In preparation for Philly Beer Week, FYI did a really nice piece on three great Philly beer stops: The Yards Tasting Room, Atlantis: The Lost Bar & the Wishing Well. Take a look! (Give the video a chance to load.)
I won’t tempt you with the details about last night’s dinner with Tomme Arthur at Monk’s Cafe, other than to say I may have enjoyed the greatest cheese-and-beer combo ever. It came along in the fourth course, after the duck pate, salmon tartare, stuffed quail and osso bucco.
Lost Abbey Angels Share Grand Cru with Colston Bassett Stilton.
The Grand Cru is a sipping beer. Monk’s served a very small portion of perhaps 3oz. But that was plenty. The beer is a blend of 6 vintages of Angels Share, aged in brandy, bourbon or Cabernet barrels. This is a sipping beer, reminiscent of port, but better than any port I’ve swallowed. Its oak flavor is balanced with a palate-tickling salad of dried fruits, caramel and vanilla. I kind of think it might be a little much on its own - but paired with the Stilton, it excelled.
Normally, I’ve paired Stilton with barleywine, thinking that only a beer with massive hop bitterness could stand up to the funky blue. Instead, the ale’s boozy sweetness and fruit character brought out intense layers of chocolate flavors - yes, chocolate! - I’d never recognized in this cheese variety. While the beer cut through the cheese’s intense creaminess, the potent strength of this Stilton reigned in the ale.
A mouthful was a warm, sensuous kiss. I want to do it again.
Discovered while working on an upcoming column on beer floats: A Weekly World News report (circa 1989) that lumps them in with a bunch of other disgusting entries in “the world’s weirdest snacks.”
But never mind Ruffles potato chips covered with Heinz Home Style Gravy, or mashed potatoes with Cool Whip and apple sauce, what ever happened to the Incredible Frog Boy? “The tiny freak is so revolting,” the paper of alien record reported, the anguished mother is not allowed to see “the incredibly ugly being…”
A couple weeks ago, I put out a call on Facebook for beer recipes for the grill. Yesterday, for Father’s Day, I tried a simple one offered by Chris Leonard from Gen. Lafayette: flank steak marinated in Chocolate Thunder Porter.
I didn’t have any porter, though, and substituted Samuel Adams Longshot Traditional Bock plus a bit of teriyaki. Soaked overnight, the steak was absolutely superb. I don’t know if it’s the cut, but the flank totally sucked up all that malty goodness.
And now I’m going to try a couple of these delicious-looking recipes (click on the PDF files below) submitted by Meghan Maguire of Ommegang. The plum pork spareribs with Witte sounds tremendous.
When did the Persian Grill (637 Germantown Pike, Lafayette Hill) across the street from the Gen. Lafayette brewpub go nuts with its beer selection? I just had an amazing chicken & rice dish with a bottle of Westmalle Dubbel.
OK, the Dubbel was actually mistakenly listed as Tripel, and the draft selection isn’t particularly notable (though it does pour Youngling!).
But the big bottles are outstanding: Chimay, Corsendonk, St. Bernardus, Chouffe, Duvel, Ommegang, Brooklyn Local 1. A bit pricey ($15.95 for most of the 25-ouncers), but not enough to complain about. They’ll even serve you one of those three-liter Chouffe’s!
And the Basmati rice is freaking spectacular.
I enjoyed a nice home-cooked meal last night: spaghetti & meatballs. (Only, in my house, it was rice pasta & turkey meat balls.)
Anyway, Mrs. Sixpack kicked things off with a nice, light salad - a course that I’d usually pair with a saison or light lager. We had a bottle of Jumilla on the table to go with the spaghetti, but that wasn’t floating my boat. And I was too damn lazy to run downstairs to the beer fridge. So I pulled out the one bottle I had upstairs: Heavy Seas Below Decks barleywine.
I know, I know - barleywine with the first course is a bit over the top, especially when it’s 90 degrees outside. I mean, where do you go from there?
I should mention that this salad was topped with a few pieces of freshly grilled radicchio, because that’s what made this pairing work like a dream. The bitter spiciness of the leafy veggie matched perfectly with the bitterness of the barleywine.
Not looking to bore you with the details of last night’s dinner here… just wanted to offer a heads up to a food-pairing that you might not ever consider. Barleywine & a salad of greens - who knew?
Lost your job? Lost your401(k)? Don’t mope around - blow your severance check!
Morton’s The Steakhouse (1411 Walnut St., Center City) is serving up a special three-course dinner, with each course paired with a different variety of Chimay.
Try Chimay Triple & oysters on the half shell; Chimay Red with a New York Strip; Chimay Blue with hot chocolate cake. Decadent.
It’s a $75 fixed-price deal (available only till the end of March) that will prove that you can enjoy a big-time steak dinner without a Bordeaux.
Info and reservations: 215-557-0724
One of the Philly Beer Week events I’m really looking forward to is the big smoked beer and bbq festival Yards will be running on Friday, March 13th. It’s an all-afternoon event at the brewery in N.Libs.
They’re still lining up pitmen for the event, so if you’ve got the meat, contact brewer Steve Mashington, who’s the show. Drop him an email: smashington at yardsbrewing.com
Tix for this feast are just $15 - buy them at the door.
And if you’re up in the air over choosing between smoked beer at Yards and real ale at Friday the Firkinteenth at the Grey Lodge, fear not. They’re running a free shuttle between two locations.
Philly Beer Week is about the beer first, but these days that means good food, too. Here’s 10 nights of good eating. (Visit Philly Beer Week’s web site and click on events for more details.)
The other night I went bar-hopping to a bunch of places I’d been meaning to visit.
First was Tavern 17 at the Radisson (220 S 17th St., Center City), which isn’t actually new. But it had been at least 6 months since I was there, and I was there to work out details for an upcoming book-signing appearance. Just a heads up for big beer fans: Victory Storm King imperial stout was pouring. By the way, the old coffee shop on the other side of the Radisson lobby is now an acual coffee bar, which is to say they serve booze with the joe.
Prohibition Taproom (501 N. 13th St.) opened a couple weeks ago just a block from the Daily News building. It’s run by the same couple who operate the nearby Cafe Lift, one of my favorite workplace lunch spots. Walking up 13th street on a foggy, damp night, the neon BAR sign looked straight out of a David Goodis novel. I had a plate of fresh, beer-battered green beans ($5) and my first pint of Sierra Nevada Celebration of the year. Also on tap:
The Tiedhouse (20th & Hamilton, Franklintown) is the new, quasi “tied house” from Gen. Lafayette Inn & Brewery. My visit here was quick (no food, just a pint of Novemberfest), but it looked like the taps poured pretty much everything Chris Leonard has brewed in the past year. Some nice non-Gen. beers, too - I’ll return soon for a closer look.
Pub & Kitchen (20th and Lombard, Graduate Hospital section). This is the former Chaucer’s, which was a very good neighborhood bar. P&K is going the gastropub route, with linen napkins and an imaginative menu from Philly mag chef of the year Jonathan McDonald. I enjoyed the sauteed chicken breast and homemade biscuits and gravy with a glass of Yards Brawler. Make your way to the neighborhood today (11/21), and you’ll be treated to the the restaurant’s first Firkin Friday - Yards ESA & George Washington Tavern Porter on cask. Pair them with an outstanding bar menu of duck liver toasts, white fish “Roll Mops,” boiled eggs with sea salt; calamari cocktail; Oyster Crackers and horseradish; malt vinegar potato crisp; pork cracklings; and marinated olives, just 2 bucks per plate.
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