8 S. San Marcos Plaza, Chandler
480-917-8700

I review so many chichi restaurants in the course of a year that I sometimes forget how much I enjoy the unpretentious ones. As I walked through the doors of SanTan, a lively microbrewery housed in Chandler’s historic downtown square, I felt a little rush of happy anticipation. It was a Saturday night, I was in my blue jeans, and I was going to eat a burger and drink a beer. In other words, I was going to conduct myself, as much as possible, like a normal person, not an uptight restaurant critic.

The open room, outfitted with five or six TVs and a long indoor-outdoor bar, was noisy and crowded with casually dressed customers of every age and persuasion. Most of them looked as happy as I felt. Was it the beer? Well, partly. Who doesn’t feel giddy after knocking back 18 ounces of premium suds? But it was more than that. There was a sense of community here, a hail-fellow-well-met, who-gives-a-damn ambience that captured the true spirit of a neighborhood pub.

Owner and brew master Anthony Canecchia ought to know something about good vibrations. He earned his stripes at Four Peaks (arguably the most popular microbrewery in the Valley) where he was head brewer for nearly eight years. Now as brew master at SanTan, he’s created the recipes for six of his own beers: Sunspot Gold (light-bodied, golden ale), Oscuro (amber lager), SanTan Pale (West Coast-style pale ale), HopShock I.P.A. (English ale with a distinctively hoppy quality), Hefeweizen (wheat beer with banana-clove character) and inky Gordo Stout (with robust coffee and chocolate flavors). If you’re a beer maven, it probably makes sense to start with a sampler: six four-ounce pours for $7.

Canecchia also offers a small, rotating selection of guest beers from other micros around the country, Canecchia approaches beer the way wine connoisseurs approach wine, and with the help of Peter Sciacca (a glass blower with a shop nearby), he designed a sturdy beer glass whose shape keeps the head on the beer longer, facilitates maximum aroma sniffing and allows the beer to cover the entire palate for better flavor appreciation. In other words, he’s done for beer what Claus Riedel did for wine, just not quite as extensively.

Chef Brant Gasparek (who spent 10 years at the Rainforest Café, but we won’t hold it against him) oversees the kitchen. And aside from the occasional foray into creative weirdness (raspberry-stuffed mushrooms with pistachios, pine nuts, basil, garlic and feta, for example), he stays mindful of what pub grub should be: hearty, uncomplicated and good with beer.

Being purists, my pal and I reject appetizers of shrimp scampi and roasted red pepper hummus in favor of wings and onion rings. SanTan wings may be ordered a half-dozen different ways, but the honey hots we sample are everything their name suggests – hot, sweet, juicy on the inside, crispy on the outside and plump enough to require a little gnawing ($7.50). Ale-battered onion rings, browned and crunchy, are great too, much more interesting than the tasteless fried zucchini that comes with them ($6.50).

SanTan offers two all-American burgers and two burgers with Middle Eastern accents. Marinated artichokes, olives, spinach and feta, mixed into the ground beef before cooking, give the Aegean a bright, salty quality I love ($8.75). Smeared with pesto aioli and sided with puffy, seasoned pub fries, it goes down easy. My buddy likes the Kasbah even better. It’s a ground lamb patty mixed with chopped dates, pistachios and smoked Gouda, the bun slicked with cilantro aioli ($8.75). Although I love the flavors, the meat seems a little dry. Next time, I’m going for the mushroom burger with mozzarella and beer-braised onions.

As for sandwiches, I love the Reuben, piled with juicy, thicker-than-usual corned beef, Swiss cheese, tangy sauerkraut and Russian dressing ($8.25). Kudos, too, for grilled rye bread that isn’t disgustingly greasy. But of course, there’s no better beer food than pizza, which SanTan bakes in 10- and 16-inch sizes. Beer is added to the dough, which comes from the oven puffy, chewy and lightly browned on the bottom. These pies may not be in a league with the Valley’s best pizzas, but they’re mighty good for what they are – especially the Arizona vs. Boston, topped with house-made tomato sauce, grilled chicken, three cheeses, red onion, banana peppers and pine nuts (10 inches, $10.50, 16 inches, $16.50).

I’m just as happy with fish and chips – principally the cod, moist and luminous beneath its crunchy, beer-battered crust ($10). Beer-battered fries and coleslaw (not too sweet, not too soupy) make tasty accompaniment.

SanTan throws out a million lures to keep the locals coming back – weekday happy hour bargains, a Thursday night trivia contest, an express lunch menu and Sunday breakfast during football season. And while I appreciate all the extras, all I really need from this friendly hangout is a beer, a burger and a place at the bar.

Kitchen hours: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Sunday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to midnight, Friday and Saturday.