The 1915 brick firehouse is a marvelous building, with bright, yellow-and-red trim on the windows and garage, retaining the original "Rapid City Fire Department" sign, imbedded into the wall above the arched garage doors. Historic and modern murals and paintings decorate the rough brick walls of the patio, many of them with historic fire engine and fire fighter motifs. Seated on dark green plastic garden chairs at wire-mesh tables, we perused the menu while sipping our pints of delicious Firehouse Red home-brewed ale (Happy Hour is Monday to Friday from 3 to 6pm, and pints are $2.50).

Bob decided on the Philly Swiss sandwich -- marinated roast beef topped with onions, mushrooms, peppers, and cheese, and served Au Jus with steak fries ($7.95) -- while I chose the Cobb salad, a delectable combination of boiled eggs, bacon, blue cheese chunks, tomatoes, bell pepper, avocado, and chicken breast atop a bed of lettuce (also $7.95). Although kept quite busy, our young waitress was friendly and efficient. About halfway through our meal, band members began setting up onstage but weren’t due to begin playing for another hour. We spoke with the drummer, Chris, and learned they hailed from Kirkland, Washington, where my daughter and fiancée now live – small world!

Firehouse’s varied menu serves "pub-style" food, and many dishes have fiery names. Fire Caps (crab-and-cheese-stuffed mushrooms), Spontaneous Heating (hot and spicy gumbo), Firebuster Black Bean Burrito, Hook and Ladder (soup/sandwich combo), and Stop Drop and Roll (chocolate cake) are just a few of the more descriptively named items. The selections are many and tempting. Monday through Saturday, they offer dinner specials, two of which are all-you-can-eat (BBQ Wednesdays, Fish Fry Fridays). Prime rib specials are Mondays and Tuesdays, and the daily menu includes six kinds of steaks, either 10 or 12 ounces. For young ‘uns and old ‘uns (12 and under, 65 and over), a small portions selection includes eight items, most of which are $3.95.

Patio dining and live music ceases when the weather becomes too chilly, by the end of September. However, the Big Kahuna Beach Club upstairs remains open all year, every night except Sundays, with a DJ and dance floor, plus games like pool, darts, foosball, and video lottery.

This brew pub is of course located in an old firehouse. We actually had trouble finding it because from the outside it really does look more like a firehouse than a restaurant! Around the bar it's decorated with fire department patches from around the country.

The food was standard brew pub fare: burritos, chicken sandwiches, fish-n-chips. My burrito was pretty good, but nothing to write home about. We had an extremely honest waitress who steered us away from some of the blander items on the menu.

Like most brewpubs, the beer was excellent. I had the wheat and my dad had their darkest porter. Both were well above average.