“I get the ale soup. It’s rich and creamy and just a little bit spicy,” she said, a dreamy expression coming over her face.

“And the Bibb and gorgonzola salad just hits the right taste buds,” she added. “It has sweet and salty flavors and nice green lettuce and it’s crunchy from the pine nuts . . .” I expected her to run out the door and down the street to place an order any second.

I told her of my own recent lunch. My usual dining partner was busy, so I brought along someone else—my mom. Mom isn’t quite as adventurous an eater as my regular companion, aka my husband.

Never a vinaigrette

Mom’s idea of a salad is iceberg lettuce with tomato, onion and usually ranch dressing, certainly not a vinaigrette. She’s still serving up the gourmet dinners to my grandpa that I remember from my childhood—dried beef gravy on toast, porcupine meatballs and tuna noodle casserole. Not that there’s anything wrong with those, but I like to think my appetite has outgrown them.

I had to forego the cravings of my own rather eclectic palette for the simpler, more everyday desires of my mom’s. She says simple, I say picky.

So instead of the brewer’s platter appetizer ($12) with grilled sausages on a bed of sautéed potato and cheese pierogies garnished with fresh kalamata tapenade crostini, we shared the Old World Bavarian pretzels ($6).

They were soft, hot and salty, just like the ones you get at the fair but easier to eat while sitting down. They came with tasty honey mustard and jalapeño cheese dipping sauces. They would have gone great with beer, but since I had to get back to the office to write this, I thought I better not. Besides, Mom doesn’t like beer . . .

Other appetizers range from $7 to $9 and include a spinach con queso dip, chardonnay mussels, Maryland crab cakes, artichoke clam dip and a crab-stuffed portabello mushroom.

The day’s specials were a salmon burger with capers, red onions and mayo for $9, a chicken Caesar wrap, a Caribbean jerk burger, an Italian calzone and a Reuben, all $8.

The soup of the day was tomato-basil-parmesan ($4). It certainly wasn’t Campbell ’s. Hot, thick, creamy and delicious, it was almost like something you would want to eat over pasta. The restaurant also serves French onion soup ($5), New England clam chowder and the ale soup every day ($2.50/cup; $4/bowl). The latter is made with the brewery’s own Lost Nation pale ale and garnished with homemade croutons.

For an entrée, I picked the blackened catch sandwich. The fresh catch of the day was tilapia. The filet – juicy, tender and just spicy enough – was served on a toasted bun with a remoulade that complemented the fish.

I bet you can guess what Mom ordered—the classic cheeseburger ($8). And a good cheeseburger it was, according to Mom. A half-pound of meat topped with smoked bacon and melted sharp cheddar cheese filled her up before she’d eaten half of it. She pulled the bacon off the other half to eat it, saying it was some of the best bacon she’d ever had.

The sandwiches come with a choice of fries, pasta salad, spiced tortilla chips or fresh veggies. Mom got fries, I had the veggies—green beans, carrots, broccoli, zucchini and red peppers.

The balance of the menu has more salads and sandwiches, as well as pub pizzas on thin homemade crusts made from the brewery’s spent grains. Next time I’m going to try the mashed potato pizza ($8) with my beer.

The pizza, made with asiago mashed potatoes, red onions, roasted garlic, fresh basil and fresh mozzarella, should go great with the Railway Razz or the Northern Trail Nut Brown Ale. In fact, if you visit the brewery later in the day, the dinner entrées have beer recommendations listed next to them on the menu.

Wonderful dessert

My mom and I agreed on dessert. We shared the raspberry crème brûlée ($5), a rich, vanilla-custardy concoction with just a hint of raspberry flavor, topped with a crusty caramelized sugar coating. It was wonderful. My mom liked it too, but said she thinks she prefers plain vanilla. Imagine that.

Willoughby Brewing Co. opened in 1998 in downtown Willoughby . It’s located in a 100-year-old building that housed the railway car repair depot for the interurban rail line that at one time ran from Cleveland to Ashtabula . We sat in the nonsmoking section (one concession I WON ’T make for Mom) where a G-gauge train chugs by overhead. I love the wood and brick decor with cherry Venetian blinds over ceiling-high Palladian windows.

The restaurant has banquet facilities suitable for business luncheons that can accommodate from 20 to 60 guests. For more information, call (440) 975-0202.

Laura Freeman reviews restaurants regularly for the Lake County Business Journal.