Sidetrack Bar & Grill, Ypsilanti, MI

Last week I heard about this place from one of my classmates. She said we had to try the fried pickles and sweet potato fries, and that the burgers were award-winning. We dropped by for beer and dinner on Monday night when a couple friends were in town.

First, the burgers. I don't really get what makes a burger award-winning. The burger was good, but... I don't know. Well, one cool thing was that they bring this bucket of condiments to your table, including a jar of pepperoncinis. Those are too hot for me but a few folks at the table loved 'em. And I can still appreciate free garnishes.

The pickles were fabulous. The first time I had fried pickles was at a diner in like... Iowa or Illinois or Wisconsin or something. I don't know, we were on a roadtrip from Chicago to Waterloo, IA. Why, you ask? That's another story--unrelated to food. The pickles, however, were fabulous. The only other placed I've had them is at Dave & Buster's, where they're served in slices, also good. Anyway, the ones at Sidetracks were spears and of course they were great. How can fried pickles be bad?

The sweet potato fries were also great. They were served with this horseradish/mayo/and maybe something else sauce. Yum...

There were animal heads mounted on the wall but they were pretty goofy, like bears and moose. Not being outdoorsy types, we couldn't figure out if they were real, but if so, moose are frickin humongous.

Anyway, I'm sure we'll head back to Sidetracks sometime in the future. It's a fun place, with a good selection of beer. And some of them are served in 25 oz. (aka huge ass) mugs.