Matt Denny's Ale House

It occurred to me on my weekend visit to Matt Denny's that I have now been eating there for over a decade. It is that rare place that is good for almost any occasion. When my grandmothers were alive I would eat there with them; they loved the place. I have been there many times with my parents. I once took a date there on Cinco de Mayo to drink margaritas and listen to mariachis. My friends and I have had many dinners there to watch Lakers games.

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If I owned a restaurant, I would want it to be like Matt Denny's. It has the six key elements that I love:

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1) barbecue sandwiches on the menu

2) lots of televisions always showing sports

3) comfortable, over-sized booths

4) a large outdoor patio

5) an impressive selection of beers on tap

6) a moose head hanging on the wall

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I have been on their mailing list for several years. I get newsletters about once a month, detailing what is going on in the restaurant. Also, every July, I get a coupon for a free birthday meal. Sunday afternoon, Elizabeth and I decided to take advantage of my coupon.

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It was about 100 degrees out, but we still sat on the patio. We were the only ones. The air conditioning was cranked up inside and it certainly felt good, but, although it was very hot out, it wasn't unbearable in the shade. I eschewed my usual pint of Sierra Nevada Summerfest and had a few glasses of iced tea instead.

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I almost always start with an order of their halibut bites - small, battered and fried pieces of halibut that are one of my favorite appetizers anywhere and would not be out of place in a New England fish shack - but I didn't feel like gorging myself in the hot afternoon. ("Why not? Elizabeth asked.) So I skipped an appetizer.

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My standard order is always their barbecue turkey sandwich. I absolutely love that sandwich and I've written about it on the barbecue blog. But today I decided to get a pastrami sandwich on sourdough. It was good. Not as good as the turkey sandwich, but the pastrami had very little fat and the mustard and cole slaw were outstanding. Even if this sandwich hadn't been free I would have been very happy with it.

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Elizabeth ordered the crispy chicken salad. I have had Matt Denny's chicken tenders before and I really like them. This salad was topped with cut up pieces of the tenders. I took a couple bites and really enjoyed it. Not enough salads utilize corn and red onion, in my opinion, but this salad had a good amount of both. We took some leftover salad home with us and picked at it for the rest of the day.

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This was another fun meal at Matt Denny's, the kind I have been having for the last decade.