specific or cultural twist.
At Chisholm’s American Beef & Ale House, located in the Doubletree by Hilton Wichita Hotel, we combine pub culture with the American tradition of an ale and chop house, giving you a beef house-inspired gastropub you won’t find anywhere else. With an inviting, relaxing environment that aims to inspire both the comfort of home and the congeniality of a public house, we serve a diverse menu of innovative American cuisine with a focus on high-quality beef, feel-good food, and bold flavors. In addition to our delicious American fare, we offer a full drink menu featuring craft beer, lagers, ales, signature cocktails, and fine wines to enjoy with your meal. Plus, we serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
If you’re looking for an inviting, exciting atmosphere to savor great food and delicious drinks, stop by Chisholm’s for a taste of unique, local gastropub goodness today.