Family, Friends, Food, Beer

Saturday ended up being a full day that started off with lunch at Ansari’s Mediterranean Grill & Bar, the new tenants of the former Baker’s Square building in Eagan, with the McDowells. They did an amazing job remodeling the interior, removing all traces of its past life. Add to that great food and the fact that it’s actually within walking distance of our house. For now they only have a handful of taps with the local representatives being Summit and Finnegans however the manager that was on duty yesterday (and also father of the owners) said he would look into getting Surly in there. Here’s me with my fingers and toes crossed!

Next up was a stop at Cellar’s for their beer tasting, which I was pleased to see was packed. I did a little sampling before making my decisions and taking home a bomber of Southern Tier Choklat Imperial Chocolate Stout and six packs of Dark Horse Crooked Tree IPA, Lagunitas Brown Sugga and an old favorite, Schells Schmaltz’s Alt. Mmmm…more goodies to add to the beer fridge.

A quick stop back at the house to drop the purchases off and grab Mag and we were off to Pint Club at Town Hall. With the holidays and all I think it may possibly have been a month since we were last at Pint Club. No matter, falling back into the routine was easy and we spent an enjoying afternoon with our fellow beer lovers. I tried to start off easy with the cask Scotch but it just wasn’t doing it for me so I dove into the hops with the Masala Mama, regular and on cask. I don’t recall who first ordered the DuPont but all of us agreed that it smelled like cows/hay/manure and yet was still quite tasty and subsequent glasses of it were consumed.

Once we had exhausted the liquid menu there we decided some food was in order and went to check out Black Sheep Pizza just down Washington Ave a bit. Although parking was available, the place was packed and not being interested in waiting we had to figure out Plan B. With the pizza seed already planted, and growing, the decision was made to head across the river to Pizza Nea. I’ve never been there before and although the beer selection isn’t great the pizza is outstanding! My Diavola good, but Mag’s Capricciosa was even better, I think because of the porcini mushrooms. Tons of flavor, a great crust and a sauce that my picky-pizza-sauce-palate approved of. All in all, a great Saturday.