The Back Abbey - Claremont, CA

[bwarbiany]

Given that my wife's family is all in Glendora, we spend a decent amount of time up in the Foothills area. We've been to T. Phillips a few times, been to Lucky Baldwin's in Sierra Madre, but today we wanted to try something new, so we headed over to Claremont for lunch. On the way, the wife was checking Yelp, and found The Back Abbey.

http://www.thebackabbey.com/

All I can say is... WOW!

Foodwise, we split a burger and an order of fries. The fries were cooked in duck fat, and were lighter than any other duck fat fries I've ever had. The burger (seasonal burger w/ anaheim chiles & manchego cheese) was perfectly-balanced, perfectly-cooked, and on an excellent bun.

Beer, I had the Cuvee Des Trolls, as it's very hot out, and it fit the bill perfectly. They've got about 25 taps (nearly 100% Belgian), and probably 60-70 bottles listed. The only complaints I had is that there was nothing from The Bruery on the menu...

I think they've got a decent wine list, but I didn't really look at it too deeply.

The place is definitely small (maybe 40 seats inside?), and as we showed up about 12:40 PM on a Saturday, it was full. Due to the heat, nobody was sitting out on the patio, although it looked like they had seating for an additional 25 or so guests out there.

Prices seemed about average for a gastropub. Not exorbitant, but not cheap.

Overall, my wife and I both loved it, and when we're in the area, plan to go back. Highly recommended.

[tylking]

I live in Glendora and I love this place! John (the owner) doesn't want to carry any American made beer, but he will carry beer from Germany, Canada, and so on.... What can you do?

[backyard brewer]

Nice review Brad.

[maltbarley]

I went there a couple weeks ago and completely agree with your review.

One thing I was very impressed with is the fact that all the tap beer is served with the corresponding brewery's own glassware. With that many taps of unique beer, that's quite a few different glasses.

[oc eric]

Brad-

Write a book about your tours of breweries, brewpubs and gastropubs around LA and OC. Seriously dude, you find some interesting palces.