Standard Brewing Adds Spirits and Sandwiches in the Central District

The Central District’s lone brewery, Standard Brewing, has completed the last phase of a multi-stage expansion with the opening of its restaurant, Standard Public House. The establishment, which previously served only beer, now offers a menu of sandwiches and cocktails alongside its house brews.

Owner Justin Gerardy has hired chefs David Gurewitz, who has spent time at Little Uncle, Lark, Spinasse, and Mamnoon, and Sami Furnas, whose resume includes Little Uncle and Slab. Given the small kitchen space, the restaurant’s food menu is fairly limited, with some classic and some unexpected options for cold sandwiches, like tuna salad, ham and swiss, and chickpea salad, as well as hot sandwiches including a Chicago-style Italian hot beef or braised tofu. Za’atar toast, Welsh rarebit toast topped with melted beer cheese, and sides like chips and onion dip and a pickle plate round things out.

Standard/Official

The well-respected Standard — no relation to the similarly named, similarly regarded Standard Bakery in Pinehurst — launched in March 2013 as a nano-brewery in a cramped space in an apartment building on Jackson Street. Gerardy, a former bar manager at Vito's and the Hideout, has long dreamed of adding a food-and-booze component to the operation. He announced his expansion plans in May 2015, and has gradually unveiled more seating and greater brewing capacity. The latest expansion opened in July, but didn’t have a liquor license right away.