Habit

Yes, I’ll admit it; I’m a creature of habit. One of those habits is choosing a dining location by their beer selection. Sure there are some exceptions such as deciding to go out for sushi or to certain ethnic restaurants that have great food but no liquor license, but overall the beer offerings are as important as the food.

Last night we headed to Stillwater with Kat & Scott to try out Smalley’s Caribbean Barbeque and Pirate Bar. This place has been getting some pretty good press for its food and I figured that they must have at least a passable beer selection knowing that they carry Lift Bridge. So over the river and through the woods we went.

Upon entering, the décor was less than inspiring and in Mag’s words “more Disney” than expected. Taking a look at the beer menu, the only local beer listed was Summit. Funny, I thought since I knew with 100% certainty that Lift Bridge had done a beer event here in the past. When asked, our waitress confirmed that yes; they did have Lift Bridge Farm Girl Saison. Our drink order went in and we proceeded to figure out what dinner would consist of.

A long time later our drinks arrived, we ordered the plantain and tortilla chips with habanero salsa and queso for an app and our dinners. The appetizer was good, but not great and unfortunately that pretty much summed up the rest of the meal, too. I don’t know if they were severely understaffed or what the deal was but each time we ordered drinks it took an inordinately long time for our server to return with them. Had it not been for the fact that some friends (Brad, Dan, Jim and Julie of Lift Bridge) showed up as we were finishing the food I think we would have departed much sooner and headed over to Mad Capper where the beer selection is far superior and the service better.

I don’t mean this to be unduly cruel but in all honesty I’d choose Famous Dave’s over Smalley’s any day for the food. Add to that their abysmal beer selection (note: you can get a 40 oz of Mickey’s or Colt) and service and I can guarantee this is one place I’ll not be returning to.

Back in the Saddle

After a too long hiatus, last night I made it back to growler fill night at Flat Earth. Armed with a basket of freshly made brownie bites in honor of Mike’s birthday, I received a warm welcome and no jabs about where I’d been (maybe the brownies worked their magic). My favorite sample was of their raspberry infused Belgian Pale Ale. While I was bummed they had run out of growlers of it earlier in the evening I was thrilled to be reminded that this is on the menu for the upcoming Flat Earth Beer Dinner at The Dining Studio that we’re going to. Last time I checked the chef was still working on the food menu but whatever is created I’m sure it’ll be great…the beer menu certainly is.

Once done there, Kat & Scott chauffeured me over to Ngon (better than the alternative of Kat trying to talk me through getting there after an inevitable wrong turn), where a small group of us had decided to go for dinner. There wasn’t a cask option, and apparently wouldn’t be for a couple weeks yet so I defaulted to one of my favorites – Surly Coffee Bender. Regular Bender doesn’t do anything for me, but the Coffee Bender is one of the amazingly plentiful coffee beers around town that is harder to find than I’d like. But Ngon seems to always have it on tap AND they serve it in Surly’s glass coffee mugs. Very cool.

Much to my approval our appetizer order included Ngon’s Cha Gio (egg rolls). We had these the last time I was there and I have been thinking about them ever since. For my dinner I almost ordered Hu Tieu hoac Mi Thap Cam, a soup similar to Pho. But when the waitress was taking our order someone asked about the Com Tams. The description she gave sounded good and I took her up on her recommendation of the Com Tam Bi, Suon, Trung. She said if you’re a pork fan then this is the dish for you. I am and it was!

As the meal wound down, the dessert menu came out and I couldn’t resist ordering the chocolate fire cake. I don’t recall the exact name and since it’s not listed on their on line menu suffice it to say that it is a mini-bundt shape chocolate cake with some type of pepper spice. The combination of flavors reminded me of earlier in the evening eating a brownie while drinking some of Flat Earth’s Hold Your Fire pepper beer. Both were excellent.

Cheese & Beer = Bad Dreams

Picture a roofless bar with 4-foot high walls that sits on top of a hill and is flooded up to the level of the walls. My friends and I are sitting around in a flooded bar, up to our armpits in comfortable water, in the middle of winter, drinking beer and watching Cleo and other dogs swim around. Another unknown friend comes tromping up the hill to join us, leading his/her (faceless being) great dane, which was wearing roller skates on all four paws. As the dog gets closer, I see it has shaved feet; ugly, pink human feet.

Creepy. That was a dream I had last night. I'll often have really weird dreams if I eat after say 8 or 9 at night. I actually kind of enjoy it. But last night was the first time I've had Vietnamese food that late. I think the Pho from Ngon, as well as the beer and blue cheese I had earlier in the evening, conspired to cook up one of the most bizarre dreams I've had.

Anyway...

Kris and I had a chance to go to a private tasting of a Summit/Amablu cheese collaboration last night thanks to MNBeer's Ryan. Summit's Winter Ale was used in the making of Winter Blues, a St. Pete's Select blue cheese bathed in said beer. Kris has had a few of the Amablu offerings before, but this was my first time. We were both delighted with the cheeses served as well as with the Summit beer (of course). I'm generally not partial towards "fancy" cheeses, but I'll take small nibbles in the hopes that I'll one day acquire the taste. Luckily for me, Amablu uses cow milk to make their cheeses, which means they are not too funky for me to enjoy.

We got to the event right at 6, so we were able to chat with Mark Stutrud for about 15 minutes. I've had a chance to meet and speak with Mark on several occasions and I've found he's a personable, friendly, unassuming dude. Good guy. And it turns out that I actually have several connections with the Amablu folks. I used to work with one of the owners during my time working in Faribault. We were surprised to see one another at the event, but were glad for the chance to catch up. It also turns out that I and the President & Big-Cheese for Amablu, Jeff, used to work for the same company. Our paths never crossed as he had left the company prior to my joining the company. Needless to say, the conversation last night was as good or better than the beer and cheese.

Kris and I caught up with Kat and Scott at Ngon after the event at around 9 P.M. We had a few more beers and a late dinner of eggrolls and Pho and ended up leaving the restaurant, cheerfully content, as they were closing up.

Good times...good times.