W. 12th Pourhouse and Kitchen Now Open

As a west-side resident in Sioux Falls, I've been happy to see all the new business coming to our city, but a bit disappointed that none were on 'our' side of town. That changed Tuesday with the opening of the W. 12th Pourhouse and Kitchen on 12th Street and Marion Road.

The Pourhouse essentially replaces Bogey's, which had been located a little south of the new location on Marion Road. But that's where the similarities end. The Pourhouse is almost an industrial feel inside, but bright at the same time with all the windows, and GREAT food!

We got an opportunity to try out The Pourhouse over the weekend as they were continuing training the staff. We sat at the bar and checked out the very cool, custom made bar taps. If you look over the taps in the far corner, you'll find a hydraulic stage that will drop down out of the wall on weekends they plan to offer live music!

There are a number of TV's so it looks like it will be a great place to catch a game, but they're not so intrusive that if you want to stop in for a good meal, you won't feel like the TV's are the centerpiece.

And speaking of good meals, my wife and I really enjoyed our meals and appetizers!

We're 'spicy' fans, so we're always looking for menu items that may have a little heat. We had the Italian Nachos and the Fried Pickles. (OK, fried pickles are rarely spicy, but they're one of her favorites and they were very good!) The Italian Nachos are done with a fried wonton skin rather than chips and featured an alfredo sauce, Italian sausage, pepperoni, diced tomato, black olives and pepperocini. I really liked these and will most definitely order them again! They do offer 'traditional' nachos, along with several signature rubs and sauces for their wings (both the salted caramel and cinnamon chipotle have me intrigued) Chislic, cheese curds, fondue and homemade dips round out the diverse appetizer menu.

For our meals, my wife ordered the Hades Burger which was about as spicy as the name suggests. A 7-ounce Angus patty with a Hades sauce (not sure what's in it, but she ordered it on the side 'just in case' and it was plenty spicy on it's own, but GREAT once on the burger!) It's topped with pepper jack cheese, sliced jalapenos and onion straws and served on a ciabatta bun. Definitely a home run in our house!

I decided I wanted to try anything BUT a burger and made a good call with the Southern POrk sandwich, which is a slow roasted spicy pulled pork, on a ciabatta bun, topped with the pepper jack cheese, onion straws and a creamy coleslaw. Again, we're 'spicy' fans, so I had hoped for maybe a little more heat in the spicy pork, but it was a very good sandwich and not too spicy for the feint of heart.

There are a lot of burger and sandwich choices. Some highlights for me include the "Randy" which sounds good as a shaved sirloin seasoned and grilled with sauerkraut, served on grilled marble rye with Swiss cheese, thousand island dressing and a smoky horseradish sauce.

The Hot Popeye Burger sounds interesting too when it's topped by house made spinach and artichoke dips and sliced jalapenos.

They also offer Pasta/Rice bowl options like a Jambalaya and Chicken Marsala to Flatbread Pizzas, several salad options and three 'signature' dishes: Flat Iron Steak, Walleye Dinner and Pork Osso -Buco.

The Sidewinder fries were a good spin on the traditional fries as they're almost a thick cut wavy potato chip that isn't cooked to a crisp, but more a baked potato consistency. Mashed potatoes, wild rice, fruit cup, vegetables, coleslaw, cottage cheese and potato salad are all side options.

Overall, I was really impressed with the new Pourhouse and look forward to going back again soon. It's great that they're on 'our' side of town, but we enjoyed it so much, we would be making a return visit no matter where it was located in Sioux Falls.