Stoudt's Brewery, Adamstown PA

I had a conference to go to in Gettysburg, PA, so on the way home we made a point to stop at Stoudt's Brewing Company and Black Angus Restaurant, which is right off Route I-76, between Reading and Lancaster PA.

The place is sort of in the middle of nowhere, but well worth the stop.  Redneckhunter was naturally excited about the beer.  He started out with a seasonal Kolsch. And later got a sampler of 4 -- the Triple (a Belgian Abbey-style ale), the Double Inda Pale Are, the Heifer-in-Wheat (their version of a hefeweizen), and a raspberry rhubarb beer (that I wanted to taste).

I was happy with housemade cheese from their own Wonderful Good Market.  We got three to try -- the Elderbritch, an aged cow's milk cheese (from local pasture grazed cattle) named after a PA Dutch prank in which grown-ups would send kids out to hunt for the elusive imaginary Elderbritch; the Ferdinand, a trappist monk-style cheese steeped in Stoudt's own Fat Dog Stout; and the best one -- the Fresh Eliana, a soft Italian-style cheese like a brined Mozzarella.  The cheeses were served with walnuts and a spiced apple chutney (which, though tasty on its own, was a little overpowering for the cheese).  The homemade bread, also from their own Wonderful Good Market was also great.

For our main dish, we shared the sausage platter for two with bratwurst, kielbasa, and weisswurst with sauerkraut, red cabbage, and German potato salad. 

 

The Stoudt family have a full complex on their 62-acre farm there with the brewing company next to the Black Angus Restaurant and Pub.  There's also a banquet hall for large events like weddings.  Behind that is the Wonderful Good Market and Black Angus Antique mini-mall, and across the street from the market is Stoudtburg Village -- modeled after a Bavarian hamlet, with shops and 60 residential units.  Must be a nice place to live if you're a big Stoudt's beer drinker to just stumble right home.

Stoudt's
Route 272 2800 North Reading Road
Adamstown Pa. 19501
717.484.4386

Happy Hour at PING, Portland, Oregon

On my first day in Portland, Matt and I went to happy hour at PING, a restaurant featuring a blend of Asian snacks and bar food.
I started with a glass of yuzu beer, a drink consisting of Sapporo draft beer with yuzu extract & sugar. It reminded me of a shandy- very light and refreshing.
At Ping, they also have drinking vinegars made from their sister restaurant Pok Pok. I tried a the tart tamarind vinegar with soda. It was also excellent.








We ordered some snacks to tide us over until dinner time.
First up was a Chinese tea egg, a hard boiled egg made in black tea, soy sauce, ginger, star anise and cinnamon. It was a straightforward and faithful version of this snack.

My favorite item was the baby octopus skewer. They were marinated in lime, chilies, garlic, fish sauce, and cilantro. The flavor was a fantastic mix of sour, spicy, and savory.

On special that day, they offered duck liver skewers. They came with a spicy dipping sauce.

I finished off with ju pa bao, a dish from Macau, that was simply a fried pork chop seasoned with salt, pepper & garlic served in a bun that's similar to a torta. It was simple and tasty.





102 Northwest 4th Avenue
Portland, OR
(503)229-7464

Tröegs Beer Tasting Menu at Bluegrass Tavern, Baltimore

After attending a Dogfish Head beer dinner at Bluegrass Tavern last year, I was excited when they announced a Tröegs beer dinner held a few weeks ago.
Even better, Chef Patrick Morrow planned a nose to tail meal using a heritage pig he recently acquired. The breed he used was a Large Black, sourced nearby, which was over 300 pounds.

We started with an assortment of piggy snacks at the bar while enjoying a pint of Tröegs Pale Ale.
Already on the bar were bowls of housemade pork rinds.
Chef then brought a plate of sous vide pork with mustard. I've always been a fan of Chef's skill with sous vide technique, and this pork was exactly why. It was juicy and flavorful, really celebrating the pure taste of the pig. Will a small dollop of mustard, it was just wonderful.

I then tried a few dishes made with the more "nasty bits". On small toothpicks sticking from a small pig, there were chunks of kidney with a pearl onion. I'm still a little neutral to kidney, but these were good.
He also brought out yummy pig heart tacos, using sliced beets in place of the tortilla. This lightened the dish, and good thing, as dinner was really yet to start.


The last bar snack was pork skirt steak marinated in Dr. Pepper. It had a similar consistency to beef, and with the marinade, it was delicious.
We then made it to our tables, and started with a massive charcuterie plate accompanied by some housemade pickles and whole grain mustard.
It included chicken liver mousse, pork rillette, bockwurst, andouille, sopressata, speck ham, tasso ham, bacon jam, and trotter terrine.

My favorite was the chicken liver.
The second course was hog's head ragu with spinach parpadelle, shaved gran queso, and preserved lemon gremolata and accompanied by a glass of Dreamweaver Wheat beer. The lemon contributed a sourness that really elevated the dish.

Course three was a massive slab of crispy pork belly on a bed of Anson Mills blue grits, pickled pear and sauce foyot. Foyot sauce is hollandaise sauce with a meat glaze, which was in this case, bacon. We drank the Hopback Amber with this dish. Chef noted that this breed of pig was particularly fatty, and it showed in the pork belly's marbling.

The fourth course was a sous vide pork loin wrapped in bacon with sunchoke puree, sunchoke chips and a rosemary bruised pineapple. It reminded me of ham with pineapple. We drank Tröeg's Nugget Nectar, which was my favorite beer of the night.

For dessert, we had a Tommenator cheese souffle with brown butter ice cream. This was accomanied by a glass of Tröegenator which was made for this course as the cheese is made using Tröegenator beer's yeast and sediment.

Dogfish Head Brewery Dinner at Bluegrass Tavern

Last week, Bluegrass Tavern and Chef Patrick Morrow hosted a dinner with beer pairings supplied by Delaware's Dogfish Head Brewery. It was my first time having a dinner with beer pairings. My friend Coprock from LA was in town and he came along. It was his first exposure to beers by Dogfish Head.
Our first course, paired with Midas Touch, was a North Carolina Shrimp Presse with a kimchee puree. Chef Patrick described it as "salami" because of it's appearance.

Course 2 might have been the most perfect pairing of food and drink. We tried the Sah'tea, a brew with strong flavors of juniper and black tea. The food item was a generous piece of foie gras tourchon that was cured in the Sah'tea served with plum sorbet and a pecan praline. The spicy flavor of the beer went perfectly with the fatty goodness of the foie.

The third course was a beautifully cooked duck breast with duck fat fried potatoes and a rhubarb pudding. We drank with this course, the Raison D'Etre, a Belgian style brown ale.
The fourth course came with Dogfish's Palo Santo Marron, a rich brew that takes a lot of flavor from the resinous Palo Santo wood it is aged in. The flavor is reminiscent of Guinness, but with an ABV of 12%. Chef Patrick prepared a sous vide hanger steak with Anson Mills cheddar grits and a veal Bordelaise sauce. It was an amazing course.

We finished with Dogfish's famous 90 Minute IPA, and a piece of blue cheesecake with a little bacon jam.
It was a great meal and I was happy to see the versatility of these beers with fine dining.

Snacking at Churchkey, DC

Recently, my favorite combination of food and drink when going out is charcuterie and good beer. I went to Churchkey in the Logan Circle area of DC a couple weeks ago for such a meal.
First off, I was impressed with Churchkey's impressive draft and beer menu with selections for the casual drinker or the hardcore beer fanatic. On this evening, I decided to try a few Saisons with dinner. I enjoyed the Du Ronke Saison de Dottignies from the cask. It was nice and smooth.
We ordered both a cheese and a charcuterie plate to start. I can't recall all the cheeses we tried, but I know that I did like the Cashel Blue, a creamy Irish cow's milk cheese.
My favorite items on the charcuterie plate were the pig's head and trotter terrine (big surprise there) and the housemade duck liver mousse. We also had mortadella, a calabria sausage (pork, beef, bacon) and cured pork loin.
The appetizer of shrimp corn dogs with tartar sauce was fun to eat. It reminded me of the shrimp dumplings from Chinese dim sum, but with the fried corn bread coating.
We also ordered one of the specials, a house bread platter, which included a jalapeño cornbread, pretzel rolls and olive bread. Mmmm... pretzels.
Dessert was their take on the hostess chocolate creme filled cupcake. Not bad at all.

1337 14th St NW
Washington DC
(202) 567-2576

Dinner at Publican, Chicago

Last weekend, I flew up to Chicago to celebrate my friend's birthday, and his wife, knowing our love for food, organized the event at Publican, a restaurant known for all things pork and beer related.
When we arrived, I started with a delicious glass of Three Floyd's Alpha King pale ale, and we ordered a small cheese plate of Big Ed's, a raw cow from Wisconsin, and Summer Snow, a sheep from Vermont.
We sat down to dinner in large communal dining hall tables. Our first courses were Publican's famous house-made spicy pork rinds, and their Little Gem salad which consisted of lettuce, pig ears, basil, radish and a buttermilk vinaigrette.
The pork rinds were still warm, served in a brown paper funnel. I could not get enough of them.
We then ordered the house charcuterie plate. This included head cheese, a pork pie, a guinea hen gallantine, warm morteau sausage, and sliced bresaola. I loved the head cheese.

My friend, Chupacabra, told me to get a glass of Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbach, a smoked beer from Bamberg, Germany. Its smokey flavor pair perfectly with the charcuterie plate.
For our main entree, we ate the roasted farm chicken with summer sausage and frites. It was a simple dish, but all parts were good. Great fries.

Dessert was a fresh, seasonal glass of nectarines, vanilla ice cream, basil, saba (a grape syrup), & almonds.
It was a great evening celebrating a friend's birthday with fantastic food and wonderful drinks.

837 W. Fulton Market
Chicago, IL
(312)733-9555

The Pickled Pig, Rehoboth Beach, DE

Went for lunch at the Pickled Pig, a gastropub which opened in Rehoboth Beach last year. They specialize in serving good local craft beers like Dogfish Head and Evolution.
We started with a set of appetizers. I could not resist trying their fried pickles. They use kosher dill pickles, batter dipped, fried and served with a spicy dipping sauce which reminded me of the Outback Bloomin' Onion sauce. It was yummy.
Fougoo also ordered a cheese board. We got a nice 5 year Gouda and a sheep's milk cheese from Cypress Grove called the Lamb Chopper.

For entrees, I just wanted to stay light, so I ordered a simple bowl of Price Edward Island mussels in a broth of Belgian ale, leeks, and garlic sausage.
Redneckhunter got their Classic Reuben sandwich.




18756 Coastal Highway
Rehoboth Beach, DE‎
(302)645-5444‎

Ray's the Steaks, Arlington, VA

I finally had dinner at Ray's the Steaks in Arlington a few weeks ago. They are opening a new branch in Ward 7 of DC in the next week.
I was with a friend so we ordered the Chateaubriand to share. It was delicious and cooked perfectly. I got a side of the brandied mushroom sauce, and we shared sides of broccoli and mashed potatoes.
I got to try a nice bottle of Bell's Hop Slam, and we had dessert. Total bill for the two of us was $80. Great meal and great price.

2300 Wilson Blvd
Arlington, VA 22201
(703) 841-7297

(new branch)
905 Dix St NE
Washington, DC 20019

Wisconsin Boys Weekend 2009 Part 1 - Sausage and Booze

So Fougoo has her monthly girls cooking nights known on this blog, but every year, I have an annual Boys Weekend in Wisconsin where we share food, drink and good times.
This year's trip was the most "foodie" we've ever had. This year, our host Thayer has been really taking Michael Ruhlman's Charcuterie book as inspiration to, first off, making homemade Italian and Hungarian sausages. They were incredible, fresh, and juicy. There is nothing like the snap of natural casings.
He also cured his own Lox, using a nice amount of star anise that was just delicious.

My fried Karl, brought an incredible sausage from Zingerman's of Ann Arbor that was infused with black truffles. Before you cut into it, it had that stinky amazing smell of a good cheese.

Certainly, no weekend is complete without some delicious alcoholic beverages. After our experience with the Caldera canned beers in previous trips, we had several other canned craft beers. I liked the Modus Hoperandi from Ska Brewing in Colorado. The can was all decked out in the Two Tone style and it said "Lip up Fatty" on the bsck.
For a lighter flavor, the Mama's Little Yella Pils from Oskar Blues was really nice.
We tried some Tito's Handmade Vodka from Austin, TX that was more like a whiskey in it's bite and more character than more widely available vodka.
Stay tuned for part 2.