Dinner at Brick House Billiards, N. Syracuse, N.Y. Chicken Riggies at Brick House Billiards, N. Syracuse, N.Y. (Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gma/Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gmail.com) 
Dinner at Brick House Billiards, N. Syracuse, N.Y. The house cheeseburger at Brick House Billiards, N. Syracuse, N.Y. (Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gma/Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gmail.com) 
Dinner at Brick House Billiards, N. Syracuse, N.Y. Bank Shot Shrimp topped with sweet chili sauce at Brick House Billiards, N. Syracuse, N.Y. (Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gma/Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gmail.com) 
Dinner at Brick House Billiards, N. Syracuse, N.Y. Cocktails at Brick House Billiards, including the Miscue Mule and an Orange Crush. (Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gma/Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gmail.com) 
Dinner at Brick House Billiards, N. Syracuse, N.Y. Chicken Riggies at Brick House Billiards, N. Syracuse, N.Y. (Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gma/Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gmail.com) 
Dinner at Brick House Billiards, N. Syracuse, N.Y. The house cheeseburger at Brick House Billiards, N. Syracuse, N.Y. (Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gma/Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gmail.com) 
Dinner at Brick House Billiards, N. Syracuse, N.Y. The house cheeseburger at Brick House Billiards, N. Syracuse, N.Y. (Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gma/Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gmail.com) 
Dinner at Brick House Billiards, N. Syracuse, N.Y. Soft pretzels and beer cheese at Brick House Billiards, N. Syracuse, N.Y. (Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gma/Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gmail.com) 
Dinner at Brick House Billiards, N. Syracuse, N.Y. Dinner at Brick House Billiards, N. Syracuse, N.Y. (Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gma/Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gmail.com) 
Brick House Billiards Lunch at Brick House Billiards in North Syracuse. (Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com) (Charlie Miller) 
Brick House Billiards Lunch at Brick House Billiards in North Syracuse. (Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com) (Charlie Miller) 
Brick House Billiards Lunch at Brick House Billiards in North Syracuse. (Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com) (Charlie Miller)
North Syracuse, N.Y. — We must have looked out of place walking into Brick House Billiards on a Saturday night without pool cue bags slung over our shoulders.
The North Syracuse pool hall was half full of single players and couples shooting pool, while we plopped ourselves down in a booth with absolutely zero plans of embarrassing ourselves by not lining up our shots correctly or me pulling my patented “firing the cue ball off the table” routine.
No, the entire reason we visited the nearly 9-year-old establishment came down to two words: chicken riggies.
Brick House Billiards has built a not-so-quiet reputation for the Mohawk Valley-born pasta dish, thanks to my pal Charlie Miller and the equally effective word-of-mouth.
It starts with a pink blush sauce. Some places utilize vodka in their riggies base, but there was no evidence of the bite that imparts. Chopped cherry peppers and diced chicken breast were sauteed before being combined with the sauce and then tossed with rigatoni. It’s served with two slices of buttered Italian bread and a larger-than-average dinner salad.
My spice tolerance level is about medium to medium-hot, so I shied away from asking for more heat. The finished product was a notch above mild, which worked. There was a good bit of cooling from the cream to offset the peppers and keep it comfortable and approachable. The kitchen spared no expense with the pasta or chicken, as every forkful seemed to pick up a piece of meat along with one or two pieces of macaroni.
Dinner at Brick House Billiards, N. Syracuse, N.Y. Chicken Riggies at Brick House Billiards, N. Syracuse, N.Y. (Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gma/Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gmail.com)
It’s a filling entree and at a price point — $17.97 — that is well below what you would pay at other restaurants.
So many restaurants in Central New York offer chicken riggies on their menus that it’s easy to roll your eyes and ignore the listing. But when a pool hall puts it first on its list of entrees, it’s hard not to take notice. Brick House, however, is more than just a pool hall.
Brian Holmes opened the space in 2018 after a fire damaged the original Salt City Billiards located on Brewerton Road. Holmes remodeled the space, building out a spacious bar, two separate pool rooms, and a dining area with eight tables and booths. Holmes is also behind Fayetteville’s Great Lakes Lanes, which has a similar menu of burgers, sandwiches, fried foods, and pastas.
Dinner at Brick House Billiards, N. Syracuse, N.Y. Dinner at Brick House Billiards, N. Syracuse, N.Y. (Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gma/Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gmail.com)
Ordering is done at the bar, and we grabbed a couple of cocktails while we waited. One doesn’t often find Orange Crushes ($8.50) on local bar menus. This Mid-Atlantic favorite mixes vodka, triple sec, orange juice and orange soda for a delightful summer drink that goes down all too easily. One of the regular house beverages is the Miscue Mule ($10), a playfully-named riff on the refreshing vodka-and-ginger-beer cocktail.
We shared two appetizers marked as house favorites. Soft pretzels and beer cheese ($11.97) wasn’t just cleverly named. Three baked pretzel sticks were served hot from the oven with a bowl of cheese for dipping. It was a pretty basic starter made from heat-and-eat frozen pretzels and a bland cheese sauce. We were disappointed only because it was called out on the menu.
Dinner at Brick House Billiards, N. Syracuse, N.Y. Bank Shot Shrimp topped with sweet chili sauce at Brick House Billiards, N. Syracuse, N.Y. (Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gma/Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gmail.com)
Better, but inconsistent, were the Bank Shot Shrimp ($12.97). Seven shrimp were hand-breaded and deep-fried, then tossed in a sweet chili sauce. Other restaurants without pool tables might call this bang bang shrimp. Where the inconsistency came into play was that some of the shrimp were caked in breading, so much so that it was all you could taste. Others let more of the shrimp flavor come through, which is where the dish shines.
One area where the kitchen goes all out is its burgers. All six options are hand-packed, 8-ounce patties cooked to order. We opted for the house cheeseburger ($15.97) to keep things manageable, but even that was tough to handle. Usually, burgers are measured before cooking, but this one felt like it weighed a half-pound after it came off the grill. The hulking burger was served with American cheese, lettuce, and tomato, and a side of coated fries that were just as disappointing as you’d imagine. I know they can’t always be freshly cut, but fries with exterior starch coatings just break my heart. Potatoes deserve better.
Dinner at Brick House Billiards, N. Syracuse, N.Y. The house cheeseburger at Brick House Billiards, N. Syracuse, N.Y. (Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gma/Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gmail.com)
Had we decided to set billiards back 100 years and rent a table, it would have cost $7 per hour to play on one of the 7- or 9-foot tables—$5 per hour on weekdays—with plenty of cues and equipment available to borrow.
There are plenty of dive bars across Central New York that punch above their weight when it comes to food. Brick House has that same sort of appeal, with a very casual atmosphere and a crowd that is there to do one (or both) of two things: play pool or eat.
And for everyone’s sake, we stayed at the dining table.
The Details
The Restaurant: Brick House Billiards, 3707 Brewerton Rd. (U.S. 11), North Syracuse; (315) 455-1979.
Reservations? No.
Takeout/Delivery? Takeout available by calling the restaurant.
Credit cards? Yes.
Noise level: Overhead music can make it noisy.
Access to the disabled: Entry requires a step up from the sidewalk. We did not check out the restrooms.
Parking: They have a private lot.
Outdoor dining: There are outdoor tables.
Special diets? The menu accommodates vegetarians and dairy-free diners. Gluten-free options are fewer.
Children’s menu? Yes.
Hours: Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to midnight.
Cost: Dinner for two with cocktails, starters, entrees, tax and 20% gratuity was $108.59.
Dining and Cooking