Restaurants

My brother Eric really enjoyed his burger at Pyramid Alehouse, Brewery and Restaurant.

My little brother is getting married.

Married! God, I feel so old.

As a little pre-wedding celebration, my sister Michelle and I decided to take Eric out to dinner; a little Mansfield sibling bachelor party. Eric is not a fancy guy. He would not be comfortable at a chic restaurant with overpriced and over-sauced food in San Francisco. He’s a real red meat and potatoes guy, while his sisters are more grilled chicken breast and roast garlic potatoes girls. So, we decided to party Mansfield-style at the Pyramid Alehouse, Brewery and Restaurant in Walnut Creek.

Pyramid brews a variety of beers, including their refreshing Hefeweizen (Haywire), a crispy blonde ale (Curve Ball), the pale ale (Thunderhead) and my personal favorite their apricot wheat beer (Audacious). The apricot ale is not for everyone, but I like my beer a little fruity. I am more of a wine drinker, but when I have beer, I usually get a Hefeweizen with lemon, so the apricot wheat is perfect for me. My brother is more a Budweiser man, so a Curve Ball was right up his alley.

The apricot ale at Pyramid Alehouse in Walnut Creek.

We started with a round of drinks (the first of many that night), and an order of fried calamari steaks with Cajun-spiced aioli and an order of pizza twists, a Haywire Hefeweizen crust, stuffed with Ranch seasonings, garlic, parmesan and mozzarella and served with sides of Ranch dressing and marinara sauce. Eric inhaled the calamari steaks. He loved that it wasn’t a big plate of little, deep-fried bits passing for calamari.

For the main course, Eric ordered the Pyramid burger, which includes smoked mozzarella, peppered bacon, habanero BBQ sauce and giant onion rings. Strangely, Eric doesn’t like onion rings (sometimes I wonder if we are related), so I was more than happy to take those off his hands. I was torn between the beer-braised sausages and the veggie burger, but I went with the veggie burger, while Michelle (full or calamari, pizza twists and her wine margaritas) went with the classic wedge salad, which consisted of a quarter head of iceberg lettuce with blue cheese, bacon bits, tomatoes, onions and blue cheese dressing. His sisters’ orders drew strange looks from Eric. “Veggie burger? Salad? I can’t believe I’m related to these people.”

The food at Pyramid Alehouse is of the fried, heavily seasoned variety, which quite honestly, we all crave every once in a while. I do have a few minor quibbles with Pyramid Alehouse. Every time I have eaten there, the service has been on the slow side. You order a beer and appetitizers, and then you don’t see your waitperson again for while. You basically have to know if you want a second drink when they bring the first one. You can put in your order then and the second drink will most likely arrive by the time you have finished the first drink. Also, parking is a huge problem in Walnut Creek. There are nearby parking garages, but they can get full. Speaking of full, Pyramid can get packed as well. Luckily, I had made a reservation or we might have been in for a sizable wait on a Saturday night in downtown Walnut Creek.

We were too full for dessert, but we stayed at Pyramid for hours. We just sat in Pyramid’s outside dining area under the heating lamp and drank beer for hours, remembering that one time and that other time and the time that happened.

Pyramid Brewery
1410 Locust Street
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
Telephone: (925) 946-1520
Hours: Sunday through Tuesday, 11: 30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Wednesday and Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.; and Friday and Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.