Eager to try the beers I once drove to Newport to sample, I visited Astoria’s own Rogue Pub frequently when it first opened about four years ago. I remember reading an early review that skipped most of the food in order to focus on the beer, as the kitchen had yet to gain sure footing and service was spotty. I decided a true food review was long overdue and revisited an old haunt to see if things had improved in the last three years.

Yes and no. Rogue’s biggest problem has always been its pricing. Once criticized for their $12.50-and-up Kobe burgers, they’ve since added another, less expensive but admittedly inferior “burgers” section. While the newer selections start at $7.95, their blunt descriptions expose a lack of pride in the product. This is especially evident when compared to the Kobe section’s lengthy, preambling header that sells the “world’s greatest burger” by touting its farm origin, lack of hormones and USDA grade. While the Kobe burgers come on an onion roll with wasabi mayo, the finest Northwest cheeses (Rogue Creamery) and gourmet bacon (Nueske’s), the cheap burgers say nothing of their beef quality, nor their generic toppings.

I know this was done in an effort to “please everyone” (always a futile ploy), but I think they’d do better to find a happy medium. You never see a car lot with rusty Pintos and late model Bentleys side by side; why construct a menu that way?

I tried both burgers. The Kobe burger with Rogue Creamery White Cheddar ($13.50) was superior to be sure and very good, but I liken grinding Kobe beef for a burger (or worse yet, a hot dog) to canning Bluefin tuna – why use such a prized product in such an unsophisticated way? By comparison, the regular cheeseburger ($8.95) was as inferior as the menu’s de-emphasis would have me believe: a smaller, lesser bun, regular mayo, no-name cheese. In the end, I decided I’d rather have a burger down the middle of the spectrum.

The Rogue chili I remember was light on the beef, but the new Kobe chili has improved greatly, and is now packed with it (and had better be for $5 a cup). The beer cheese soup, one of my favorite soups, was broken and separated upon arrival and should not have been served. Its flavor was creamy, but not so beery and cheesy. Oily, separated consistency aside, this seems to have gone downhill since I last visited.

I also found disappointment in the Black Bean Dip ($7.95), a boat-shaped dish of dryish mush containing half-pureed beans, corn, jalapenos and “Rogue spice mix,” topped with sour cream and salsa and served with tri-colored tortilla chips. Not one of my chips was whole, so they must’ve reached the bottom of the bag. This mattered not, as the thick paste was too dense to work as a dip. I’d have been happy to eat it with a spoon, but the flavors just didn’t “pop” for me – they didn’t seem fresh.

The Kobe taco salad ($10.95) was a redeemer on that visit. It’s pretty standard really, but the fresh mixed greens were a vast improvement over the iceberg that I find everywhere else. The avocado and pickled jalapenos also stepped up this salad, but I couldn’t really tell that the seasoned beef was Kobe, as all its tenderness was cooked out (ditto for the chili).

Next, I had the Brutal Reuben ($9.50). The classic sandwich is done justice here, but like many of the items the menu claims have been enhanced with Rogue beers and spirits, I had trouble detecting their presence in the “Brutal Bitter-simmered corned beef” or the “Shakespeare Stout sauerkraut.” This was also the case with the sauces accompanying the $8-and-up Kobe hot dogs. The ketchup is purported to contain Morimoto Black Obi Soba Ale, but this was faint, as I noticed “something” in there. The mustard is supposedly spiked with Kell’s Irish Lager, but tasted like an average Dijon. The dog I had was split at both ends – cooked far too long, possibly microwaved – and had no business being so costly. Were I to sell a hot dog made from Kobe beef, I’d probably not encourage customers to drown it in condiments.

Lastly, I had the pizza. At $10.95 to $15.95 for a 10-inch, and $16.95 to $27.75 for a 16-inch, it’s incredibly expensive, and although it’s good, it’s not even close to deserving of those prices.

In the end, I found some of the food to be above average and some of it below, but all of the prices to be above value.

– The Mouth