The Flying Hound does a good job of signaling to cars that pass by that it’s a popular place, since the parking lot is always full. That may spell trouble for whatever business eventually opens up in the empty space next door, since its customers won’t have any parking spots.
Of course, that’s good news for this Fitchburg version of the Free House Pub in Middleton. In fact, the food is better in the new incarnation, which opened in April.
For example, the Scotch egg ($5), which can be difficult to cook, was moist and didn’t require the accompanying spicy mustard sauce, although I did use it up. The Flying Hound’s iteration compared well to my favorite Scotch egg, served at Barley’s Brewing Company in Columbus, Ohio.
I also liked the salmon sandwich ($12), as the fish was flaky, well-seasoned and would have held up on its own without the bread, which is essentially the $4 more expensive entree version. I want to add that the house creamy caper sauce was a nice binder.
Other dishes worth trying are the Flying Hound Burger ($12.5), a savory combination of muenster cheese, cherrywood bacon, soft-fried egg, hot pepper mayo, arugula, tomato and red onion; and the Pelicaric Family Sausage Sampler ($9.50), a plate of bratwurst, English style banger and hot Hungarian served with grilled sourdough bread, spicy sauerkraut and house mustards.
The Atomic Sausage ($9) bothered me in a few ways. One, it’s too expensive. You’re basically paying $9 for a single brat. Second, I couldn’t detect any spice, a major letdown for a dish that uses “atomic” in its name. To make matters worse, I chose the side of red cabbage slaw, and it was supremely flavorless, even for cabbage.
Other disappointments were the way overpriced pretzels & mustard (three for $7.50), the sandpaper-dry breaded cod of the fish & chips ($11) and the soggy fries.
The Flying Hound stands up well as a bar, but be warned the bar stools fill up quickly (I’ve seen it packed on Sunday, Monday, Thursday and of course Saturday). While I was impressed with the bartenders’ knowledge of the many beers they serve, I was even more impressed with their knowledge of the whiskeys, bourbons and scotches.
If you don’t mind looking at the traffic on McKee Road, the outdoor patio is a nice place to enjoy a beverage. Hopefully the bar will add some happy hour specials one of these days.
The Flying Hound is open every day for lunch and dinner. (Until late June, it was closed at lunch on Mondays.)
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See more photos in our The Flying Hound Flickr album.
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