HubHaus Review: Brisket Poppers, Reuben & More

Key Takeaways

• The tasting happened LIVE at HubHaus in downtown Elizabethtown (Main Street), this week's episode sponsor and a restaurant, brewery, and arcade under one roof.
• What they ate: brisket jalapeno poppers (keto-friendly), a Reuben, a BLT, hand-battered in-house onion rings, fresh-cut salted fries, plus sweet potato fries with marshmallow dipping sauce and a soft pretzel.
• Standouts: the brisket poppers (smoky, a good sweet-and-spicy combo, a crowd favorite someone took home) and the Reuben, which one taster called "about the best Reuben I've ever had."
• Sponsor perk: mention Hardin Local at HubHaus this week for a complimentary draft beer with the purchase of food or appetizers.
• Verdict: HubHaus nails food, fun, and space, and does it right across the board.

Summary

This week the Experienced Eater went live. Instead of the usual review, Britten and Michele McDowell were joined by hosts Rachel Brantingham, Phil Taul, and the whole tasting group for an on-camera taste test at HubHaus, the restaurant, brewery, and arcade on Main Street in downtown Elizabethtown that also sponsored the episode. A packed live audience watched the plates come out one after another.

The short version: the food held up under a live crowd and a row of cameras. The brisket jalapeno poppers and the Reuben drew the biggest reactions, the onion rings earned their crunch on the microphone, and the fresh-cut fries got a "way better than Penn Station" from the table.

For Hardin County families, the takeaway is simple. HubHaus is a genuine three-in-one, and this week it comes with a reason to stop in: mention Hardin Local and your draft beer is complimentary with the purchase of food or appetizers.

Full Article

We do not usually eat in front of a live audience. This week we did. HubHaus cleared us a spot right on the floor of its Main Street space in downtown Elizabethtown, and the plan was simple: the Experienced Eater team would not be tasting alone. This was a group effort, with Rachel Brantingham, Phil Taul, and the rest of the crew all reaching for forks on camera.

The first plate stopped the table. "Look how beautiful," someone said as the brisket jalapeno poppers came out. Rachel had her eye on the Reuben and the BLT, but everyone found their way to a popper first. And with good reason. These are keto-friendly, which sounds like a technicality until you hear what is in them: brisket, cheese, bacon, and jalapeno. "It's all meat and jalapeno. It's a pepper. It's brisket. It's cheese and bacon. How can you go wrong?" The reactions came fast. "That's smoky with cheese. That's really good. That's excellent." Then the line that summed them up: "It's a good combination of sweet and spicy. That is really good." By the end of the segment, one of the tasters had already claimed the leftovers to take home.

Next came the test that separates the good kitchens from the lazy ones. Onion rings. As one taster put it, "some places they're good, some places they're not." Not here. "You can hear that crunch," someone said, and you actually could, right on the microphone. "Those are hand-battered in-house." What sold the table was the texture. "Sometimes you eat the onion rings and it's just, like, airy inside and it's just a little onion. It's mush. This is like, it's got some bite to it." Real onion, real batter, real crunch.

The fries did not need much of a sell either. Fresh-cut with plenty of salt, they landed the way a good fry should. "A hand-cut fry with lots of salt, that's always a good thing," one taster said, before delivering the verdict of the night for the fry lovers: "Those are really good. Those are way better than Penn Station."

Then the Reuben, and this is where a self-described sauerkraut purist got serious. "I'm very particular when it comes to my Reuben's because I grew up on sauerkraut." One careful bite later, the review was glowing. "The sauerkraut, it's bright. It has that good, the dressing's really good. Good balance, good bread. That's about the best Reuben I've ever had." Around the table there was agreement, and a little regret that it had to be shared.

The BLT held its own too, and it had a fan. "I'm a BLT junkie. I love BLTs. I could eat them probably three times a week in the season of wonderful tomatoes." This one earned it. "So this is a great BLT. You guys can see they're gorgeous. It's stacked nice. Love all those veggies."

A couple of extras rounded out the spread. There were sweet potato fries with a marshmallow dipping sauce, called out as a personal favorite at the table. And there was a soft pretzel that Nate Bryan quietly finished off. "I ate the whole thing," he admitted, to some good-natured ribbing about whether he had, in fact, figured out how to dip it in the cheese. He had. "The pretzel was very good."

By the wrap, the Experienced Eater team was already planning a return trip to dig deeper into the menu. And they were honest about how they work. "Doing food reviews is hard because generally we only go to places that we know we're going to have good reviews," one of them said. "I don't want to do something that's going to be detrimental to somebody's business. That's why we always try to stay positive." When a place earns the praise on a live broadcast, in front of a room full of people, that says something.

The overall take was the most telling part. "I find it always interesting, like, spaces, I feel like they specialize in one thing, right? Brewery, or the food, or the event space with all the fun activities. I think HubHaus knocks it out of the park across the board." Whether you come to eat, to play, or just to hang out back on the patio, it delivers. "Lots of places only get it right in one aspect, but it's nice to have it right in all of them."

Two things worth circling before you go. First, the sponsor perk: mention Hardin Local at HubHaus this week and, in the venue's careful wording (blessed by ABC), a draft beer of your choice is complimentary with the purchase of food or appetizers. Second, mark July 1. HubHaus is running a one-day-only Shrek the Musical menu, with Shrek's Favorite Onions (crispy house-made onion rings), Donkey's Favorite (crispy fried chicken and waffles with seasoned fries), and a house-made Shrek root beer brewed for magical occasions. A portion of the proceeds benefits the Youth Theater of Hardin County.

You will find HubHaus downtown on Main Street in Elizabethtown. Come hungry, bring the family, and save room for those poppers.