The Blue Tractor BBQ & Brewery, Ann Arbor

The Blue Tractor Menu.  I bet the guy who came up with the 'tractor that looks like blue utensils' thinks he's pretty sharp.

I went to the Blue Tractor is one of a few breweries around Ann Arbor.  My previous brewery experiences having been pretty good, so I had high hopes for the Blue Tractor.

The walls were made of large wooden beams.  They were pretty much untreated, they were just cut to be square.  It added an almost rustic feel to a place that otherwise wouldn't have any.

 A shot of the Blue Tractor Interior.  It was really dark, and I worried that the flash would bother people (the woman on the far left looks like she was bothered anyway).

The Blue Tractor's interior decorations featured some rusted tractor parts.  There were also some artsy black and white photos of tractors on the walls.  This level of tractor dedication was a bit surprising, but I suppose if there was any restaurant in which I expected to see ex-tractors, it was a tractor themed one.  Interestingly, the tractor parts came in all the primary colors except blue.

It was kind of dark, though not so dark that it impaired the experience.  It was also a lot quieter than I would expect for a bar, though I suppose I was eating dinner really early.  Given all of the lumber and tractors, I thought that the chairs and tables were conspicuously modern, as though they could only take the themes so far.

The Burger was, frankly, overcooked.  It was dry, and it lost some flavor in the overcooking.  The bun was just a straight, white, slightly toasted bun.  The burger was better after I put some ketchup on it, but not a lot.  As far as I could tell, it wasn't seasoned at all.

The waitress actually asked how I wanted my burger, and I said medium, which is why I was so bothered when it was overdone.  Additionally, she specifically asked me if I wanted sweet potato fries, and I clearly said 'no,' which is why I was so bothered when I got sweet potato fries, instead of fries made from regular potatoes. 

The sweet potato fries weren't bad, most of the time.  There was some nice flavor, and the sweet potato was pretty smooth.  They had an unpleasant aftertaste, though, sort of an oily taste.  They also had some weird seasoning that hits you all at once.  It tasted sort of like a mouthful of bad parsley, which is something I don't want at burger time (or, I suppose, ever).  The quality of the fry was inversely proportional to how much surface are they had, which is why it sort of sucks that they were ruffle cut for extra surface area. 

My friend Claire, who joined me for dinner, made me promise to note that they had Coke products, not Pepsi, and now I have.  

Frankly, between the bad service and ungood food, I don't think I'll be back to the Blue Tractor.  I saw someone else who ordered the barbecue, and it didn't look too bad.  If I ever find myself there again, I guess I could try the ribs.  But I'm going to endeavor not to find myself in that situation.

The Blue Tractor BBQ and Brewery.