Fillmore 13 Brewery

Directly across Saginaw Street from the Strand Theatre sits the answer to “where should we eat before the show?” — Fillmore 13 Brewery, downtown Pontiac’s homegrown microbrewery and one of the anchors of the street’s revival. The beer is brewed right there on a seven-barrel system (the Cease and Desist mosaic IPA and a well-regarded Saginaw coffee stout among the rotating lineup), but what makes it a real dinner-and-a-drink stop rather than a taproom is the kitchen: brick-oven pizzas, sandwiches, burgers, and a hot-beer-cheese pretzel that reviewers bring up unprompted. The room is bigger and more comfortable than the storefront suggests, which makes it a reliable pick for the pre-concert crowd, the big group that needs to be fed fast, and the after-work pint that quietly becomes dinner. Gluten-free crusts and buns are on hand, and the mug club has the kind of regulars who bring their own glass. It’s high on our list as proof that Pontiac’s comeback is being built one good, stubbornly independent room at a time.