From the name alone, you might surmise that Rock Bottom Gold Medal Tap is another chain trying to capitalize on the microbrewing trend.

And from its Old Market location — two blocks from well-established local brewpub Upstream Brewing Co. — you might suspect the new eatery is banking on potential confusion about “the beer place on 11th.”

Good news for diners: The Omaha franchise of Denver-based Rock Bottom seems to know and appreciate the local competition. And the two-month-old eatery appears to be just as interested in food and service as it is in its own company-brewed beers.

On visits in January, Rock Bottom pleasantly surprised with a better-than-pub-grub menu: Midwestern bar classics, comfort food and bistro-type fare with flashes of Asian inspiration. The kitchen, led by former Upstream chef James Davis, showed care and skill across the board: from soups, sauces and vegetables that sang to all manner of braised, baked, grilled and fried things that rocked.

The space will be familiar to those who knew it as a Famous Dave's. Super-high ceilings, exposed wooden beams and brick walls, and tall banks of east- and north-facing windows give it a rustic rail-station vibe. Bar-height tables and elevated booths with built-in taps surround the long central bar and its bank of high-definition flat-screen TVs. Quieter, lower booths and tables nestle at the rear. And the art's a mix of Old Market scenes and logos for the house beers.

Asian touches showed in a starter of tart pickles and mildly spicy Anaheim pepper: Slices of both, dipped in a light tempura batter and fried, were mounded in a bamboo steamer basket and served with a lime-spiked Thai chili sauce.

Nods to Asia continued in an orange-ginger-sesame-oil dressing that tasted just as good on a salad as on a French fry.

Well-balanced, from-scratch flavors abounded in other sauces, such as the one served with a hearty portion of braised boneless short ribs: an ultra-savory concoction of braising liquid, roasted tomatoes, pearl onions, a whisper of rosemary and a mixture of button, portobello and shiitake mushrooms.

Comfort foods hit the mark. A mac-and-cheese with chicken had a creamy cheese-spiked béchamel at its base and crisp oven-toasted parmesan-asiago panko bread crumbs on top. A chicken pot pie sported delightfully toothsome vegetables and a flaky cover of golden pastry perfect for dipping in its herbaceous sauce. A beer-imbued French onion soup was terrific, its complex flavor owing in part to a good bit of the house stout.

The Rock Bottom patty melt surprised with its flavor, whimsy and size. I needed a knife and fork to tackle the 5-inch cube of grilled-until-golden Italian bread. A crumbly-edged hamburger was wedged inside the ginormous bread hunk, along with melted Swiss and cheddar and Thousand Island dressing. The onions you normally find sauteed inside a patty melt had jumped out of the sandwich: a Milky Way swirl of skinny caraway-scented onion straws held atop the melt with a skewer.

Crisp, middling-thick, house-made malt kettle chips were, for me, a little too heavily dusted with a fine powder of malt vinegar, onion, garlic and salt. But they served as incentive to drink more of the house beer, brewed at Rock Bottom breweries in Colorado and Illinois.

Of the beers in a four-shot sampler for $4.50, I most enjoyed the oaty and complex Terminal Stout and the roasty, toasty, nutty Molly's Titanic Brown Ale. Two lighter brews tasted fresh but were too bitter and hoppy for me.

A towering slice of carrot cake tempted, as did a stout-imbued cheesecake, but I found myself instead eyeing the short selection of smaller desserts. A hockey puck-sized disc of peanut-butter cheesecake, sandwiched between crisp dark-chocolate-cookie crusts, was rich and satisfying. I didn't love the Hershey's-esque chocolate sauce on it, but the $2.50 price was right. And it was nice to get a meal-ending sweet that's not as big as my noggin.

Some in my party found the smaller booths up front too close for comfort. And for me, the stools at the bar-height tables were a little too shallow; even without beer, I felt like I was always slipping forward.

But the roomy booths and low chairs at the back were fine. The servers were friendly, informed and engaged. And I don't recall a single bad bite at Rock Bottom, which seems to be off to a rock-solid start.

Contact the writer:

444-1069, nichole.aksamit@owh.com