Slater's Backyard Brewfest CLOSED

Backyard Brewfest at Slater's 50/50

24356 Swartz Dr.

Lake Forest, CA 92630

By now you know about my love for Slater's 50/50. You are probably saying, "Another post about Slater's?" Yes, I am going to subject you to another one. I not only love their over the top burgers, their trivia nights, and their bar areas, where it is always a great place to watch a game, but now there is another reason to love Slater's, they are very committed to the communities that they serve. Case in point, just this past Saturday they had a Backyard Brewfest at their newest location in Lake Forest. The great folks at Slater's were kind enough to invite us to experience the great time firsthand. So we headed over on this picturesque Saturday afternoon.

The Backyard Brewfest not only showcased the great craft beer and food that Slater's offers, but it also benefited a great cause, the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation. The Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation is an independent, non-profit corporation. They are inspired by the groundbreaking research of Dr. Mitchell Cairo. The foundation quickly grew beyond their Orange County roots. Since 1982, PCRF has raised over $30 million for cutting edge pediatric cancer research, which has led to continuing improvements in the care, quality of life, and survival rates of children with malignant diseases. The Backyard Brewfest is just one of the ways they raise money. They have some great events all year round; including golf tournaments. walks and runs, and they even have bowling events. You can find out more information about the great work that the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation does, and how you can get involved right here: http://www.pcrf-kids.org/

I apologize if I missed any of the other breweries that were in attendance. I was feeling pretty loopy after about the seventh one, so if I missed anyone I am sorry. I am not going to bore you with my lack of knowledge of the craft beer industry. I am definitely not an expert on beer. I do know what I like however, so I will let you know which ones of these stood out for me. I am a big fan of Hangar 24, and their Orange Wheat. I like the fruitiness and lightness of it, without giving up the taste. At the Backyard Brewfest Hangar 24 had a special, limited edition keg that they tapped, the Barrel Roll No. 4 Hammerhead. This Barleywine style ale is aged six months in a charred whiskey barrel. This is a stronger beer than I like, but I sure did get the strong hint of whiskey when sipping this one. Another standout for me was the Coconut Rye Stout from Latitude 33. This Vista brewer was making their OC debut at the Backyard Brewfest, and I really liked the uniqueness of their coconut stout. It was light, and had a very apparent coconut taste, which did not overpower the base of this stout. Very well done. Golden Road is from Los Angeles, and they had a very nice Hefeweizen. It was very smooth, and went down easily. We might have to make a trip up the freeway soon to visit Golden Road, because they have a pub connected to their brewery. The last brewer I wanted to spotlight was the El Segundo Brewing Co. This South Bay brewer made a memorable mark with me, with their Blue House Citra Pale. This was a hoppy ale with lots of citrus. Lighter than expected, and I could have had many more of these.

Of course I was excited to try the beers, but the food was what really got me here. All you can eat Slater's? How can that be a bad thing? They had several food tents set up in their parking lot, doling out some of Slater's classic dishes. I am not much of a salad guy, but Katie was grateful that they had  samples of Slater's House Salad, with chicken added. See, it is possible to eat healthy at Slater's. Of course all that health talk goes out the window when I had about four samples of the B' B' Bacon Burger. This bacon lovers dream starts with Slater's signature 50 percent ground beef and 50 percent ground bacon patty, and is then topped with bacon cheddar cheese, bacon island dressing, two strips of bacon, a sunny side up egg, and for good measure, a bacon pretzel bun. Bacon euphoria in Lake Forest. What about bacon for dessert? Okay, how about the ultra rich Bacon Brownie. This very moist chocolate brownie is coated with chocolate ganache and candied bacon pieces. I could only finish two slices of this.

Slater's was not the only ones serving food at the Backyard Brewfest. I was surprised to see one of my favorite Downtown Santa Ana restaurants here, Chapter One: The Modern Local. They served up the very artistic Scotch Egg above, along with the Red Velvet and White Russian Cake Tastes.The red velvet one was good, but the white Russian one was the best of the two. Had a great taste, and it really did taste like a sweeter version of the cocktail.

The last booth that I wanted to mention was the TapHunter booth. The people over at TapHunter are trying to make it easy for beer consumers to find where their favorite beers are being poured. Craft beers rotate frequently, so before you drive an hour and a half in traffic, you should check their web site, or download their app on your phone or mobile device to make sure you are not battling traffic for nothing. You can find out more about TapHunter here: http://oc.taphunter.com/

Needless to say, the Slater's Backyard Brewfest was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Good beers, great food, and the Southern California weather made for one of the nicest events we have been to. Not only was all the aforementioned great, but the people here were awesome as well. The crowd was very friendly, the beer representatives really knew their stuff and answered all of our questions, and the organizers of this event kept everything under control. Hopefully there will be many more charitable events like this at Slater's. We would like to thank Ali Stanley at Bread and Butter PR for inviting us to this great event. Thanks for everything Ali. A last thank you goes to Slater's 50/50. You guys just opened the doors of this Lake Forest location, and already you are contributing to the community by hosting a great charitable event. Thanks for opening down the street fro me, and thanks for all you do in the community.

To make sure that you do not miss any great events at Slater's, like this one. Go to their web site here: http://www.slaters5050.com/

A New Slater's 50/50 Opens In OC - CLOSED

Slater's 50/50

24356 Swartz Dr.

Lake Forest, CA 92630

My love for Slater's is of course known to almost everyone that knows me, or reads this blog. I mean you only have to look at our Restaurant Roll Call section, along the right hand side of this blog to see that we have done three stories on Slater's 50/50. Well make that four because Slater's has now opened up another restaurant, and this time it is dangerously close to where I live. I might be in trouble.

Yes it is true. Slater's has now opened up their third OC location, and fifth restaurant overall. In case any of you are still not sure what the big deal about Slater's 50/50 is, here's the big deal. Slater's has come up with a fifty percent ground beef burger, along with a fifty percent ground bacon burger, put it all in one patty, and made bacon lovers across Southern California very happy in the process.

What's that you say? You don't get the big fuss about bacon. Okay, they have other things for weird people that do not enjoy bacon. They have some great appetizers, massive chicken sandwiches, all beef burgers, turkey burgers, veggie burgers, and some outrageous desserts and milkshakes. Between the regular menu, the design your own burger selections, and the burgers of the month that they feature, I have never gotten the same thing twice here. No surprise, but this trip I was also going to get a burger I have never had here before.

This Slater's 50/50 is located in the old Hooter's location that you can see going up the 5 Freeway at El Toro Road. Some say this shopping center is cursed. I think it is just hard to get in and out of. There is a patio store, a Tommy's Burgers, and a dance studio in this center. This shopping center kind of fits the mold of other centers where Slater's is operating. Out of the way shopping centers where you expect them to fail, but they end up driving people into these out of the way shopping centers. They have definitely brought the people into this shopping center on their first Friday night. People were standing outside waiting for a table, the bar was packed and the food was flying out of the kitchen. Let's see what we got on this visit.

Since it was just Katie and I having dinner on this night, we did without our usual order of Vampire Dip, which is a great appetizer, but more geared towards more than two people. Slater's offers a pick your own appetizer option, which we took full advantage of. On this jaunt to Slater's we tried the Fried Dill Pickle Chips, the Beer Battered Jalapenos, and the Fried Bacon Mac N' Cheese Balls ($6.95). My favorite of this trio was the fried jalapenos. These breaded jalapeno rings were paired nicely with the cilantro-lime sour cream. The jalapeno had a little heat to them, but was cooled down a bit by the sour cream. These were addicting. The fried mac n' cheese balls went away quickly as soon as this plate hit the table. The bacon was not as prevalent as I would have thought, but the macaroni was cooked well, and the Tapatio ranch went hand in hand with these. Fried pickles are not usually my thing, but Katie really enjoyed these fried pickle chips. These were supposed to go with the mustard sauce, but we used the Tapatio ranch on these instead.

Katie wanted to prove to the world that you do not have to have a burger when you come to Slater's. She had a Side Salad ($4.95) and the Buffalo Chicken Mac N' Cheese ($7.95). She really liked the big time flavor of the mac and cheese, but it was very rich. She had enough for lunch the next day. This mac and cheese came with a three cheese Alfredo sauce, buffalo chicken nuggets, blue cheese crumbles, celery, and crumbled up Cheez-Its. Everything that makes buffalo wings great. The side salad was pretty basic. The greens were fresh, and the ranch dressing had a great consistency to it. Not a bad sized salad for under five dollars.

I had decided what I was going to order when I was at work during the day. Of course once I sat down, I had second thoughts, but I stuck with my initial choice of the Big Daddy Patty Melt ($11.95). This is not your Grandparents patty melt. This two-thirds of a pound ground beef patty melt included melted cheddar and Swiss cheeses, grilled onions, and a horseradish aioli on large slices of rye bread. I did make one modification to this big burger by adding bacon to it. It is Slater's 50/50 after all. I am usually a big eater, but even I had a little trouble finishing this patty melt. I would have liked the bread to have been toasted a little more, but the insides of this patty melt were very good. The cheeses went well with the big burger patty, the onions added a sweetness to the burger, and the horseradish sauce was subtle, but I did get some tanginess from it. Very good and filling dinner.

For a restaurant that has only been open for five days, and dealing with their first Friday night of business, Slater's 50/50 was in complete control. We recognized many of the staff from other Slater's locations. In fact, our great waitress Sarah was from the Huntington Beach restaurant, helping out train the new hires. All of this extra staff really helped  by keeping things moving along. The food came out in a timely manner, it came out hot, and they were quick with refills of our drinks. I would say the night was a complete success. Welcome to the neighborhood Slater's 50/50. I am sure we will run into each other soon and often.

We would like to thank everyone at Slater's 50/50 for the wonderful opportunity to experience their new restaurant. We would also like to express our gratitude to Gabrielle, from Bread and Butter Public Relations for helping us set up this great night.

To find out more information about Slater's 50/50, click here to go to their web site: https://slaters5050.com/