Granite City Makes the Grade

I'm not a fan of restaurant chains, but they are here to stay. And I'm pleased that there are a handful that do a good job of serving tasty food.

One example is a Minnesota-based restaurant called Granite City. It bills itself as a restaurant and brew pub. I've only drunk one of their featured beers so I can't really weigh in on how good their beer selections are, but the food is pretty darn good.

Just the other day, I ate at a Granite City on the north side of Kansas City with some family members. We all seemed to enjoy our food. I ordered the pork shoulder sandwich. The menu description stated that it would be served on ciabatta bread. I love ciabatta, but I was skeptical whether the ciabatta bread served by Granite City would be a poor imitation of the ciabatta that I'm used to.

As it turned out, the ciabatta they served was excellent. So was the quality of the pork. The burgers also got high marks.

So if you have to pick a chain restaurant to dine at, Granite City seems to be a nice option. I've eaten at three of them, and I had a good meal all three times.