Voodoo Brewing Co. steps out on its own with dining options, own kitchen. See what’s new

Voodoo Brewing Co. joined the State College brewery scene in 2019 and, while the brewery still remains in its original spot off East College Avenue and below Maine Bay & Berry Co., the business has grown in big ways over the last four years. At first, pub-goers could order sandwiches and seafood from Maine Bay & Berry, but as demand for food grew, so did the menu, until the two businesses decided this year that Voodoo Brewing would take over the building’s entire lower level and open its own kitchen.

Maine Bay & Berry continues its market in the upstairs space, and Voodoo Brewing general manager Wes Day said the brewery embraced the new opportunity.

“At the beginning of September, we started the transition and, within six weeks, we basically had, up-and-running, what is now the Voodoo Kitchen,” he said.

Fans of the brewery’s former, Maine Bay & Berry-provided offerings will still see some favorites on the new Voodoo Kitchen’s menu, but also new items that better embrace the pub feel and potential beer pairings.

Voodoo Brewing Co. boasts more than a dozen corporate and franchised locations across Pennsylvania and the country, and the State College location was one of the last to open its own kitchen. However, Day noted that the State College location’s elevated pub fare menu will soon be replicated at other outposts, such as those in Pittsburgh and Erie.

In planning the new kitchen’s menu, Day said the aim was to firstly give regular patrons typical pub fare normally associated with a brewery, instead of primarily just seafood-focused menu items. However, from there, the location’s unique setup has also inspired some more creative menu additions.

“We’re extremely limited with how small the location is and how small of a kitchen space we have. We don’t have deep fryers so there are no french fries and we don’t do anything that would be on a grill. We just have flat tops, so we could have cheesesteaks in the future, but we won’t do burgers because we don’t have a hood system,” he said. “Instead, we have two, extra-large Big Green Eggs, one of the best smokers on the market. We started our first week with smoked, bone-in chicken thighs. We followed that up with a smoked beef, chorizo bacon and cheddar meatball; we did meatball platters and subs with those and they were incredible.”

Additionally, Voodoo Brewing has partnered with Mancini’s Bakery in Pittsburgh, which has created a pizza crust solely for use by Voodoo Brewing. The new menu offers a few different pizza options — from standard fare like a caprese pie and a barbecue chicken pizza, to more inventive options like a pickle pizza made with roasted garlic pesto — and all sauces are made in-house.

Since the kitchen launched several weeks ago, Day said community feedback has been positive and, thanks to rotating features and specials, customers can show up multiple days per week and find something new.

Already, some crowd-favorite menu items have emerged, such as the pulled pork nachos topped with beer cheese, house-smoked pork and a barbecue creole salsa. Other favorites include shareable items like the roasted red pepper hummus and smoked buffalo chicken dip.

Looking forward to evolving the menu as the kitchen settles into its stride, Day said, in addition to using the on-site smokers for more menu items, he also would like to add a deli meat slicer to the kitchen. This would allow the team to smoke and slice ingredients like turkey and pastrami all on-site, for menu items like a pastrami reuben topped with bacon beer-braised sauerkraut and house-made thousand island dressing.

In March, Voodoo Brewing Co. will celebrate its fifth year in business in State College and Day credits the brewery’s continuing success to the Happy Valley community.

“It really has gone by fast,” he said. “Our regulars in this community have supported us. While the brewery is (headquartered) in Meadville, Pennsylvania, myself and the staff all live here. Some grew up here. We’re extremely thankful to State College and the surrounding communities for the support they’ve given us over these five years. It’s really what’s kept us rolling.”

Holly Riddle is a freelance food, travel and lifestyle writer. She can be reached at holly.ridd@gmail.com.