Say goodbye to Natty Greene’s in Raleigh and the Railyard sandwich

If this sounds like a repeat of an earlier column, please forgive me, but please read on. Word comes that Natty Greene’s in Raleigh will be closing August 1. The Greensboro-based brewery is shutting down its business on West Jones Street after five years there. It has to do with a disagreement with the lease and the price thereof. A new owner of the building decided the rent isn’t high enough and raised it enough to drive Natty’s away.

The significance of this has to do with my son and one particular sandwich. My son taught me an important rule of dining out. “When you go to a restaurant and find one particular menu item that you enjoy, that you feel is simply delicious, and when you realize that particular dish can only be purchased at that restaurant, then every time to go to that restaurant, you only order one thing: What you found there that’s not attainable in deliciousness anywhere else.

At Natty Greene’s, it’s the Railyard sandwich, 8 ounces of corned beef, capicola, and salami with coleslaw, melted Swiss cheese, Dijon mustard and Thousand Island dressing on grilled rye bread. It comes with a side of your choice of fresh-made potato chips or potato salad or fries or coleslaw or a daily special which is usually some vegetable medley, but the side makes no difference whatsoever. The Railyard is an unbeatable sandwich that offers great taste, a spicy touch, and an ample helping which is sometimes so much that half the sandwich travels home for later consumption.

There are many other wonderful selections on the menu including the typical Rueben (the Big Time), another 8 ounces of corned beef, and the Cohiba: slow roasted marinated pork loin, Black Forest ham, Swiss cheese, horseradish may in a baguette, topped with their very own chiplotle barbeque sauces and pressed. And, the beer is Natty Greene’s own, brewed in Greensboro and brought in when needed. It’s a great craft brewery with excellent craft beer.

There’s still ample time to get to Natty Greene’s in Raleigh before it closes for good after a huge party on August 1, but you might want to go there sooner than later, especially to try the Railyard, because once you have one, you’ll want to return for another and another and another. Before long, though, the place will be closed, and you’ll be left without it. You might suggest a road-trip to Greensboro would be in order to satisfy your Railyard desire, but the Railyard is not on the menu there. Maybe, with enough demand, it’ll show up. If so, here comes one regular from another area.

--------------------

Dictionary.com word of the day

ubiety (noun) [yoo-bahy-i-tee] the property of having a definite location at any given time