When you walk into Columbia’s new 44 Stone restaurant, you will notice two things. First, you’ll notice the stone archway and then you’ll notice the wall-spanning chalkboard with the restaurant’s beer and whiskey selection listed on it.
While the beer and whiskey may be this restaurant’s heart, it’s soul lies in the food - the English-style soul food to be exact. Co-chefs Mark Sulltrop and Dave Faron, who met after Sulltrop hired Faron as a sous chef at Bleu several years ago, are combining gastropub fare and contemporary American cuisine to create a unique new dining experience in Columbia.
The gastropub concept stems from traditional public houses across the British Isles where the drink was more important than the food. But at 44 Stone, you’ll find both an impressive drink collection and high-end cuisine at a relatively affordable price, which Sulltrop said that they took the down economy into account while creating their menu so that it would be easy on patrons’ pocketbooks.
Instead of settling in to a cozy booth for lunch, I opted to take a seat at the large, black granite bar where I watched FIFA on the big screen TV and listened to Celtic music on the stereo while I waited for my food. I ordered the 44 Stone Burger for $8.50, which co-chef Mark Sulltrop considers their signature item, and brown buttered spaetzle, a traditional European egg noodle pasta dish that you would expect to find on the menu at a German restaurant and not an English-style pub, for $2.50.
The burger came out cooked to perfection on a house-made pretzel bun topped with English farm cheddar, Jameson steak sauce and fresh baby spinach. I was pleasantly surprised at how juicy the burger was and how well the pretzel bun kept everything together. The burger also came with russet potato fries and beer ketchup – a 44 Stone creation that combines house-made ketchup with Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer to make a sweet and tangy sauce that goes well with both the fries and the burger. The spaetzle was lightly salted, buttery and very tender.
The menu features more than just a new take on burgers, though. You can also choose more traditional English pub fare like Bangers and Mash and Steak with Neeps and Tatties. The bangers portion of the bangers and mash comes from the house-made pork and apple sausage. Sulltrop said that they smoke and cure all of their own pork at 44 Stone.
There is also a pronounced Indian influence on the menu, as well. The house soup is a soup version of Tikka Masala and vegetable curry is one of the vegetarian dinner options on the menu.
While the desert menu rotates, diners can currently choose from figgy crème brulee, a revamped version of the traditional figgy pudding, or a piece of chocolate cake with toasted marshmallow cream and graham cracker.
“It’s really about the hands-on stuff,” Sulltrop said as he explained the time and effort behind each dish at 44 Stone.
The restaurant is located at 3910 Peachtree Drive in Columbia and their hours are Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday.
