Beer Radar

Mrs. Sixpack & I rambled through three places that have opened in the last year for our anniversary Saturday night. Here’s a quick recap:

Beneluxx (33 S. 3rd St.) is the new Belgian tavern from Eulogy’s Michael Naessens. You’ve probably already heard about the self-serve glass-washers on the tables. They’re pretty cool, and I think the tap list is now the biggest in the city, with 36 spigots, more than half devoted to Belgians. There’s also lots of wine. Do yourself a favor, though, and try the cheese (the Roquefort was spectacular). In addition to bread, Beneluxx makes a nice gesture to glutenphobes and provides soy rice crackers for your tasting pleasure.

Zot (122 Lombard St.) opened earlier this year to much acclaim; the place even uses a quote from my review in its advertising. But something has gone terribly wrong at this restaurant. The waitstaff is just plain weird (one server said he was forbidden to fill our water glasses more than halfway) and the policies are idiotic (you WILL eat the frites). I could live with that, but the bad news is the food has taken a tumble. The first time I ate here, I thought the mussels might’ve been the best I had outside of Normandy. Big, succulent, full of flavor. Last night they were just pathetic - tiny, overcooked and uninspired. Some of the other dishes (risotto) were lame, but man, if you can’t get the mussels right in a Belgian restaurant… At first I thought it might’ve been an off night, but later I ran into a friend who told me he’d given up on the place after two bad meals in recent weeks. Sad.

Triumph Brewing (117 Chestnut St.) completely took off the edge from our disappointing dinner. The brewpub was celebrating Halloween, so everyone was in costume. Lots of fun (and, in the case of the women, cleavage). The beer was tremendous. My IPA was exactly what I wanted from that style: nothing too over the top, just a firm, assertive hop character balanced nicely with the malt. Mrs. Sixpack, though, enjoyed the best beer of the night: a creamy chocolate stout. Perfect for dessert. When Triumph opened, I worried that - given its suburban upbringing - it wouldn’t hold its own against Old City’s established beer joints. I was wrong. Triumph rocks.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 28th, 2007 at 11:24 am and is filed under Tavern, Brewpub. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.