We find ourselves in Valparaiso and Chesterton, Indiana quite a lot. Our kids live here with their mom, so it’s often the case that we’re over here finding something to eat or some activities to do. We’ve been meaning to check out Blockhead for a while, and, after all, I’ve never heard of a brewery/sushi bar combo restaurant before, so we just had to go.

Admittedly, I’ve been generally unimpressed with Valpo’s restaurant offerings over the course of the last 10 years that I’ve been spending time there. There are a few diamonds in the rough, though, and Blockhead is at the top of the heap. I wasn’t even going to do a review of this place until after we sat down and realized how cool the place was, and how delicious the food was, and how nice the beers and cocktails were!

The space has an industrial vibe, and a few different seating sections including a bar. There’s a large outdoor area for when the weather is nice as well. I think there must also be a party room in the back, as we could see the bartenders pouring out many many cups of beer to be taken back into the unknown. The service here was superb, and our server was really nice and attentive. We always had what we needed, and we never felt rushed.

Brian was all about the beer flights this evening, and they cutely serve them on a tray made up of Legos, because how else would you serve beers at a place called Blockhead? He enjoyed the beers saying that nothing was bad, and giving most of them high 3’s out of 5 on his Untapped app. “Frosty Haze” was the favorite of the four he tasted.

I was focused on cocktails, because even though this is a brewery, their cocktails looked friggin’ amazing and the drinks had the cutest names! I started with the “Pedro Mezcal” which was a bright red concoction that was smokey, bitter and sweet all at the same time. A delicious combo. I drank two of these way, way too fast. I also got the “Two Suns of Tattooine” which was made with Sotol Reposado, a tequila-like liquor that is made from the sotol plant, which looks like an agave plant, but isn’t. The liquor is more mild than mezcal and tequila, and was delicious mixed with Thai Chili infused mango and blood orange liqueur. The spicy notes came a few seconds after you took the sip, and was just enough of a kick to make it interesting, without being overwhelming.

We started with the Crab Rangoon Potstickers, which were the primary reason I decided to write a review of this place. I LOVE crab rangoons. I love them when they’re terrible and have barely any crab. I love them when they are amazing and crunchy and full of crab. I order them everywhere, and I can’t stop eating them. That said, these crab rangoons were absolutely out of this world, and most likely some of the best I’ve ever had in my life. They were in potsticker form, but they were most definitely lightly fried and perfectly crispy. You couldn’t eat these with your fingers because there was just a ton of crab and cream cheese oozing out of these things. How they manage to pack these golden nuggets full of so much crab and cream cheese and keep them super crispy without being too greasy is truly a feat. They were served on a plate of unagi sauce and spicy mayo, which beats any sweet and sour sauce you’d get at a Chinese restaurant. These were so incredible, that next time we go, I’ll probably just order them as a meal and hog them all to myself.

After that, we all ordered a ton of sushi. I don’t do the raw stuff since it upsets my stomach, so I went with the “Hail to the King” roll, which is a tempura shrimp roll. It was excellent, but honestly kind of paled in comparison to the rangoons we just had. However, it had the same spicy mayo and unagi sauce that were on the rangoons, so no complaints there – plus, they were plated really prettily with lots of sliced scallions on the top. Clara LOVES California rolls, so she got the “Californee” roll, which was nicely topped with Tobikko.

Clara and I also ordered bao buns which were super soft and extremely flavorful. Clara ordered the “Slide Thru” bun, which was a pulled pork bun. This was everyone’s favorite bun as it was super barbecue-saucy and had a really nice cole slaw on top. I ordered the monthly special called the “Stayin Schwarm,” which was a nice Mediterranean/Middle Eastern take on a bao bun. The chicken schwarma was super flavorful, and tasted exactly how you would expect it to, along with a nice roasted red pepper hummus and lemon-yogurt sauce. I really liked what was essentially pico de gallo on top. I really loved this bun but everyone else was a bit meh about it.

Eli and Brian went on a sushi extravaganza ordering the roll of the month called the “Smoke-Show” which was a crab roll, rolled in flamin’ hot cheetos. They also got spicy crunchy tuna, “Captain Insano” which was super spicy, and the “Green Goblin” which was a shrimp roll. Brian liked the Green Goblin the best, and Eli liked the crunchy tuna the best. They both thought Captain Insano was too spicy to be able to taste anything else, so it was slightly disappointing. Eli loves everything spicy – the more spicy the better, but even he admitted it was a bit much for the sushi.

Blockhead doesn’t serve dessert, so don’t expect to get anything sweet here, but they do have a Chocolate Coconut Porter Beer and delicious cocktails that can easily substitute for dessert.

I was super surprised and blown away by Blockhead Beerworks. This is easily the best restaurant I’ve eaten at in the entire Valpo/Chesterton area, and they have really great service and atmosphere. The sushi was top notch, as were the bao buns, and obviously the crab rangoons that I wrote an entire paragraph about, and I can’t wait to go back and try some of their other offerings. We were spying on our neighbors, and the noodle dishes looked amazing, and I would love to try the stir fry and the Korean BBQ fries. Their Sunday Brunch menu also looks to die for.

If you live in this area, or drive through regularly, or even irregularly, I would recommend a detour to Blockhead Beerworks, it’s about 15 minutes south of I-90, and you will not regret it!