A plate of Mexican street corn nachos is a fine way to get settled at Rek-Lis Brewing Company in Bethlehem. The portion is notably generous, built for sharing across the table, and pulled pork can be added when a snack needs to become something more substantial.
Rek-Lis combines a brewery, pub and casual gathering place without turning the evening into a production. You can come in dusty from a day on nearby trails, settle in with a full dinner, sample a flight at the bar, or make a lighter meal of snacks and drinks with friends.
The tone is comfortably down-to-earth. There are booths and high-tops, bar seats for a quick pour, outdoor seating when conditions allow, and an upstairs lounge with a pool table for people who prefer their beer with a little friendly competition.
A Broad Beer List With Room to Sample
The attached brewery gives Rek-Lis a varied draft lineup that moves across New England IPAs, pale ales, stouts, hefeweizens, sours, lagers, pilsners and bocks. That breadth is helpful when one person at the table wants something hazy and citrusy while another is after a cleaner, maltier pint.
Flights make it easy to explore rather than commit immediately. Individual pours are available too, along with beer to take home when a favorite deserves another round later.
Among the more distinctive beers to look for is a crisp Vienna lager made with waffle cones from Bethlehem's nearby Super Secret Ice Cream. A malt-forward 6.3 percent bock offers a richer counterpoint, while a hazy New England-style double IPA brings floral notes and layers of citrus.
The beer list does not have to carry the entire evening. Rek-Lis also serves cocktails and mixed drinks, including old-fashioneds, mojitos, strawberry margaritas, a guava cosmopolitan and radlers. It is an easy place for a mixed group to meet without requiring everyone to drink the same thing.
Nachos, Tacos and the More Playful Side of Pub Food
The kitchen goes beyond the usual fry-basket approach to brewery food. Burgers and sandwiches have their place, but so do tacos, bowls, salads, pasta and a few dishes that can steer dinner in a fresher or spicier direction.
The street corn nachos are the obvious table-starter, especially for a group, but smoked chicken tacos and birria tacos provide good reasons to move on from chips. Smoked chicken also shows up in the Cali bowl, a vegetable-forward option that sits well beside a beer without making the meal feel heavy.
The Nashville hot chicken sandwich brings noticeable heat. A side salad is available for pairing, which can be a welcome move when the sandwich is doing most of the spicy work.
Smoked deviled eggs are another shareable detour worth considering. They have the familiar picnic-table appeal of deviled eggs, with smoke bringing them closer to the rest of the pub menu.
Burgers With Their Own Personalities
The Big Daddy Greg Smash Burger is built for the person who does not want a delicate lunch: two smash patties, American cheese, jalapeño Thousand Island dressing, pickles, lettuce, tomato and crispy onions on a brioche bun. The crisp onions and jalapeño dressing keep the rich burger from becoming too one-note.
The French onion burger takes a different route, arriving on something other than the standard burger bun. It is a small detail, but it gives the burger its own identity rather than making it another variation on the same sandwich.
A gluten-free bun is available for at least some burger orders. It is worth confirming current options when ordering, especially since the menu and brewery lineup can shift.
Vegetarian-Friendly Comfort Food and Fresh Bowls
A brewery menu can be a difficult place for a vegetarian to find more than an afterthought, but Rek-Lis has several substantial choices. Grilled cheese, a sweet potato burger, a Beyond Burger, macaroni and cheese, and a veggie burger on a pretzel bun give the table more range than a single token option.
The veggie burger can be dressed with the house sassy sauce for a little extra character. Buffalo macaroni and cheese is another comfort-food choice, with its buffalo flavor coming from sauce rather than buffalo meat.
For diners looking toward vegetables and protein rather than a sandwich, the Cali bowl and Mediterranean chicken bowl offer fresh, chicken-forward alternatives. The pear salad gives the menu one more lighter direction, useful on a warm day or after a particularly ambitious hike.
Room to Settle In
The main dining room and bar keep the atmosphere informal, with enough different seating styles to suit a quick drink, family dinner or longer catch-up. Parties have ranged from couples to groups of around 10, so the room does not seem designed around only one kind of outing.
The upstairs lounge, anchored by its pool table, gives Rek-Lis a bit of recreational energy beyond the dining tables. It is a useful option when the conversation has legs and nobody is in a hurry to call it a night.
Even the bathroom walls get some personality through distinctive drawings. It is an offbeat little touch, and precisely the sort of detail that keeps a brewery-pub from feeling interchangeable.
A Good Stop After Time Outside
Bethlehem is well placed for people coming off a day outdoors, and Rek-Lis has become a natural post-adventure meal stop after Mount Washington hikes and time on nearby trails. The menu accommodates the classic appetite of somebody who wants a burger and a beer, while leaving room for tacos, bowls or salad when a full pile of fried food does not sound appealing.
Families can make a meal of it as well. A kids menu is available, and the portions have enough substance to keep younger diners from treating dinner as merely a wait for dessert somewhere else.
On pleasant days, the porch or patio extends the options outdoors. Dogs are allowed in the outdoor seating area, and that seating is seasonal and dependent on the weather.
The Useful Small Logistics
Free parking is available in a lot, with street parking also mentioned. On a busy evening, parking can take a little more patience than it does on a quieter visit.
Weekend evenings can bring a wait for a table. The rear tasting room offers a comfortable place to spend that time instead of hovering near the host stand, and it also gives diners a chance to explore the brewery side of the operation.
The room can get lively and moderately loud during busy periods, though conversation remains possible. With seating spread among the dining room, bar, outdoor area and upstairs lounge, it is sensible to confirm a preferred area when making plans for a group.