Food Plus Beer

Beer bet for the NFC Championship

2012-01-19T13:13:00.001-05:00

Just a friendly football rivalry between two great brewers:

http://brooklynbrewery.com/blog/2012/01/19/bi-coastal-brewers-bet-for-the-nfc-championship/

"A friendly wager has been placed between Brooklyn Brewery and Anchor Brewing Co. that our respective hometown teams will win the National Football Conference game this Sunday.

John Dannerbeck, president of Anchor Brewing Co. of San Francisco, and Steve Hindy, president of Brooklyn Brewery in New York, have agreed to pour the other brewery’s beer and outfit their brewery tour staff in jerseys from the opposing team for a week if their team loses the title game in San Francisco on Sunday. The brewery chiefs will wear the jerseys of shame as well.

“We are very confident that the 49ers will come through for us and we will not have to suffer this humiliation,” said Dannerbeck. “We beat the Giants earlier this year, and I am sure we will do it again.”

“The Giants have come together in an impressive way since the post-season commenced,” said Hindy. “We think Eli Manning and his team are going to avenge that earlier loss and move on to the Super Bowl.”

May the best team win!"

Beach Burger

2012-01-11T16:27:00.001-05:00

“Well, well, well, look who decided to get off his lazy ass and write a blog post...”

Whoa. No need for name-calling, anonymous snarky reader. I happen to have been going through a lot of stressful and important st…okay, I’ve been lazy. Sorry about that. Please accept this post as my apology.

Suck it, Ansel Adams!
I know what you’re thinking. Why am I blogging a place called “Beach Burger” in January? I’ll tell you why. Burgers are not seasonal. I like burgers on the beach. I like burgers by the fireplace. It really doesn’t matter. It’s about the beef, not the motif. (I’m trademarking this.)

We walked into the joint and were immediately greeted by steel drum music – the unique island sound featured in “Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid, and of course, all the Girls Gone Wild commercials. A good start.

The interior had a warm beach-town feel to it, like something out of LBI or Cape Cod, complete with buoys, nautical ropes, and starfish. My attention, however, was turned to the four or five flatscreen TVs mounted above the register, showcasing the various menu items.

I chose the Bynum Burger, named for Marc Anthony Bynum, the celebrity chef who worked with the owner to create Beach Burger’s menu. The burger consisted of a juicy, high-quality beef patty, tender pulled pork, crunchy onion strings and tangy BBQ sauce. In a word – awesome. One of the best burgers in the area and certainly worth the trip.

Fry ALL THE THINGS!
The fries, however, stole the show for me. They’re hand-cut in the kitchen, fried perfectly golden brown with just the right about of crispiness, and topped with the right amount of sea salt. Right up there with Five Guys (note: this is a very good thing).

Looking at the menu, there are a ton of reasons to come back. They have fried seafood (filling the void left behind by Overton’s seasonality), a unique selection of homemade milkshakes, and of course, more burgers (including one with fried oysters on it!)

If you’re in the area, stop by. If you’re not in the area, stop by anyway. It’s worth it.

Cheers,
Ryan

Little Buddha

2011-12-11T09:11:00.004-05:00

http://littlethaikitchen.com/littlebuddha.htm

Stamford, CT

I must say that Little Buddha is one of my favorite places to eat out in Stamford. They serve up authentic Thai dishes that I simply can't get enough of. But on top of that they have every beer in the world available for consumption! You just have to go find it and bring it. Yes, that's right - It's a BYOB. For me, this is a huge plus. I'm sure that you've scoured the menus and bars of many Asian restaurant's in search of a tasty brew only to find Kiri Ichiban, Asahi, Bud Lite, and dragons. In my opinion, nothing accompanies spicy Thai cuisine better than nice bitter IPA, plus you can buy a 6-pack for only slightly more than most places will charge you for a single pint.

In the many times that I've visited Little Buddha I have never found a dish that I did not like. Go ahead, be adventurous. Among my favorites are the Pad Thai Noodles, Coriander Fish, Fish Choo Chee (lightly fried red snapper in a coconut curry). But what really keeps me coming back are the delicious curries! Praise Buddha these are tasty! I've had them all, but Green Curry is surely my favorite. It's outstanding and satisfies all of your taste buds with a rich coconut taste, cilantro, and lemony spices covering zucchini, broccoli, peppers, snow peas, onions, and the meat of your choice (if you choose). The Masaman Curry follows at a close second with a deeper spicier flavor, adding peanuts and potatoes to the mix while taking out some of the green vegetables.

The best part about Little Buddha is that if you ask for it extra spicy, you get it extra spicy. There's no pussy-footing around here - they set you up right the first time. My dish was spicier than all 5 of the spice girls! The heat was relentless but I persisted, and the victory went to me, my taste buds, and my stomach although another unmentioned body part later admitted defeat.

Little Buddha, sitting across the street from the Ridgeway shopping center has a New York City feel to it. It's very small inside with an ordering window, and it seems like they do most of their business as take out. I'd guess that the place seats no more than 20 people. You could show up and find it empty. Or you could end up waiting 20 minutes for a table. The latter can be mitigated with a simple phone call. They won't take a formal reservation, but they will hold a table for 15 minutes. So just give them a call before you leave.

Don't let the atmosphere and seating deter you. Little Buddha is truly a hidden gem serving up tremendous Thai food at very reasonable prices, especially when you add in the BYOB benefit! Bring a growler for the table, order up some extra spicy curry, and you'll be smiling wider than that pudgy little Buddha on the shelf.

Newport Storm Brewery

2011-11-09T20:21:00.000-05:00

Newport, Rhode Island is a pretty sweet place to spend a weekend. For one, it’s home to a series of mansions so opulent that you experience a strange mix of being simultaneously amazed and pissed off when you see them. (Awenger?)

Secondly, someone told us that Newport has the highest number of bars per capita in the United States. Am I going to verify that before I post it? Hell no! This isn’t the Times, buddy! Even if it’s a slight overstatement, there really are a ton of different places to eat and drink. Which works for us, because this blog is called Food Plus Beer.

And thirdly, there’s a brewery there! What’s a visit to an idyllic, coastal New England town without a good brewery tour?

There's beer in those!

We arrived at the brewery around 2 pm, which isn’t an important detail in the least. Upon entering the brewery, you pay 7 bucks, get a Newport Storm glass (which you get to keep), and you’re handed a card with the names of the 4 beers on tap which gets checked off as you drink.

The first was Rhode Island Blueberry – a Kolsch brewed with real blueberries from a local farm. As cool as that is, this beer wasn’t really our style. A bit too light-bodied for our taste and while the smell and taste of blueberry was ever-present, it wasn’t particularly appealing.

Then came their flagship, Hurricane Amber Ale. Another style that Kyle and I don’t really gravitate to, but this was actually fairly impressive. A good hop/malt balance and quite drinkable…an ideal boat beer, let’s put it that way.

Next came their Oktoberfest, which was nice and malty, refreshing, and taught me how to speak German. It was a good Oktoberfest, but in all fairness I’ve been spoiled by the excellent Brooklyn Oktoberfest this year and I’ve found that all others pale in comparison. But the star of the Newport Storm show was the last beer – an unnamed, “Experimental” Belgian beer.

You see, one of the brewery’s cooler gimmicks is their Cyclone series beers, which are one-off, single-batch brews named using the same system as we name hurricanes (i.e. running down the alphabet, alternating genders. Adam, Barbara, Carl, Denise…you get the picture).

The experimental Belgian was just something they were kicking around as a possibility for their next Cyclone beer, which will be a female “S” name (Susan? Sally? Sandra? Sasha?) and it was very impressive. It seemed like a Belgian Strong Dark Ale with a different yeast strain than you’d expect from the style, which added a bit of sweetness and removed some of the esters and “Belgian-ness” that you typically come across Delicious. We’d certainly buy a 6er of it. One more thing of note about the brewery is that it’s also a distillery. Besides being the brewers of Newport Storm, they are the distillers of Thomas Tew rum. So, we got to learn a bit about the rum-making process alongside all the science of brewing that we already knew.

There's rum in these!

All in all, Newport Storm is a nice stop in a town that has plenty of nice stops. Check it out next time you’re in the area, and tell them Food Plus Beer sent you. They’ll have no idea what you’re talking about, but tell them anyway.

Cheers,
Ryan

Sierra Nevada Tasting @ Ginger Man SoNo - Oct 19

2011-10-19T09:27:00.000-04:00

10 Sierra Nevada Drafts? No Reservations? Sounds good to us!

Harvest Ale, Estate Home Grown Ale, Beer Camp's Earth Day EPA, Ovila, Life & Limb and more!

Greenwich and Port Chester Restaurant Week | 10/16 - 10/21/2011

2011-10-16T12:53:00.000-04:00

Greenwich and Port Chester Restaurant Week starts today! Cheers!

Simple Pulled Pork in the Oven

2011-10-15T09:14:00.000-04:00

Pulled Pork is a super food. That's right I said it. Maybe not quite the same league as the avocado or acai berry, but super in many ways. Whether you have a large group of people, or a small group of large people, pulled pork is the easiest, most satisfying, and most economical way to feed them. It's salty. It's sweet. It's greasy and cheap. You can eat it on a bun or a plate. Who doesn't like pulled pork? It may seem like an intimidating (and intimating) hunk of meat, but I assure you that no special culinary skills or tools are required to make a delicious, melt in your mouth tray of pulled pork with as little as TWO ingredients.

[If details aren't your thing, skip to the bottom for the condensed instructions]

INGREDIENTS

1. Pork Shoulder/Pork Butt (with a layer of fat on the bottom and bone in the middle)
2. BBQ Pork Rub (Buy one at the store or use the recipe below)
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp salt
1 tbsp ground pepper
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp paprika

If you choose to make your own rub just mix all of those ingredients together. If you've bought a rub from the store, then empty it into a bowl because your hands are about to get way too messy to be fussing with the jar it came in.

You might not be aware, but a pigs life is tough. It's not easy preparing for the glorious afterlife transformation into bacon, pulled pork, and sausage. There's lots of groveling in the mud and eating out of troughs that can sure make a piggie's back sore. That's why you need to rub his shoulder real good. First, dry the skin with a paper towl and then massage that rub mixture in deep coating all of the exposed meat with a thick crunchy layer of BBQ goodness. Slide a knife in under the fatty skin layer (don't sever it completely) and stuff some of that seasoning in there too! Don't use it all though, you'll need a little more rub for later.

Set your oven to 225 degrees, plop your pork onto an aluminum tray with the fat side up and toss it in. Let this baby slow roast, with delicious fat dripping, and trickling through the meat from that fat on top for about 1.5 hours per lb. Quick math tells you that an 8lb pork shoulder is going to take 12 hours. Plan ahead. I like to put this in the oven before going to bed and checking on it in the morning. Reheating the meat for dinner isn't going to be a problem. You couldn't burn this thing if you tried (well you could, buy why would you?)

After the time has elapsed your pork is probably good to go. If you have a meat thermometer you can check the temp. You're shooting for about 200 degrees. A little bit less is OK. The hunk of meat should now be sitting in an inch of delicious juices. Let it sit for another hour or two to cool down to a more manageable temp.

When it's at a temperature that you can handle, remove the fat flap from the top and set aside. Pour the juices from the bottom of the tray into a bowl and reserve for later. Now grab two forks and have at it. Pull all of the meat apart into thin shreds, removing the large hunks of pure fat and putting them aside with the flap removed earlier.

The pork is just about ready to go. Remember that rub that you saved? Dump as much of that seasoning over the top of your pulled pork and mix until you get the taste you want. Also, add back a good portion of those juices that you set aside to make it extra moist and juicy.

There you have it! Heat that up whenever you want and enjoy mouthwatering pulled pork sandwiches. But wait? What do I do with all of that extra fat!? Ahh, we can't get that go to waste. If you want to go the extra mile, break up the fat pieces and toss them into the frying pan to crisp them up like bacon! Add the crispy peices back to your pulled pork for extra deliciousness.

Tasty note: Pulled pork is perfect for a tail-gate! Cover the tray with aluminum foil, reheat on the grill and you're good to go!

CONDENSED VERSION:

INGREDIENTS

1. Pork Shoulder/Pork Butt (with a layer of fat on the bottom and bone in the middle)
2. BBQ Pork Rub (Buy one at the store or use the recipe below)
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp salt
1 tbsp ground pepper
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp paprika

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Coat meat with rub mixture.
2. Put on tray in oven @ 225 degrees, FAT SIDE UP, for 1.5hrs per lb.
3. Remove Pork after time has elapsed (internal temp near 200 degrees)
4. Let cool for 1 - 2 hrs.
5. Pour juices into separate container temporarily. Remove fat flap from top.
6. Pull meat apart with 2 forks or 10 fingers.
7. Add additional rub mixture to taste, add back fat juices to desired greasiness.

SoNo Restaurant Week Fall 2011

2011-09-28T14:56:00.001-04:00

Check here for links to some of the menus

Captain Lawrence Brewery

2011-09-26T09:29:00.001-04:00

At first, I was afraid of growlers. (I was petrified).

You see, once a growler of beer is opened, it’s basically a ticking time bomb waiting to go flat. Ideally, once it’s been opened, it should be consumed in one sitting. But what if I didn’t get around to drinking it all at once? Will I have wasted half my beer? Why would I do that when I can just buy a 6-pack and drink them whenever I want?

All these fears were of course alleviated when Kyle and I split a growler of Gandhi-Bot. Then we started to think about the good things. You know the beer’s as fresh as it gets. You can get fill-ups of beers the brewery may not even bottle. It’s a reason to get together with friends. And best of all, it’s satisfying to have a huge, bulky, brown, half-gallon glass bottle of beer in your fridge that gets in everything’s way and pisses off your girlfriend.

With that in mind, we took our empty growlers down to Pleasantville, NY, for a taste of what Captain Lawrence had to offer and, of course, to bring some home. We were so excited on the way down, we played a little jug band music with our growlers and an old rusty washboard.

Feel free to comment if you find yourself in this picture.

The first room in the brewery is the tap room, which is fine, because that’s our favorite room. Here, brewery workers hand out sizable free samples of everything on tap. On the day we visited:

Captain Lawrence Kolsch: Light and clean tasting, with a hint of hops. A light sipper.

Captain Lawrence Extra Gold: Sweet, Belgian-y, with a bit of citrus. If not for the obvious selection of the IIPA, this would have been my favorite.

Captain Lawrence Pale Ale: Moderately hoppy with a nice malt backbone (though I had to pick it out, as I don’t like bones in my beer)

Captain Lawrence Pumpkin Ale: Nice malts and spices, though I didn’t get a whole lot of pumpkin.

Captain Lawrence Imperial IPA: Super floral & sweet, really hoppy without managing to be very bitter. Naturally, this is what both Kyle and I got our growlers filled with.

$10.50 for a growler of Imperial IPA. It's what Jesus would have done.

We also went on the short brewery tour with awesomely-named-tour-guide Ryan, who showed us the inner workings of the brewery, all the shiny machines, and the disgusting barrels of spent yeast that they donate to local farms. Eww.

Ryan also mentioned that in the next few months, the brewery will be expanding substantially with a move to its new location in Elmsford, which will finally allow them to produce 6-packs of Pale Ale and other 12 oz. offerings. Big things coming from the Captain. Be on the lookout at your favorite bottle shop.

No brewery review is complete without pictures of big shiny things.

We didn’t realize it before we plugged the address into Kyle’s GPS, but Capt. Lawrence is about 10 minutes closer than New England Brewing Co., making it our closest commercial brewery. It’s an awesome place to grab some samples of a year-round favorite or something seasonal, the growler prices are totally reasonable, and the staff is friendly. Next time you’re in Pleasantville (and why wouldn’t you be), definitely plan to stop by.

Grrrrrrr, (I’m growling. Get it?)

Ryan

The Best Mac and Cheese Recipe EVER!

2011-09-18T21:54:00.005-04:00

So you've read the title and your first thought was "yeah right". It's a bold statement I know, but true none the less. Don't believe me? Try the recipe, and if you still think that you have a better Mac and Cheese then feel free to cook some up for me!

Prepare for the second installment of Food Plus Beer's Sunday Football recipes. The mouthwatering cheesiness pictured below is sure to win the hearts of your family and friends. As always, grab a beer before you start.

The Best Mac and Cheese Recipe EVER!

1 lb curly pasta (gemelli or cellentani)

1/2 lb Bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
9 Tablespoons bacon fat (reserved)
3 Tablespoons butter
6 Tablespoons of flour
3 cups whole milk

1 lb extra sharp yellow cheddar cheese (buy a block and shred it yourself - a MUST)

2 cups cheddar crackers (like Goldfish or Cheez-It)
Salt

Fresh cracker black pepper

Boil water for pasta. Salt the water and par-cook the pasta just shy of al dente.

Cook Bacon in a frying pan over medium heat until crispy.

While bacon is cooking grind cheddar crackers. I find that the easiest way to do this is to just put them in a Ziploc bag and have at them with a rolling pin.

Remove bacon and reserve fat drippings in a jar, as well as leaving about 3 Tablespoons of grease in the pan.

Add butter to pan. When melted combine flour with the butter and whisk constantly until incorporated to form a roux. When flour begins to brown a little slowly add milk and continue whisking. Do not add all of the milk at once. Add a little bit at a time and combine thoroughly before adding more.

Once all of the milk is mixed in add 3/4 of the cheese. Mix until cheese is melted and fully combined. Add crushed black pepper and salt to taste.

Put pasta in a 9 x 13 baking dish. Cover with cheese sauce and half of the bacon then mix. Top with the remaining 1/4 lb of cheese. Next, combine ground cheddar crackers with 6 tablespoons of bacon fat and cover the top of the pasta. Last, crumble the remaining bacon on top.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Finish off on broil for about ten minutes for a nice crispy crust on top.

Now that is some ROCKIN' Mac and Cheese. If you try it, post a comment below and let us know what you think. Enjoy!

-Kyle

New York Craft Beer Week

2011-09-15T14:42:00.003-04:00

www.nycbeerweek.com

If you like New York, love craft beer, and can’t get enough of weeks, New York Craft Beer Week is the place for you.

Every night from 9/16 to 9/25, the city will be teeming with tap takeovers, beer dinners, meet-the-brewer nights, and more. In addition, for $10, you can buy a beer “passport” that entitles you to one $3 pint at every participating bar in the city. All you have to do is use it 3.33333333333333333333 times and it’ll pay for itself.

Not a bad way to usher in Fall. (I really hope Usher falls off a stage somewhere so we get hilarious search results for this post).

Happy drinking, and don’t fall asleep on the train.

Cheers,

Ryan

Blue Cheese Stuffed Bacon Burgers

2011-09-12T22:56:00.000-04:00

NFL kick-off is an exciting weekend. Now you have yet another excuse to drink beer and eat terribly unhealthy but deliciously fatty crave worthy food. Each week we are going to post a Food Plus Beer original recipe that's worthy of Sunday Football. So grab a beer, the remote, and get cookin'!

Warning: These burgers are monstrous and totally delicious and devastating to your circulatory system. Do not operate machinery while under the influence of these burgers. Beware of flowing melted blue cheese that not only covers, but also fills these abnormally juicy burgers.

Blue Cheese Stuffed Bacon Burgers
1/2 lb bacon
1 1/4 lb Ground Beef
4 T Bacon Fat (reserved)
A couple splashes of Amber Beer
1 T Worcestershire Sauce
1 t Salt
1/3 lb Blue Cheese (divided)
Crushed Black Pepper
1 Small Onion Caramelized

Garlic Balsamic Mayonnaise
1 Clove Garlic (crushed)
4 T Mayonnaise
1 T Balsamic Vinegar
Crushed Black Pepper

Fry Bacon in a pan. Reserve 4 tablespoons of fat and dry bacon on a paper towel.

Combine Beef, Bacon Fat, Beer, Worcestershire Sauce, and Salt.

Divide beef mixture into 4 even amounts and form 4 patties, about 4 inches in diameter.

Divide half of the blue cheese between 2 of the patties. Make sure that the cheese is in the center and leave room around the edges.

Place the empty patties on top of the blue cheese topped patties and pinch the sides together.

Generously coat each side in crushed black pepper.

Grill on high heat for the first two minutes and then lower to medium high for 8 minutes. Flip burgers and top with the remaining blue cheese. You'll want to put the cheese on soon after you flip because it takes a while for the blue cheese to melt.

Load up each side of the buns with the Garlic Balsamic Mayonnaise. Put the burger on, smother with bacon and caramelized onions, grab another beer devour and be happy! Your mouth will thank you.

Ryan Does Portland, ME Pt 2: The Sebago Brewpub

2011-08-26T15:12:00.002-04:00

Click here for Pt. 1: The Allagash Brewery.

As Brit and I left Allagash, we found we were in an odd place in terms of what to do next. It was 2 pm, we were a little buzzed and a little hungry. It was too late for lunch, too early for dinner, and there was no point in going back to the hotel, because we were in friggin’ Portland.

Therefore, we came to the conclusion that the best course of action would be to have a snack and a brew at another one of my predetermined beer destinations (Beerstinations?), the Sebago Brewpub.

This was taken from a moving car. Don't act like you're not impressed.

The Sebago Brewpub is located downstairs from a Hampton Inn, a couple blocks from the water in the heart of Portland’s Old Port. I couldn’t help but notice the prime location and lament that a similarly-themed restaurant in Stamford would never be afforded such choice real estate. Alas.

There were 10 Sebago beers on tap, and I ordered a Frye’s Leap IPA. My history with Frye’s Leap up to this point had been very up-and-down. I’d had it on tap 2 or 3 times and been very impressed, and I’d had it in a bottle and been…underwhelmed. The brewpub’s offering, as you may expect, was super fresh, with that great hop aroma and kick that must have faded as the bottle aged a bit. If you can find fresh Frye’s Leap on tap, it’s certainly worth a taste.

Pictured (Left to Right): my cell phone, Frye's Leap, a coaster, Bass Ackwards.

Brit ordered Sebago’s Bass Ackwards Blueberry Ale, which isn’t my cup of tea, but it was malty and well-balanced without a nauseating amount of blueberry taste (which is not uncommon in blueberry beers.)

The menu was standard American fare, burgers, sandwiches, wings and what not, and we ordered potato nachos; nachos with waffle fries where the tortilla chips would normally be. It was culinary mad science. The salsa, sour cream and jalapenos worked perfectly on the potato – it was sort of like a nacho and a potato skin’s delicious bastard child. Also, my taste buds and my arteries are no longer on speaking terms.

Anyone know a good cardiologist?

While we were munching away, we noticed on the menu that all Sebago drafts were $2 from 10PM to close. Did I come back at 10PM for 2 more beers? Of course I did! I had another Frye’s Leap, and then moved on to the Lake Trout Stout – a malty stout brewed with real fish. (Just kidding.) Lake Trout was your run of the mill stout, malty, roasty, and serviceable, but nothing to write home about. Then again, I can’t think of much that would inspire me to write my mom a letter.

‘Twas a good time getting to know Portland, ME, and its surprisingly rich beer culture. I shall be back.

Cheers,

Ryan

Stone Brewing Flight Night TONIGHT @ Coalhouse

2011-08-23T15:08:00.000-04:00

Just in case you haven't heard the news, there was a 5.9 magnitude earthquake that hit in Virginia. Tremors were felt up through New England - even in Stamford! Life is unpredictable, Coalhouse's tap list tonight is not. They've got just about every Stone Brewing beer out there. Stop in for a couple delicious brews that will ROCK your world (double pun intended, oh man I'm good). And don't forget, Beer Club Members get their first beer FREE!

Never been to Coalhouse? Check out our review.

The Taps:

Stone Pale Ale http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/147/87

Stone Ruination IPA http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/147/4083

Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/147/38470

Stone Levitation Ale http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/147/6301

Stone Cali-Belgique IPA http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/147/43905

Stone Arrogant Bastard http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/147/92

Stone Smoked Porter http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/147/90

Stone Imperial Russian Stout http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/147/1160

Stone Belgo Anise Imperial Russian Stout http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/147/69363

Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/147/8951

Drink up my friends!

Kyle

Stamford Summer Restaurant Week 2011

2011-08-22T15:08:00.002-04:00

Stamford Summer Restaurant Week 2011 started today, Monday, August 22nd, and runs through Sunday, September 4, 2011. Eat up!

Click for menus…

$10.11 Lunch / $15.11 Dinner
Black Bear Saloon
Grand Burger *NEW*
Kujaku Japanese Restaurant
Lola’s Mexican Kitchen (excludes Fri and Sat)
Lucky’s Classic Burger & Malt Shop
SBC Downtown Restaurant & Brewery
Tiernan’s Bar & Restaurant
Volta Gelateria Creperie *NEW*

$12.11 Lunch / $20.11 Dinner
Butterfield 8 Restaurant & Lounge
Capriccio Cafe (lunch only)
Kotobuki Japanese Restaurant
Quattro Pazzi (excludes Fri and Sat)
Remo’s Brick Oven Pizza Company
Tengda Asian Bistro

$20.11 Lunch / $30.11 Dinner
Aria
Barcelona Restaurant & Wine Bar (Menu not available yet)
Bar Rosso *NEW* (excludes Fri and Sat)
Capital Grille
Chez Jean Pierre (excludes Sun)
Columbus Park Trattoria
Emme of Capri
EOS Greek Cuisine (excludes Fri and Sat)
Mitchell’s Fish Market
Morton’s The Steakhouse (dinner only)
Napa & Co. (lunch only)
Tappo Restaurant (excludes Fri and Sat)
ZAZA Italian Gastrobar *NEW* (excludes Fri and Sat)

Ryan Does Portland, ME – Part 1: Allagash Brewery

2011-08-12T15:32:00.002-04:00

I, Ryan Prescott, am a full-fledged beer geek. Sometimes, I don’t know how I got here. In 2009, I was in college drinking 30s of Busch and Keystone Light. Beer was nothing more than a mechanism for drunkenness - it didn’t matter what kind it was, just as long as it would provide buoyancy to a ping-pong ball.

Now, I can’t plan a vacation without my mind wandering to beer. What beer does (insert vacation locale) have that I can’t get here? What breweries are in the area? Any brewpubs or beer bars worth checking out? I just can’t help myself.

So, it’s hardly a surprise that when I decided to visit Portland, Maine for the first time with my girlfriend, I had to make a few stops; the first of which was a tour of the Allagash Brewery.

Yes, I'd like to solve the puzzle? Is it, "Allagash Brewing Co.?"

The Allagash Brewery is located 10 minutes or so from the heart of Portland, on the same road as two other breweries (Maine Beer Co. and Rising Tide Beer Co. – both closed to the public on the Tuesday we were visiting). We arrived at 1 pm for a guided tour, and were happy to learn that the first part of the tour was the beer tasting.
The (quite generous, in my opinion) tasting consisted of four different brews:

1. Allagash White – Allagash’s flagship beer, which, according to our tour guide, comprises 80% of the brewery’s sales. That’s kind of a lot. This beer is clean tasting, citrusy, crisp, and just perfect for a hot summer day. I may start substituting it for Gatorade in the near future.

2. Allagash Tripel - Spicy, even more citrusy than the white, with a little alcohol bite. Delicious. Had to buy a 4-pack.

3. Allagash Curieux – This beer is nothing more than the Tripel, aged in Jim Beam Bourbon Barrels. It pours a darker color, with a stronger, smokier taste to it, and the Bourbon aging bumps up the ABV to 11%.

4. Allagash Victor – This beer was brewed with wine grapes, which gave it a nice sweetness compared to the previous brews.
From there, we put on our sweet protective goggles and began the tour of their facilities, checking out the impressive brewing equipment, going over the brewing process (which Kyle and I know all about because we homebrew like bosses), and staring at the bottling line for a while, because it’s mesmerizing and I can’t help it.

Watching the bottling line > Counting sheep

From there, we went into the barrel aging room, a room filled from floor to ceiling with experimental brews that have never seen the light of day. It’s always nice to see a successful operation like Allagash continue to push the envelope and try wacky new things with their beer, so it was interesting to think of the possibilities that lay within those barrels.

Brittney tried drinking one before it was ready, and she turned into a blueberry.

All in all, it was a good time that I’d recommend to anyone. The tour is fun and informative, the samples are free and plentiful, and it’s always cool to see what goes into putting those tasty brews in those pretty bottles.

Check back soon for Part 2: The Sebago Brewpub.

Cheers,
Ryan

It's National IPA Day!

2011-08-04T13:51:00.000-04:00

According to no less of an authority than the Internet, today, August 4, is National IPA Day. What is National IPA Day? Who started it? Why is it August 4? I didn’t really know, so I did some investigating, hoping to find an official IPA Day website. No dice. This was the best I could find:

“International #IPADay is a grassroots movement to unite the voices of craft beer enthusiasts, bloggers, and brewers worldwide through social media. On Thursday August 4th, craft beer drinkers across the social sphere and across the globe will raise pints in a collective toast to one of craft beer’s most iconic styles: the India Pale Ale. This celebrated style represents the pinnacle of brewing innovation with its broad spectrum of diverse brands, subcategories, and regional flavor variations – making it the perfect style to galvanize craft beer’s social voice.

#IPADay is opportunity for breweries, bloggers, businesses and consumers to connect and share their love of craft beer. Getting involved is easy; the only requirements are an appreciation for great beer and the will to spread the word. Anyone can participate by enjoying IPA with friends, making some noise online with the #IPADay hashtag, and showing the world that craft beer is more than a trend!”

So, there you have it – IPA day is nothing more than a celebration of a classic style of beer. You remember your IPA history, don’t you? In the 1700s, Britain had many soldiers and colonists living in India. Due to malts and other raw ingredients spoiling on the long journey overseas, these poor souls were left without any of their good homeland ale. As a result, brewers created a higher alcohol beer with lots of hops (a natural preservative) that could handle the trek to India. Just like that, the IPA was born.

If you’re a fan of IPAs, crack one open tonight and throw a tweet or status update up about it. Here’s what I’ve got in the ol’ inventory:

Dogfish 60 Minute IPA
New England Sea Hag IPA
Sebago Full Throttle Double IPA
Ryan’s Homebrewed IPA (Secret ingredient: love)

Kyle’s Fridge:

Sebago Full Throttle Double IPA
Dogfish Head Burton Baton Imperial IPA
Breckenridge Lucky U IPA
Kyle’s Homebrewed IPA (Secret ingredient: hate)

Happy IPA Day!

Cheers,
Ryan

Tiger Beer

2011-07-29T17:52:00.001-04:00

Tiger Beer
Asia Pacific Breweries, Singapore
Pale Lager Lager
5% ABV

You're getting pumped up for a Friday night, rocking out to "Eye of the Tiger". Your body's bouncing, and you're belting the words out at the top of your lungs. But this singing has made your throat dry and you REALLY need a beer. Why not pair this song with a Tiger Beer? Tiger Beer from Asia Pacific Breweries is Singapore's number one beer, and as far as macro-brewed Asian Lagers go, it's definitely one of the better ones that I've tried. Light yellow in color with fine bubbles, the beer is crisp, clean, and goes down smooth. The style is similar to that of a macro American Lager (think Budweiser) but it's got a fuller, more rounded taste. Tiger is dry hopped with a nominal amount of hops that add a little to the flavor. The most noticeable distinction is a lingering sweetness towards the end. I happened to enjoy this sweet taste as it lets Tiger stand out from the pack and makes it more refreshing.

Would I take this over a Budweiser? I'd say yes, but at $8-9 dollars a six-pack I just don't think the taste justifies the price. Next time you're at an Asian restaurant, by all means order a Tiger. You'll enjoy it and it's likely better than the other options available. Plus, it's totally sessionable. But, if you're going to spend 8+ dollars on a six-pack, skip the macro-brewed lagers altogether.

- Kyle

Tiger Beer Testimonials:

"It grabs you and doesn't let go!" - Claude Balls

"Strong and decidedly untamed flavor!" - Roy Horn (of Siegfried and Roy)

"Chicks love it!" -Tiger Woods

[speechless] - Ethan Alive

Rowayton Pizza

2011-07-25T20:56:00.004-04:00

Norwalk, CT
http://www.rowaytonpizza.com/

Rowayton, Connecticut is like a pre-op transsexual. It was born a part of Norwalk, but it’s never really felt like it belongs there. It belongs in Darien. You see, growing up, Rowayton always knew it was different. While the other neighborhoods in Norwalk allowed used cars, strip malls, and non-whites, Rowayton decided to call itself by a different name, devote itself to boating, and dress its residents in pink shorts with lobster decals.

In its heart, Rowayton has always been a part of Darien, and it breaks my heart to watch it struggle with its identity. It’s a sect of Norwalk badly in need of a “sects change” operation. So, now that I’ve pissed off transsexuals, people from Rowayton, people from Darien, and people who hate bad puns, let’s talk pizza!

At 7 o’clock on a Saturday night, FPB grabbed a handful of beers and headed down to the only BYOB pizza place in Fairfield County (at least to my knowledge), Rowayton Pizza. My razzing on Rowayton, of course, is all in fun; it’s actually a beautiful area with a very “small-town New England” feel to it. The downside, of course, is that parking sucks, so it took us 10 minutes to find a spot down some side street in front of someone’s house.

When we got to the restaurant, the parking situation was explained a little more clearly to us, as the line to get in was spilling into the parking lot. It would be over an hour before we were seated, despite the menu’s front cover assuring us, “There’s No Waitin’ at Rowayton!” It may be a cute rhyme, but it ain’t true.

Once we were seated, though, things began to run much more smoothly. After putting our now-warm beers on ice, we started with an order of fried calamari. It was lightly fried, crispy, cut into nice big rings and served with a side of tangy marinara. And with 5 of us eating it, it lasted about 3.8 seconds. Calamari, we hardly knew ye.

From there, I moved on to the Amalfi Drive pizza, a clam, bacon and garlic pizza with red sauce. It was well balanced; tangy, cheesy, salty, with plenty of clam flavor in every bite. The crust was a satisfying combination of crunchy and chewy…an excellent pie.

Another highlight of the evening was the price. The 16” large Amalfi Drive was just $15.75…I’ve seen seafood pizzas cost $20+ on multiple occasions. Add to that the fact that we were drinking our own beer from home, and that Rowayton doesn’t charge a stupid corking fee, and you begin to see that it’s one of the biggest pizza bargains in the area.

Our advice – either go early, or go late. If you get there at say, 5 pm, and beat the rush, or 8 pm, once it’s died down a bit, you can avoid that pesky one-hour wait and enjoy great, affordable pizza with whatever beer your heart desires. But if you choose to go at 7 like we did, well, that “No Waitin’ at Rowayton” slogan on the menu just may begin to sound like sarcasm.

Cheers,

Ryan

This burger could save the world.

2011-07-12T09:52:00.000-04:00

You may have heard about the grilled cheese sandwich with the Virgin Mary's face on it, but what's so impressive about that? She's everywhere! Appearing in strange places is kind of her deal...

But this, my friends, is rare! Ryan has been known to appear in McDonald's at least once a week, but never before has He been seen on the burger! This is truly a message from God that Ryan must eat MORE cheeseburgers. We all should!

Obviously we're selling this burger on eBay. That's clearly what you should do with any religious figure that appears in your food, right? The Virgin Mary Cheese Sandwich fetched $28,000. I think the McRyan deserves at least double that... there's both cheese and two "beef" patties in there! Just listen to what this burger can do:

It can make any sized space smell like McDonald's for days.
It will never go bad.
It has the power to make hearts stop.
It saved the world from the rapture a month ago.
It can save the world again...

Please send all bids to Kyle. Serious offers only - no low-balling!

Guinness Foreign Extra Stout

2011-07-06T16:10:00.000-04:00

Extra Stout
7.5% ABV
$9.49 for a 4-pack

Despite accounting for 45% of Guinness sales word wide, Guinness Foreign Extra Stout (FES) only made it to the United States within the last year. This was good news for American beer drinkers as FES is a damn tasty brew. At 7.5% ABV with loads more hops than the rest of the Guinness line-up, this beer was crafted to survive long journeys and harsh climates, hence the 'Foreign' part. It pours black as the night with toffee colored mountains of foam on top. But this is not that fine bubbled, pillowy foam you might expect from a typical Guinness. FES is carbonated (like most normal beers), not nitrogenated like the standard Guinness Milk Stout. There's no widget at the bottom of this bottle.

Put your nose over the beer and deliciously strong smells of coffee, caramel, and roasted barley rise up. In your mouth the beer is full-bodied and rich with the tastes of everything you've just breathed in. After the roasted malts comes a deep hop bitterness that lingers long after you stop sipping. This lingering taste, the 7.5% ABV, and the ability to drink this beer at warmer temperatures allow you to take your time with this one. FES is like a classic Guinness on steroids.

In a word you could call the overall flavor 'bittersweet'.

Your guide to the 20% alcohol tax increase in the state of Connecticut

2011-06-27T14:25:00.000-04:00

Starting July 1st, the incompetent pinheaded morons who run the state of Connecticut are increasing taxes on alcohol by 20%. Seeing as how the increase has been widely under-reported, and Food Plus Beer is your authority on all things alcoholic, we figured we’d give you a bit of a heads up.

Long story short, if you’re loading up for a 4th of July party or barbecue, do it before this Thursday, because everything you buy at your local bottle shop is about to be a couple bucks more expensive. How much more expensive? Well, the retailers are taking some of the hit, too, so it’s not as simple as (Price you normally pay) * (1.20). [I wanted to include a pun about your fifth not actually costing a fifth more, but I decided not to. Unless you count this, but it’s in brackets. Doesn’t count.]

At Three Seas Liquor in Stamford, the proprietor had a sign posted briefly explaining the effects of the new law, along with an example of how the price will change. The sign states that a previously $29.99 bottle of Absolut will now cost $31.99. For the consumer, that’s a little less than a 7% increase. A $10 6-pack, then, should cost about $10.70 if the changes are even across the board (and assuming most liquor stores are spreading the 20% out in a similar manner to Three Seas).

So, as you can see, it’s not exactly a doomsday scenario, but it’s still a pain in the ass...especially when there’s such an obvious alternative solution to getting more state money out of CT’s booze industry. I don’t know, say, OPENING THE FRIGGIN’ LIQUOR STORES ON SUNDAYS? Well, gee, wouldn’t that make just a little bit of sense?

You can buy a beer from a bar on Sunday, but not a liquor store. Uh...what?

We’re currently optimizing 6 out of the 7 days of the week. If we were to open on Sunday, that’s a 16.7% increase in days our liquor stores are open, collecting taxes. Wouldn't that offset a good portion of that 20%? Not to mention the fact that a seventh day would create more jobs, thereby stimulating the economy and generating more income tax revenue.

And wouldn’t this stop residents of CT border towns from driving to New York, Massachusetts, or Rhode Island to buy alcohol on Sundays…a direct loss in tax revenue for CT and benefit for its neighbors? Connecticut's a pretty small state - it's not that far a drive. I could walk to Port Chester if I had to.

Connecticut, for all its self-righteousness and progressive attitude, is one of just TWO states in the U.S. (Indiana, I believe, being the other) that doesn’t open its liquor stores on Sundays. That’s right, the entire Bible belt has moved on and embraced the beauty of drinking white lightnin’ out of a boot on the Sabbath… yet CT can’t seem to get its act together and clings to its Puritanical roots from 400 years ago.

Jesus turned water into wine, people. I don’t think he’d be offended. Open the damn doors.

Enjoy the tax hike,

Ryan

100 Beers at Monster B's

2011-06-20T14:14:00.000-04:00

About a month ago, I finally had my 100th beer at Monster B’s, and crossed over into Hall of Foam immortality. The clouds opened wide, rows of glistening trumpets brought forth thunderous melodies from the heavens, and scantily clad Nordic maidens hand-fed me grapes and fanned me off with giant banana leaves. Either that or some dude with a beard gave me a high five.

Anywho, that day, I took a picture of the front of my Hall of Foam card, with plans to take a picture of the back of the card for an FPB post after drinking the two beers I needed to make an even 100.

Well, I forgot. One of beer’s less fortunate side effects, I suppose. Beer giveth, and beer taketh away.

Eventually, I made it back to Monster’s, snapped a photo of the back of the card, and here it is, in all its sudsy glory – 100 beers. I’d like to thank my liver.

-Ryan

This card sets penmanship back 100 years.

My mom is so proud.

SoNo Restaurant Week 2011

2011-06-14T15:16:00.001-04:00

Just found out today that SoNo Restaurant week is happening NOW, through June 17th (Friday). Here are the participating restaurants, with Restaurant Week menus where applicable.

Bacchus – RW Menu Not Online- (203) 956.6220 Make Reservations
Barcelona – RW Menu Not Online- (203) 899.0088
Black Bear Saloon – RW Menu Not Online – (203) 299.0711
Coromandel – RW Menu Not Online – (203) 852.1213
Chocopologie – RW Lunch Menu & RW Dinner Menu- (203) 854.4754
Donovan’s – RW Menu Not Online – (203) 354.9451
The Gingerman – Lunch & Dinner RW Menus- (203) 354.0163
Match – RW Menu – (203) 852.1088 Make Reservations
O’Neill’s – RW Menu Not Online – (203) 838.0222
Red Lulu – RW Menu Not Online – (203) 939.1600
Strada18 – RW Menu Not Online – (203) 853.4546
Sono Brewhouse – RW Menu Not Online – (203) 853.9110
The Sono Baking Company & Cafe – RW Menu Not Online – (203) 847.7666
Wasabi Chi – RW Menu Not Online – (203) 286.0181

Kona Grill - Stamford, CT

2011-06-12T19:40:00.002-04:00

For all the great happy hours in Stamford, there’s one category that’s sadly under-represented: Happy-Hours-With-Food (Henceforth referred to as HHWFs). These are, of course, happy hours in which the discount extends to food items as well as drinks.

Now I know what you’re saying: “But Ryan, C.J. McDouchenstein’s has 50 cent wing nights on Wednesdays!” True, and I love me some wing night, but it doesn’t do me much good on a Friday. A HHWF, by definition that I’m currently making up on the spot, is a happy hour that discounts food every day (weekends, of course, notwithstanding).

Think about it a bit. In Stamford, it’s pretty easy to find a 4 dollar beer on a weekday afternoon, but decidedly more difficult to find a corresponding $5 appetizer. Enter Kona Grill.

Being that it’s located A. in the Stamford mall, and B. across the street from mega-companies like UBS, Kona Grill is a bit of a haven for yuppies and jailbait high-school chicks. But for a HHWF, my friends, we’d gladly enter the gates of Mordor.

We arrived at Kona this past Friday afternoon after spending the afternoon shirtless, throwing rocks at each other and swilling light pee beer. This may have been part of the reason our waiter hated us. But that’s neither here nor there – we wanted sushi and Sake bombs, stat.

Sake bombs at Kona’s happy hour are $7.50, and we had enough for three people to do two rounds apiece. Now, is Sake and Japanese rice beer as good as a cold IPA? No, but it’s insanely cheap, it’s fun to do something different and I like the feeling when your Sake cup smashes into your front teeth. So there.

For dinner, I ordered a fiery shrimp roll and twin mini-burgers with fries off the happy hour menu. The fiery shrimp roll was just spicy enough (Sriracha ftw), with good flavor and a satisfying shrimp crunch. The burgers were bigger than I expected and surprisingly good, with well-seasoned beef, a tasty bun and a nice pile of shoestring fries. The combined price of my dishes: $8.13.

You can find better sushi in Stamford. You can find a better atmosphere. You can find a much better beer list. But I defy you to beat $10.38 for a sushi roll, twin sliders, fries, and two rounds of Sake bomb. It’s a HHWF, baby! And that’s exactly why Kona Grill has one of the best happy hours in Stamford.

But there’s one other aspect where Kona truly stands alone. Their HHWF starts at ~~[4]~~ 3, ends at 7 – and starts up again at 10. That’s right; Kona is crazy enough to give out discounted food and drinks from 10 til close on a Friday night. I think I’m turning Japanese.

Sayonara,

Ryan

SBC Stamford

2011-05-11T22:47:00.000-04:00

Southport Brewing Company
Stamford, CT
http://www.southportbrewing.com/
Menu

The night of Cinco de Mayo, FPB and its friends had a brilliant idea: to go out to a Mexican restaurant!

Unfortunately, everyone in Stamford had the exact same idea. It was already quarter past 7, and facing a 45-minute wait for a table at Maryann’s on Summer St., we made the executive decision to change plans on the fly and grab a table across the road at SBC. (And aren’t you lucky? Lately we’ve reviewed more Mexican than the INS. It was time for something different anyway).

For those who don’t know, SBC is a brewpub, serving standard American fare and a selection of beers brewed in-house to go along with the regular tap rotation. And being that the first location opened in Southport, CT, SBC actually stands for Southport Brewing Company, leading to a crippling case of acronym confusion whereby everyone accidentally calls it Stamford Brewing Company. Let’s just move on.

Being that it WAS still Cinco de Mayo, we all opened with a round of the Margaritas SBC was advertising on its doors - $6 apiece, and you get to keep the cup! The Margaritas were pretty good, though a tad sweet for my taste (and no rock salt – alas). The cup was just a flimsy plastic thing, so we didn’t actually take them home like we would if they were sweet pint glasses or something (double alas?)

For dinner, I split an order of fried calamari and a small Margherita pizza. The calamari was nice and crispy, lightly fried with two different dipping sauces (important for a schizo like me). The Margherita pizza here, though, is really a hidden treasure. I hadn’t had it since I barfed it up after Junior prom (not the pizza’s fault, vodka’s fault), but it was just as tasty as I remembered it (on the way down, at least). Plentiful cheese, juicy tomato slices everywhere, a healthy dose of basil – just a really well-done pie in a fairly unexpected place.

Kyle ordered the Brew Burger. Despite having only two slices of bacon, the flavor was all there. Well seasoned and properly cooked to "medium" meat, smothered in caramelized onions and fontina cheese. The fries weren't too shabby either!

I was so fired up, I decided to order one of SBC’s beers, the English Pale Ale. It was decent, smooth, drinkable, but just kind of unremarkable. Then I tried the IPA that Kyle ordered, and it tasted almost exactly the same. You really have to squint your tongue to notice much of a difference at all. They were like store-brand versions of a good beer - the basics were all there, but they were missing the subtleties and flavors that make a beer "craft". That's probably why they're only $4.50 apiece.

I mean - these beers aren’t BAD, they’re just…meh. And that’s a shame, because SBC has an awesome location, a great layout, good food, and it really has a chance to be the best bar in town, except that the one thing you’d expect a brewpub to have – awesome homemade beer - is missing. It’s like watching LeBron James squander his talent year after year in the playoffs - it’s painful to watch good potential go to waste.

SBC is still a fun place to hang out, particularly during the summer, and we WILL be back…we just wish they’d remember what the B in SBC stands for.

Cheers,

Ryan

Tacos Mexico (Norwalk, CT)

2011-05-05T18:27:00.000-04:00

Special Cinco de Mayo prelude by Ryan “el Chupacabra” Prescott:

As we all know, Cinco de Mayo is the celebration of the Mexican army’s unlikely victory over French forces in the battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. Okay, none of us knew that. Even our beloved Mexican readers didn’t know that. But what we DO know is that in 2011, Cinco de Mayo is a day to eat tacos, drink tequila, and dust off your limited Spanish speaking skills from the 10th grade. One of the best places WE’VE found to do exactly that is at Norwalk’s Tacos Mexico.

Take it away, Kyle!

I first found Tacos Mexico when I was in search of place to watch the 2010 World Cup during my work lunch break. Just like Paul the Psychic Octopus, I have the power to predict the future, and I just KNEW that there would be soccer on a TV in there. OK, maybe I knew because of the name...it’s not a stereotype if it turns out to be true. (Speaking of the name, it's not even correct grammar. How about Tacos Mexicano? Mexican Tacos? Tacos of Mexico? Generic Mexican Restaurant? But I digress.)

Once I got to the place, I was afraid that they might not even have a TV. It's in a very small shopping center alongside four other stores that you'd probably never visit. Nevertheless, I took a seat inside and was happy to find that not only was there a TV broadcasting the World Cup (I'll give points to the Octopus for that) but that TV was situated above a full bar immersed in smells of delicious Mexican cooking. This place was so good that I had to bring Food Plus Beer back to it.

We had to wait about 20 minutes for a table. Generally I take this a sign that the establishment is doing a few things right. Needless to say, we took up stations at the bar. The beer menu was exactly what you'd expect - non-existent. Various Mexican beers were offered in bottles, so we declined and ordered up a few Margaritas ($3.50 during happy hour!). They were great! Tangy with the taste of fresh squeezed lime, followed through with Tequila. We liked that the glass was crusted with both salt and crushed red pepper. Can't go wrong with that!

As for the menu, I dare you to try to find something that costs more than 14 bucks. You can't! The prices are awesome and the portions are generous. Fresh, clean, authentic tasting Mexican cuisine. Ryan and I both ordered Enchiladas and were completely satisfied. The other plates around our table looked equally delicious (a massive burrito and overflowing fajita plate). Everything had that homemade, authentic feel that proves that the chef takes pride in his offerings.

All in all, Tacos Mexico is definitely worth a try. Awesome food, good Margaritas (especially during that killer happy hour), and plus, the soap dispensers in the bathroom are empty Patron bottles. So there.

-Kyle

A few local Mexican offerings for tonight (5/5/11):
Maryann’s (Stamford): drink specials, mariachi band and giveaways
Lola’s (Stamford): 5 – 8pm drink specials; 10 – 12am drink specials, dj and band [LAME!]
Red Lu Lu (Norwalk): 4pm – 1am free apps, cash bar, drink specials
Tacos Mexico (Norwalk): drink specials
Maya Rivera (Stamford): no specials
Viva Zapata (Westport): no specials

Full Sail IPA

2011-05-02T21:20:00.001-04:00

Full Sail IPA

6% ABV, 60 IBUs

http://www.fullsailbrewing.com/

Forty-Seven self proclaimed “Fermenters of Godlike Nectar” own the Full Sail Brewing Company out of Hood River, Oregon. These guys have a four day work week and judging by the description on the box, I’m picturing a bunch of hippie and surfer dudes, half of them with long hair, and the other half with longer beards.

Full Sail IPA is an English style IPA with light citrus and herbal hops with a solid malt backbone. The initially bright hops fade fairly quickly and this turns into a well balanced easy drinking IPA. I’d say it’s average and disappointing after reading the phrase “Godlike Nectar”. This would serve as a great every day IPA or all-night session beer if the price was right but I wouldn’t recommend seeking this one out with the plethora of other delicious and comparably priced IPAs available on shelves in the highly competitive IPA market.

-Kyle

New England Brewing Company

2011-04-25T21:40:00.000-04:00

Woodbridge, CT
www.newenglandbrewing.com

It’s a rainy Saturday, what do you do? No, it’s not a trick question or a riddle – go drink some beer! In fact, step up your game a little bit - go drink one from the source. This simple thought process brought Food Plus Beer to our closest commercial brewery, New England Brewing Company in Woodbridge, CT (just outside New Haven).

New England Brewing Company

Now, we knew that New England Brewing is a Microbrewery, but we didn’t fully understand how micro it is until we pulled up. It’s a small, unbecoming box of a brick building that produces a mere 2,000 barrels of beer annually. That’s just over 660 thousand beers – Ryan and I can down that in a night! (If you don’t believe us, buy us the beers and we’ll show you). Popularity of NEBCO’s brews along with limited supply has forced them distribute only to local areas; they even had to stop distributing in New York. Rarity is reason #2 to jump on any opportunity to try their beers.

This is the entire brewery.

The first reason is because the beer is incredible! While at the brewery we were fortunate enough to sample “Gandhi Bot” and “668: Neighbor of the Beast”. "Gandhi Bot" Double India Pale Ale is amazing. It’s 8.8% and LOADED with hops. It’s piney and citrusy with a resinous feel that sticks to your mouth and begs another sip. All the while you can let your imagination run wild as to why there’s a robotic Gandhi on the can.

“668 Neighbor of the Beast”, a Belgian Strong Pale ale with a light body and both a spicy and fruity character, ranks in at over 9% and is almost equally delicious (I'm a hophead so in my eyes you can't beat the robotic rebel!). The can features a regular ol’ guy in a wife-beater fetching the mail while a red glow emanates from his neighbor’s house. We love the can and the beer inside it.

At least we know the Neighbor approves...

And just to clarify things, yes they do can their beer (with the exception of Imperial Stout Trooper). In fact, they actually still can everything by hand. New England Brewing Company is another fine example that great beer doesn’t have to come in glass bottles. Go to there for the growler fills, stay a while for the free samples.

These cans will all be filled by hand, one by one.

-Kyle

Prime 16

2011-04-25T20:07:00.005-04:00

New Haven, CT
Menu | Taps [rotating]
www.prime16.com

As Kyle, myself, and our dear companions stood inside the New England Brewing Company in Woodbridge, debating aloud our options for lunch, we heard a voice:
“Go to Prime 16.”

No, it was not God, whose Holiness was surely busy answering a slew of Easter Weekend prayers. It was just some dude.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Why would you listen to just some dude?” Well, it’s because he showed up at the brewery to fill three empty growlers with Imperial IPA. And you know that age-old adage: Always take lunch recommendations from the random guy at the brewery filling 3 growlers with Imperial IPA.

So, with that, we headed to downtown New Haven for the beer & burger frenzy that is Prime 16. With 20 rare and continuously rotating beers on tap and 16 burgers on the menu (the reason it’s called Prime 16, perhaps?), the combinations of awesomeness are endless (well, not endless, but this isn’t a blog about math, so I ain’t doin’ it.)

Not only that, but we had just stumbled into the Saturday 2-4 Happy Hour, which featured 50% off draft beer and wings. Hominahominahomina.

If you don't like what's on tap, wait a couple minutes for a keg to kick. Better yet, kill yourself.

Faster than you can say “why the hell isn’t this place in Stamford,” I ordered a Heavy Seas Dubbel Cannon Belgian IPA, and a warmup round of crispy, tangy wings (half buffalo, half Jack Daniels’ Bourbon). The wings were great, but the burger was a monster.

The only thing cooler than triangular plates are tasty wings. Also, beer.

After grabbing another brew, Brooklyn’s Main Engine Start, it was time for the Cowboy Burger – at least a half-pound of juicy beef, topped with smoked Canadian bacon, a fried egg, cheddar cheese, lettuce and salsa. In a word - awesome. The beef was delicious and perfectly cooked, the bacon was salty and crunchy, that delicious egg goo dripping all over the place…I had a burgasm. Let’s just leave it at that.

You just had a burgasm, too.

As if that wasn’t enough, I upgraded my regular fries to fries with truffle oil and Parmesan cheese, because, why the hell not. I’m telling you, these are hall-of-fame level fries. Garlicky, cheesy, salty…you must go for the upgrade. Just do it.

All in all, this place helped to turn a terrible rainy Saturday in mid-April into an epic journey. Great food, great beer. It sounds simple, but it’s so rare to find both in the same place. Prime 16 has it.

And if the growler guy from New England Brewing Company is reading this, we salute you. You’re in the nonexistent Food Plus Beer Hall of Fame, right next to the fries I just anointed.

Buurrrp,

-Ryan

Dogfish Head Red and White

2011-04-17T15:35:00.000-04:00

10% ABV
Malt Liquor

Dogfish Head Red and White can't technically be called a beer since it doesn't have any hops. Dogfish calls it a "Malt Beverage", similar to Colt 45, Steel Reserve, King Cobra, and the countless other types of "High Gravity", cheap and efficient "lets get hammered" juice.

What makes Dogfish Head Red and White different is that that actually try to make it taste good. Red and White is a big Belgian-style Wit that instantly reminded me of a super Blue Moon. It's brewed with coriander and orange peel, just like Blue Moon, and those flavors are the first that hit your tongue. Dogfish also mixes in Pinot Noir juice (yes, from grapes just like wine) and ages a portion of the "beer" in oak Pinot Noir barrels. This addition adds complexity and a noticeably dry, wine-like finish.

With that said, you might still be wondering, "did I enjoy it?" I can't say that I loved it. With no hop bitterness to balance it I thought it was a little sweet. The alcohol taste was present with each sip, and I struggled to put it down as it warmed. That's not to say that I didn't like it, but its not exactly my ~~cup of tea~~ mug of ale. It was definitely worth trying and it shows that you can actually make a high quality malt liquor if you put in the effort. Try it for the experience.

-Kyle

Casa Villa

2011-04-06T13:49:00.002-04:00

This past Thursday, the gym where I play pick-up basketball was closed, so I decided to do something very similar – stuff my face with Mexican food and margaritas!

With Kyle and friend of the blog Dave in tow, we headed down to the new Casa Villa on East Main St. We would have gone to the Casa Villa on West Main, but there are only two reasons to enter that neighborhood – to go to KFC, or to get shot. (Note to residents of West Main: Kyle wrote that part.)

We walked in the restaurant, finding it tasteful and surprisingly spacious, with plenty of room for seating. But enough about the décor – it’s drinkin’ time.

As Kyle alluded to in the Lola’s post, Mexican beer is generally a sad state of affairs, so we did what any red-blooded Americans would do and ordered a pitcher of Margaritas. (Or is it a pitcher of Margarita? While it’s still in the pitcher is it technically one giant Margarita? Someone check up on this.)

If only I were on a beach, instead of staring at a storefront advertising scuba diving lessons.

I’m not a Margarita expert, but I found these to be pretty damn good. Not sickly sweet, not overloaded with tequila…it was just right. It’s what Goldilocks would have chosen if the three bears liked to party.

For my meal, I had steak Chilaquiles, which are like an order of nachos in which the chips have been cooked in with the rest of the ingredients. It was beefy, cheesy goodness.

What are Chilaquiles? These are Chilaquiles.

Dave got an awesome-looking steak burrito, as well as “Flautas de Pollo” which he didn’t need since the burrito was enormous. And Kyle got the 3-taco combo, where you get to pick any 3 different meats for your order. He got one with chorizo, one with pork cracklins, and one with veal tongue - the first time Kyle’s French kissed a cow since college!

¡Ay caramba!

Overall, everything was delicious, and we were all very impressed. The ingredients were plentiful and fresh, including homemade tortillas, and it was nice to see some cool variations to typical Mexican fare on the menu. (Veal tongue, anybody?) Even the salsa stood out.

Oh and, ahem, the side of hot sauce and the extra basket of chips we ordered? Free. As it should be. Not that we’re naming names, Lola’s.

For great Mexican in Stamford, pile all your friends in the backseat of a ’97 Honda Civic and head on over to Casa Villa. You won’t regret it.

Until next time,
Ryan

Veggie Burgers and Budweiser Select 55

2011-04-01T12:24:00.001-04:00

Hey there ladies and germs!

Well, it’s springtime once again - although if you take a gander outside it looks like someone forgot to tell Mother Nature! I mean, SNOW in APRIL? So much for Global Warming! Now that’s what I call an Inconvenient Truth, am I right?! Boy, am I a hoot today or what?

Anyway, Kyle and I recently had our annual Boys’ Night, where we celebrate the start of spring the only way we know how – with burgers and beer – only this time, we did it with a Spring twist! That’s right! We grilled up some veggie burgers and threw back a couple Bud Select 55s!

It's so light, Kyle almost floated away! LOL!

You see, as we all know, Summer is right around the corner, and that means two words: Beach bods! We only have a few short months to get from “All he eats is bacon” to “is he taken?” (I’m so bad.)

But just because we’re watching our figure doesn’t mean we can’t still enjoy ourselves! That’s why Kyle and I decided to let loose, get a little crazy and throw our aprons on for a beautiful meal.

The first rule of grilling, as you know, is that you’d better have a beer in hand, so we cracked open a couple Bud Select 55s. (Only 55 calories? Sign me up!) The first thing I noticed was an intense rush of alcohol from the beer’s mammoth 2.4% ABV content. I immediately handed Kyle my car keys as I knew this night could easily get out of hand.

If it looks like beef, and it smells like beef, it's probably methylcellulose!

Then, the two of us started shaping our burger patties. I won’t bore you with the minutiae of creating fresh Veggie burgers – it’s exactly the same as regular burgers, except that instead of that fatty old red meat, you’re greeted with the enchanting aromas of textured vegetable proteins, soy protein isolate, vegetable gum, and maltodextrin. Great, now I’ve done it – my mouth is watering! Someone get me a towel!

We plated our burger patties (no buns, of course…who needs the carbs??) and retreated to the dining room where Kyle had put together a breathtaking table (very Art Nouveau, with a hint of postmodern industrial cubism). I’m kicking myself for not taking a good picture of it – but by that point I was nearly done with my Bud 55 and could hardly hold the camera.

So, we happily munched away, just two best friends enjoying a healthier interpretation of a greasy classic, until we could munch no more. And at the same time, we looked at each other and came to a sad realization…

“Oh no! Not the dishes!!!”

Happy Spring, my special friends!

Ryan

Oskar Blues Tasting

2011-03-26T15:09:00.002-04:00

Oskar Blues out of Colorado is America’s first craft brewery to can their own beer. Why can you say? Well as Oskar will tell you, there are a lot of benefits to cans when compared to bottles. Cans can keep beer fresher as the solid aluminum blocks out all light (that makes beer skunky) and keep it just as fresh and carbonated as glass. Aluminum is easier to recycle. The cans are lighter and smaller making them easier and cheaper to ship. Also, due to their size they’re easier to stuff in a cooler and carry along, wherever it is that you go, no need to pack a bottle opener.

Enough about the vessel, how about the beer?

Mamas Little Yella Pils

It’s light, clean, crisp and refreshing taste make this a good session beer. It’s Oskar Blues’ least alcoholic offering at 5.5%. Free of adjuncts like rice, this beer has a more full flavor. I’m not the biggest fan, but again, I’m not a pilsner fan.

G’Knight Imperial Red (a.k.a. Gordon)

“If you knew the man behind this tribute, this ale needs no explanation. If you didn’t we’re sorry” reads this can. And as we were told by the sales rep for Oskar Blues, this beer was dedicated to a Vietnam vet named Gordon Knight who tragically died in a 2002 helicopter crash while fighting wild fires. BAD ASS! Friends and brewers at Oskar Blues have truly honored him with an equally bad ass brew. Dark red in color with a creamy off-white head. Sweet smells of toffee, caramel, and malty goodness hover above this beer. Gooey, sticky hops run throughout with a little bit of fruitiness. And call me crazy, but I thought it tasted a little bit like marshmellows. G’Knight is really an amazing beer that gives no hints of its massive 8.7% ABV.

Dale's Pale Ale

Oskar Blues first offering is still a hit and responsible for over half of the breweries sales. Coming off of G’Knight it feels thin and watery to the mouth but the flavor is not missed. It’s full of bright and bitter hops. Grassy and orangey flavors in abundance. This clean and refreshing beer is well balanced and a great example of American pale ales.

Old Chub Scottish Ale

Old Chub is a big (8%) and dark Scottish ale. It’s rich, smokey, and malty. Chub smells and tastes of bitter chocolate, roasted malts, and a little caramel. I would love to put this in my next chili. Chubby Chili? It’s gonna happen. Another fine example of craft beer from Oskar Blues.

Ten Fidy Imperial Stout

This critically acclaimed beer, appearing in the top 100 beers on ratebeer.com, does not fall short of expectations. Motor oil is the first thought that comes to mind. Its soooo thick, soooo black, and oh so delicious! So thick you could chew on it! Ten Fidy tastes like oatmeal drizzled with chocolate and caramel served with a mug of coffee. I could drink this for breakfast it wasn’t 10.5%! And, despite the valuation it’s even more than 21 times better than Fidy Cent. This mammoth of a beer grabs you and doesn’t let go.

Oskar Blues’ is the little can that could. They will strip you of all your biases and prove that beer this good can come from can.

-Kyle

Coalhouse Oskar Blues Beer Dinner

2011-03-24T10:46:00.006-04:00

If our normal Modus Operandi is Food Plus Beer, then a Coalhouse Beer Dinner is (Food + Beer) x 5. Or maybe (Food + Beer)^5. Yeah, I like that better. Exponentially. Just remember to use PEMDAS.

But enough about my 8th grade math class. We’re here to talk about the five-course food and beer marathon that is the Coalhouse Beer Dinner. This past Monday, FPB scooted on down to Coalhouse for a beer dinner featuring the handcrafted libations of Oskar Blues Brewery – also known as “those beers that come in a can.”

(Note: To read a full review of the 5 Oskar Blues offerings we sampled at the dinner, check out Kyle’s post (coming shortly) where he tries to guess what kind of hops they use in each beer. I’m just going to go over everything quickly because there’s a lot going on during one of these events. K? K.)

As we settled in we were greeted by Gerard, his business partner James, and the smell of deliciousness permeating through the air. (That was probably the food, and not Gerard or James).

Out came the warmup round – Sweet potato and Beet chips with homemade Tzatziki sauce (Yes, I had to look up how to spell Tzatziki.) The chips were crunchy, salty and delicious, and the Tzatazktizkaitkzi was a perfect complement. A fine start.

Next up was the first course to be paired with a beer – a Spring Fennel Salad and Oskar Blues’ Mama’s Little Yella Pils. Kyle and I normally stay far away from vegetables, but the salad was quite good – particularly the roasted red peppers. The beer was our least favorite of the night, but hey, it’s a Pilsner. It is what it is.

Next came the Pea Soup and G’Knight Imperial Red Double IPA. Just sounds like a beer that’ll kick your ass, doesn’t it? Or at least joust you in the chest. This was my personal favorite beer of the knight (I wrote that “k” by accident, but I think I’ll leave it), paired with a great-tasting soup with nice big chunks of ham and fresh crackers made with beer.

Next, though, may have been my favorite round of all. The brewery’s flagship, Dale’s Pale Ale, was accompanied by a goat cheese, honey truffle oil, red onion, pistachio and asparagus pizza. Just awesome. The sweetness of the oil set against the tartness of the goat cheese almost made me forget about bacon. (Almost.) And the Dale’s came through mightily despite having a tough act to follow.

The goat cheese pizza wasn't baaaaaaad. See what I did there?

Yes, that’s right, we’re still eating. It’s just like long-distance running…you just have to eat through the pain. Next came lamb tenderloin on a bed of assorted veggies, accompanied by Old Chub Scottish Ale. The lamb was tasty and well-cooked, and I enjoyed the beer despite not knowing much about the style. Also, it was fun to be able to say “Old Chub” a lot.

And what is an insanely decadent meal without dessert? We finished with the mammoth TenFIDY Imperial Stout, one of the most highly regarded beers in the world of beer-dorkery, as well as ice cream made with TenFIDY on a homemade cookie. The ice cream was incredible – the brewery representative went on to tell us that they make their own ice cream from TenFIDY, but that Coalhouse’s version was even better. Suffice to say, I was a clean-plater.

This is what beer looks like.

It was a great time, with excellent food and drink, and I’m still full. I don’t think Coalhouse OR Oskar Blues has seen the last of me.

Until next time,
Ryan

P.S. Oh yeah - We got to take home pint glasses and beer coozies from the brewery! Gotta love that swag!

Philly Craft Beer Fest - 2011

2011-03-11T15:40:00.001-05:00

Going to a craft beer festival is a lot like going to Six Flags: You’re giddy with excitement, there are long lines of people everywhere, and you might throw up afterwards.

With that in mind, Food Plus Beer took its talents to Philadelphia for the 5th annual Craft Beer Fest at the Navy Yard. Boasting “50+ breweries and 100+ beers,” the PCBF was held in a huge brick building right on the Delaware River, surrounded by enormous retired Navy battleships that we unfortunately weren’t allowed to climb around on.

Let’s re-live the festival together, shall we?

12:30: We arrive at the festival, just as it’s beginning, only to find that the line to get in the door is 12 miles long (approximation). We’re pissed. Doors were supposed to open at 12! How did they screw this up?! We are never getting in.

1:00: We get in. The length of the line may have been slightly overstated.

I may or may not start wearing pretzel necklaces everywhere I go.

We make our way directly to the Victory booth, where we’re faced with the choice between Yakima Glory and Headwaters Pale Ale. We choose both. Thankfully, no one behind us has a problem with us double-dipping. Gotta love beer fests!

This photo captions itself.

1:10 – 2:50: We spend the next hour and forty minutes more or less drinking anything and everything that appealed to us. Some highlights:

-The aforementioned Victory Headwaters Pale Ale: Awesome, crisp, straightforward IPA that is the definition of a summer session beer.
Fegley’s Hopsolutely: Monstrous 11.5% 100 IBU Triple-Hopped IPA. Yowza.
Triumph Jewish Rye: Actually tastes unnervingly like Rye bread. Goes best with pastrami and Russian dressing.
Arcadia IPA and 21st Amendment IPA: Pleasant surprises from breweries we’d never heard of.
Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter – Roasty and bitter. Very smooth.
Ithaca Flower Power IPA: Had it before, of course, but even in a room full of awesome beer, it stands out.

You're not going to believe this, but this isn't the real Samuel Adams.

2:55: It occurs to me that I need to pee. A lot. Upon seeing the mangled mess that is the line to the port-o-potties, my bladder decides to crank up the pain. I am miserable. I’m jumping around like an extra from Flashdance at this point. I’m seriously considering peeing on the ground next to the port-o-potty at the end of the line, continuing to fire away as I’m dragged off in handcuffs for indecent exposure.

3:05: I finally reach the front of the line and achieve urinary Nirvana. I now have a little less than an hour to power through the remaining breweries before our session ends.

3:30: I mya bee getting a little bit intocixatecd.

Approximation of what the beerfest looked like at this point.

3:40: There is a basketball hoop in the corner of the building. I play basketball twice a week. I take a shot – airball. I blame this on a combination of my inebriation and the fact that the hoop was clearly not regulation height (Kyle will verify this). Although, I must say, charging drunk people to take a jumper on a 12-foot hoop is a brilliant marketing strategy (not that I paid. I am above the law).

3:45: Facing the home stretch, we begin drinking like Lindsay Lohan behind the wheel, and we encounter a few more standouts:

Weyerbacher Merry Monks – Belgiany goodness.
Blue Point Barleywine – We got to try this because the Blue Point representative was hitting on our girlfriends.
Ballast Point Big Eye IPA – Super fresh, hoppy and excellent.

And then, all of a sudden, it was over. One by one, the breweries stopped pouring samples, and we flooded the few booths that were still going until there were no more. It was time to file out of the building and into the streets of Philadelphia to cause trouble.

This was only our second brew fest, and you can bet we’ll be going to more in the future. The Philly brew fest was an awesome time. We got to try a bunch of new beers, enjoy some old favorites, and best of all, nobody barfed. Party!

Until next time,
Ryan

Lola's Mexican Kitchen - The fine print

2011-02-28T21:32:00.005-05:00

Lola's Mexican Kitchen
Stamford, CT
www.lolasmexicankitchen.com
Menu

Lola's Mexican Kitchen is the trendy new eatery on Bedford Street. It's located directly across the street from Butterfield 8 (I refuse to capitalize the "u") and happens to be owned by the same person. Butterfield 8, of course, is that bar that constantly blares obnoxious techno music, creates a false illusion of exclusivity by half-filling the place so that the line spills out into the street, and doesn't allow customers under 23. File that under "foreshadowing."

I've never been inside Butterface, (whoops - Butterfield), but Lola's felt a bit like it would be owned by the same person, especially judging by the less tan version of Ronnie from the Jersey Shore working the front desk. Still though, the atmosphere is pretty cool. Dim lighting, exposed brick and unstained wood surround you, giving the place a cozy feel.

As usual, my first move was to glance at the taps. Right away, a green Dogfish tap handle caught my eye. I have to say I was pretty excited - I was expecting to be stuck with my choice of watery mexican beers (which of course occupied most of the remaining taps). 60 minute IPA it is!

With Dogfish on tap, tortilla chips in a folded-over brown paper bag and salsa on the table, what could go wrong? (File that under "even more obvious foreshadowing"). Munching on the chips, we perused the menu, and by the time we were ready to place our order, the bag was empty. We asked the waiter for another round - "Sure, it will be right out," and continued looking over the menu. It wasn't very large, but it had all of the expected Tex-Mex favorites. Salads served in a taco bowl, burritos, tacos, enchiladas and a few "house specialties". I quickly narrowed my options down to either a burrito for $16, or chimichanga (deep fried burrito) for $16. Of course, as we all know, deep fried always wins.

My chimichanga was golden brown and came loaded with beef and cheese, and a side of rice and beans. As I dug in, I realized that only one thing could make it better - hot sauce. Since none was in sight, I asked our waiter for some - extra hot, of course. "Sure, It'll be right out," He replied. 20 seconds later I was soaking my chimi in the hot stuff (insert your own joke here). I must say that it was a pretty slammin' chimichanga, and because of its substantial size, I had some leftovers to take home. Things were going great! (File under "super-duper obvious, any-minute-now foreshadowing").

And that's when things took a turn for the worse. The food was great, but it was the bill that left a bad taste in my mouth. First, they charged us for three Margaritas when we only had two. Not a big deal - we told the waiter and he fixed it. But the extra drink charge made us look further into the bill. They charged us a dollar for chips, and a dollar for salsa. They charged $5 to replace the chicken on an $11 salad with five shrimp (twice what it costs at most places) . They charged $2 for the hot sauce. What kind of crap is this!? This was a TEX MEX restaurant! Chips, salsa, and hot sauce should be a given. And if not, we should have at least been advised that these things were going to cost extra. The table of two next to us received the same portion of chips that we did to start, so why not give two portions of chips to a table twice the size? And they're REALLY going to charge $2 for a few spoonfuls of hot sauce at a MEXICAN restaurant, with already overpriced food? Have you ever been charged for soy sauce at a Chinese restaurant? Or crushed red pepper at a pizza place? Or ketchup at a diner? I don't think so.

Take Rio Border Cafe in Norwalk, for example. The entrees are about three bucks cheaper, on average (and still delicious). There's two bottles of hot sauce on every table, free of charge. Unlimited chips and salsa. AND, if it's your birthday, you get a free T-shirt, fried ice cream and a sombrero. So there.

The money wasn't going to make or break us, but it was the principle. I let the manager (the Ronnie look-a-like) know my thoughts on the matter, but he didn't seem to care. "Oh, yeah," he said. "I'll remind the waitstaff to let people know that those things cost extra". After the nine dollars of hidden fees (nineteen if you count the extra drink) I felt like I had just been fleeced by a late night infomercial.

So there you have it. Good food, but I certainly won't be going back.

-Kyle

Stamford Restaurant Weeks Winter 2011

2011-02-25T15:40:00.000-05:00

Sunday, February 27th to Sunday, March 13th

Two weeks of Prixe Fixe meals (usually app, entree, and dessert) at the restaurants listed below. We're still wondering why these things don't come with beer...

$10.11 Lunch and $15.11 Dinner

Black Bear Saloon

Bobby Valentine's Sports Gallery Café

Butterfield 8 Restaurant and Lounge

Capriccia Café

Kujaku Japanese Restaurant

Lola's Mexican Kitchen

Remo's Pizza Company (Mon-Thurs)

SBC Downtown Restaurant and Brewery

$15.11 Lunch and $25.11 Dinner

Chez Jean-Pierra (excludes Sat)

Kotobuki Japanese Restaurant

Quattro Pazzi (Sun-Thurs)

Riviera Maya Mexican Restaurant

Tengda Asian Bistro

$20.11 Lunch and $30.11 Dinner

Aria Restaurant (excludes Sat)

Barcelona Restaurant and Wine Bar

Capital Grille, The

Columbus Park Trattoria

Emme of Capri

EOS Greek Cuising (Sun-Thurs)

Napa and Co. (Lunch only)

Market Restaurant

Mitchell's Fish Market

Morton's The Steakhouse (Dinner only)

Telluride

Cheers!

Westport Restaurant Week Winter 2011

2011-02-25T15:38:00.001-05:00

Sunday, February 27th - Sunday, March 5th

We can't find any links to the restaurant week menus posted online, so we've linked to the restaurants' websites for you. Our top pick? Bobby Q's! Review to come soon...

$10.11 Lunch and $20.11 Dinner

Bobby Q’s Bodacious BBQ and Grill

Bombay Club

Mansion Clam House

$15.11 Lunch and $30.11 Dinner

Acqua Ristorante (Dinner only)

Blue Lemon (20.11 Lunch)

Tarantino’s (Dinner only)

Tavern on Main

Thali

Sierra Nevada Hoptimum - Best Beer Ever?

2011-02-21T10:59:00.002-05:00

Sierra Nevada Hoptimum

Imperial/Double IPA
10.4% ABV, 100 IBU

Choosing favorites is risky business, but halfway through my first glass of this stuff, I had a revelation.

I can proudly say that this is my favorite beer.

Weighing in at 10.4% with 100 IBUs (International Bittering Units), this behemoth of a beer packs a mighty punch. It's exactly the flavor profile I love - bright, cheery hop aromas of zesty grapefruit up front. Smooth, mildly sweet malts, balanced with hop bitterness and incredible fruity and citrusy hop flavors. A bit of alcohol warmth, but no bite. I'm telling you, this thing was perfect. It's everything I've ever dreamed of. And that's when my revelation continued.

As hop-infused and alcohol doused brain neurons fired joyously, I realized how wonderful it is to be a beer drinker. You see, wine is almost entirely dependent on the crop, which depends on the weather conditions and a multitude of other things out of our control. Beer is all about chemistry and ratios of ingredients, so when a brewer stumbles upon a magical combination, they can replicate it. And as long as there's a market for it, that brew will be available next year, and years after. Stars don't need to align to make a beer delicious, so prices remain reasonable. A great wine can cost THOUSANDS of dollars, but I can buy 24oz of the best beer I'VE ever had (Ryan agrees) for a mere $7.99. Oh, the joys of being a beer drinker. Also, we're substantially less douchey.

So that's it. Hoptimum is an incredible alcoholic masterpiece. If you're lucky enough to find a store that still has some, buy it all and thank us later.

-Kyle

WARNING: Do not plan on drinking any smaller beers after this, they'll all shy away by comparison

Coalhouse Pizza

2011-02-10T20:16:00.001-05:00

Coalhouse Pizza

Stamford, CT

www.coalhousepizza.com

Food Menu | Beer Menu

Taps [rotating]: Blue Moon, Captain Lawrence Extra Gold, Captain Lawrence Espresso Stout, Dogfish 90 Minute IPA, Magic Hat #9, Rogue Dead Guy, Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, Victory Hop Devil, Stella Artois, Stone Arrogant Bastard

When I first stepped foot into the place they call Coalhouse Pizza there was football on the TV, cold beer on tap, a fifty-cent wing special, paintings of blues/rock legends lining the walls, and dozens of strange looking cigar-box guitars hanging above the bar. Clearly, I was home.

Now, I had always heard that Coalhouse had a great beer selection, so the first thing I did was check out the list of beers on tap, which reads like the answer to the question “hey Ryan, what are some of your favorite beers?” Dogfish 90. Arrogant Bastard. Dead Guy Ale. Victory Hop Devil. Sierra Nevada Celebration. Whaaaaaaaat?

At another bar, any one of those beers would elicit the “stop it right there, that’s what I’m having” response. Here, you have to make the tough choice (or just order them all one after the other. Go big or go home). If nothing on draught strikes your fancy, you could try one of the dozens of bottled beers lining the shelves above the taps. The Coalhouse beer selection is truly an embarrassment of riches.

With beers in hand, we recommend that you order up a couple dozen wings tossed in original house sauces. They’re crispy, enormous, and totally satisfying. Then, lick your fingers clean and try one of their coal-fired pizzas. The thin crust is light and crisp, coated in a fresh tangy sauce with more topping options than you can shake a stick at. Seriously, I tried. My arm got tired. Among the toppings are traditional favorites like pepperoni, mushrooms and bacon, of course, but you’re also presented with some intriguingly unconventional toppings like Korean BBQ Beef, caramelized onions, homemade sausage, and flaming hot sauces.

Also, if you see the owner, Gerard, say “hello”.

Whoops! That’s not Gerard – that’s Alexi Lalas from the 1994 World Cup. We didn’t have a picture of Gerard, but this is what he would look like if he grew out his hair and beard and dressed head to toe in brightly-colored neon polyester soccer clothes. (Come on Gerard, make it happen!!!)

He’s a tall man with red hair and a red goatee, and he’s always at Coalhouse…he’s hard to miss. I’m explaining his appearance to you for two reasons: The first is that he’s an extremely friendly guy – I’ve been there three times now and I feel like I’ve been coming in for years. He’ll listen to your suggestions and even get on the phone with his beer distributors if you think there’s a beer that he should be carrying. The second reason you need to know what Gerard looks like is that you need to know who he is in order to join the Coalhouse Beer Club.

For $20, you’re given a sweet Coalhouse beer mug, you’re entitled to discounted drafts and early notice for upcoming events, and a whole host of other perks. As Beer Club members we’ve already enjoyed several free pints and were given a FREE small pizza as taste-test guinea pigs for a new super-spicy recipe (which was absolutely delicious…and really effin’ spicy).

With Beer Club VIP status Coalhouse has quickly become one of our regular watering holes, and they’re constantly hosting events and giving us reasons to go back. (Trivia night, open mic night, beer dinners, etc)

But in the end, all you really need to know about Coalhouse is this: I wasn’t hungry when I started writing this, but by the time I had finished, I chewed off my left arm. We will be back. Soon.

-Ryan

Follow up from last post:

As I alluded to in the last post, we were enjoying our Beer Club Member VIP status one day when Gerard dropped the bomb on us.

“Hey, how come you guys haven’t written in your blog recently?”

We’re still confused as to how he knew FPB, but he knew us. And that, dear readers, is when we knew it was time to bring the blog back. Go to Coalhouse and thank Gerard yourself.

Call it a Comeback. No, seriously, do it.

2011-02-02T07:47:00.000-05:00

It’s been over 7 months since Kyle and I last posted on Food Plus Beer. (Sorry about that).

What can I say? The blog was dead. Buried. Finished. Work, relationships, and other similarly stupid things had taken over and prevented us from blowing your mind with manly culinary exploits, and frankly, we had no plans to start rolling again. That is, until something extraordinary happened:

A total stranger mentioned Food Plus Beer to Kyle and I while we were out to dinner. Yeah, that’s right…we were called out by a restaurant owner for not blogging anymore. What are the friggin’ odds?? Who knew people actually read this thing? I was shocked, awed, and totally impressed. (I’ve been known to have somewhat of an ego).

So I looked at Kyle and he looked at me and I looked at the restaurant owner and he looked at Kyle and we looked at one of the waiters and we all agreed: it’s back on. Much like the man upstairs, FPB has risen again from the dead.

Now, if only we could turn water into barleywine. (Haven’t you missed my crappy puns?)

In the next post (we promise it won’t be in 7 months), we’ll reveal who this mysterious restaurant owner is, and whether his restaurant is good, or sucks. Ooh, the suspense is killing me!

I missed you, anonymous, faceless reader.

Love,

Ryan

Weekend Forecast - June 18 - 20

2010-06-18T16:37:00.000-04:00

Saturday:
Sunny with a high of 84 degrees and a 100% chance of afternoon beer showers at Governer’s Island in NYC.

That’s right, it’s a brew fest, and we’re going to be there! Tickets were $55, but they are all sold out. If you're desperate you may have some luck on Craigslist (in more ways than one).

http://www.nybrewfest.com/

Fairfield University will be host to the Fairfield County Irish Festival from Friday June 18 to Sunday June 20. Expect Gaelic Football, Irish dancing, taps pouring Guinness and more.

http://www.irishfestival.org/

Harpoon Belgian Pale Ale

2010-06-02T21:35:00.000-04:00

We all appreciate the fine people of Belgium for giving us the Belgian Waffle (sprinkled with confectioner’s sugar FTW), and French Fries (invented in Belgium…stolen by the smelly French). But just as much as the two aforementioned foodstuffs, the Belgians are known for making beer. One such beer is the Belgian Pale Ale.

Belgian Pale Ales are typically less bitter than the American and English style pale ales and India pale ales that you may be familiar with. They generally use more subtle hop types and quantities so that the character of the beer is focused on sweet toasty malts. Being Belgian, they are brewed with Belgian yeast varieties that leave a white yeast sediment on the bottom of the bottle of this unfiltered beer. The beer should be poured into a glass slowly so that the yeast stays in the bottle (about the bottom half inch of bottle). Despite this recommendation, there’s no harm in drinking the sediment. In fact, it's actually good for you because it is high in vitamin B (which helps in hangover prevention!), but it would leave your glass very cloudy and alter the taste slightly.

Harpoon Brewing Company out of Massachusetts has recently released a new seasonal variety, "Belgian Pale Ale". This beer is brewed and conditioned using the same recipe as their standard Harpoon IPA, except it is fermented with Belgian Golden Ale yeast. That sounds like a minor difference, but actually, different yeast varieties define the character of a beer more than anything else. It's like changing the singer of a band (think Rage Against The Machine vs Audioslave). Blue Moon is one example of a beer that is fermented with a Belgian yeast. The Belgian yeast variety used by Harpoon gives this brew a slight natural spiciness and fruitiness that reminds me of bananas.

I thought this beer was pretty good, but as expected, it tastes very different from the Harpoon IPA you're familiar with. It maintains some of its floral hop aroma but this is integrated with a sweeter, fruitier smell. In general it seems more mellow than their IPA and a good deal sweeter, with more of an emphasis on the malts. Unfortunately there's nothing that makes this beer pop. It seems to be an attempt to please all, rather than make a truly superb beer. That’s not to say it’s a bad beer – I found it enjoyable and I do recommend you try it. And if you're really curious as to what a different yeast can do to a beer, try it side-by-side with a Harpoon IPA.

In short, Harpoon's Belgian Pale Ale is good enough, but doesn't knock your socks off. The waffles, however, were outstanding.

-Kyle

Vortex of Stupidity: Beer Advertising Gimmickry

2010-05-24T14:03:00.001-04:00

If you’re like me and you watch excessive amounts of ESPN, you’ve undoubtedly seen a new marketing campaign for Miller Lite, advertising the new “Vortex Bottle.” Whoa! Sounds technical! Scientific even! What is it?

Well, the vortex bottle is a bottle with a grooved neck, so when you pour the beer, it sort of spirals around in circles before entering either A. your mouth or B. your pint glass. You know, all the better to unlock that classic triple hops brewed Pilsner taste.

The flavor is spiraling out of control!!!!!

In the commercial, an appraisal expert working at a generic Antiques Roadshow ripoff show notices a man drinking from a Vortex bottle. He inquires about said bottle, and is so enthralled by its majesty, that he drops the priceless family heirloom he is holding in order to go grab a Miller Lite from the lobby. Had I been there, I may have been inspired to grab a Civil War-era musket and stage an impromptu re-enactment of the Battle of Little Bighorn. Especially the part where George A. Custer and Crazy Horse team up to murder a douchey appraisal expert, reconcile their differences while laughing over his bloodied corpse, and open the first Waffle House. But I digress.

The point is, I’m a little irritated that Miller Lite thinks I’m a complete and total moron.
First of all, selling Miller Lite on taste with “Taste Greatness” is a mistake. No one who hasn’t scalded off all their taste buds with a hot curling iron believes that Miller Lite is the best-tasting beer on the market.

What’s the justification? It’s “Triple Hops Brewed.” Since the majority of the U.S. populace knows nothing or next to nothing about beer, “Triple Hops Brewed” sounds impressive. That must mean they use 3 times the hops that their competitors do, right? That’s the sneaky thing about advertising - They’re not saying that Bud Light, Coors Light, Sam Adams, Heineken, etc. aren’t THBed (just invented an acronym), just that Miller Lite IS. But you’re left with that perception. Well, if you’re an idiot. Because whatever effect this THBing process has, you sure can’t taste it. Just because you add an infintesimal amount of hops three separate times, that doesn’t make your beer hoppy. Or good. But that’s the magic of gimmickry.

Look, Miller Lite serves a purpose in the beer world. It’s cheap. Its blandness makes it impossible to hate, but just as impossible to love. I don’t have a real problem with it, and I even drink it sometimes. But via its advertising, Miller Lite is a piece of bologna trying to masquerade itself as a T-Bone steak. Just be yourself, Miller Lite. Be funny. Talk about having a good time. But don’t try to convince me you’re Stone or Dogfish Head, k?

And that brings me right back to the beginning, the Vortex bottle. Am I supposed to believe that swirling watered-down pee beer around in a circle is going to bring out a hitherto undiscovered plethora of flavor? Or that the Coors vented wide mouth can is going to take me on a magical journey to the Rocky Mountains? What’s next? The Bud Light Flavor Rhombus? The Milwaukee’s Best bottle with a corked top? I’ve got a better idea; take all that money that you’re throwing into R&D, and make a better beer. Because good beer doesn’t need to course itself through a Krazy straw to taste great. (See: Nevada, Sierra).

Until next time,
Ryan aka “The Vortex.”

Balashi Pilsener Beer - Aruba

2010-05-04T17:52:00.000-04:00

Bon Bini (that’s “Welcome” in the Aruban language Papiamento) to Food Plus Beer international addition! I’m blogging here from the island paradise of Aruba! What would a vacation be without beer?

Balashi is Aruba’s only brewery. They only make one type of beer, a pilsener that comes in both regular and light varieties. It’s yellow, light, crisp and refreshing and it tastes nearly identical to Heineken. After all, Aruba was founded by the Dutch. I decided to try a Balashi and a Heineken side by side, and did notice some slight discrepancies. Balashi was more carbonated, a bit crisper, and had a mild skunky taste that you might expect from similar green-bottle lager beers (especially Grolsch). Heineken went down just a little smoother.

Balashi also comes in 11oz cans – don’t ask me why, I haven’t been able to figure it out. But every beer here comes in a different sized container, even those that you’re familiar with in the US. The can also reads “brewed with Aruba’s pristine water…” across the top. You may be screaming “Don’t drink the water!” but don’t worry, Aruba’s water is actually great. It’s great because they don’t have any. All of the (drinking) water on the island comes from a massive desalination plant that purifies it right from the ocean.

The bottom line is that Balashi is good for what it is. It’s one ounce short of regular beer, and wouldn’t make the cut anywhere but here, but it’s exactly what you need to combat the scorching sun. It’s an island beer that’s good enough “as is” without a fruit topping. Just fill a cooler with ice and toss in Balashi until you can barely zipper it shut. Sit back, relax, soak in the sun, the steel drums, and 2 or 3 or 10 Balashis – no shirt, no shoes, and no citrus wedge required.

-Kyle

The Brickskeller

2010-04-07T13:45:00.000-04:00

Washington, DC

www.lovethebeer.com

Beers on Tap: None in the cellar. There's a separate restaurant upstairs with taps.

Hello, folks. Well, after the arugula salad, I was feeling pretty sick for a few days, so I went to the doctor. He informed me that I have a severe vegetable allergy and injected me with bacon grease to suppress the reaction. He said I’ll be just fine; as long as I take my 400 CC’s of Pale Ale twice a day with food.

Sometime after that, I headed down to Washington, DC for a long weekend of city-slicking fun. There are a number of topics I could do a write-up on, but for the purposes of this blog, one place stands apart from the rest: The Brickskeller.

Deep inside the beer Mecca.

If you’re a beer lover living in the D.C. area, either you already know about Brickskeller or you don’t know how to use Google. The Brickskeller has more than 1,000 bottled beers and has held the Guinness World Record for largest beer list. (You've also got to love a place that owns the domain name "lovethebeer.com." Big props for that.)

If you want to try a beer from Trinidad, Guatemala, Ethiopia or Lebanon, this is your place. If you don’t want to try a beer from one of those places, they’ve got approximately infinity American beers, too. So don’t be a downer.

I went with my sister and girlfriend at the end of a night of bar-hopping, at something like midnight or 12:30 a.m. To get into the bar, we had to walk up the stairs of what looks like a hotel, then immediately turn right and walk down into a brick cellar. I can only assume “Brickskeller” is what comes out when you try to say “brick cellar” after a few heavy-hitting brews. The bar was dark, but cozy, and the walls had plexiglass cases filled with funny-looking old beer cans – interior decorating at its finest.

I had a Stone Ruination IPA, Brittney had an Allagash White, and I have no idea what my sister had. I have no idea what she had because earlier, we had attended a happy hour that offered half-priced bottles of wine. Party!

The Ruination was strong, super-hoppy, and delicious. We also shared a cheese plate – a hot loaf of bread accompanied by cheddar, pepper jack, brie, and two other cheeses that I’ve forgotten (again, happy hour). Unfortunately, we only stayed for one round, because it was getting pretty late at that point. It’s probably a blessing in disguise, because it would be easy to spend a fortune in that place.

So, if you’re a beer lover visiting DC, Brickskeller is a necessary stop. I mean, just look at that beer list. It’s like the Library of Congress, but of beer. So it’s only fitting that it’s located in our nation’s capital. God bless America.

Ryan

Garden Fresh Arugula Salad and a Wine Spritzer

2010-04-01T11:05:00.000-04:00

Hey all!

We here at FPB have had it up to here with winter. (You can’t see what I’m doing, but rest assured; I’m holding my hand right in front of my forehead).

So, now that the sun has begun to shine and warm weather is heading our way again, Kyle and I thought we’d celebrate the birth of spring the way we do every year; with an elegant garden-fresh arugula salad and a wine spritzer.

I know this seems like a departure from our usual fare, but let’s be honest; bathing suit weather is right around the corner, and we’ve got to get started if we plan on shedding the hibernation weight brought on by a winter full of pizza, burgers, stouts and ales.

With that in mind, Kyle and I tied each other’s aprons, and it was off to the vegetable garden for some organic treats! We collected the dew-kissed arugula leaves, the ripe little cherry tomatoes, and the plump avocado needed to create the foundation of our dish. Our pine nut tree hasn’t matured yet, so we reluctantly had to use the ones we bought at the farmer’s market. Similarly, we were forced to use store-bought goat cheese, as we accidentally over-milked our doe making Sunday night’s stuffed fig leaves with prosciutto.

We didn't photograph our arugula salad, but here's one on a pizza crust. Extra carbs? No thanks!

I’m not going to bore you with the nitty-gritty of making an arugula salad; the farm-fresh ingredients do all the work for you. So let’s move onto our homemade spirits.

Kyle and I love to split a bottle of white wine and watch Entertainment Tonight, but that’s when we’re being bad. For our spring celebration meal, we felt that a glass of Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc would surely overpower the fragile palate notes brought on by the arugula salad, so we decided to go with white wine spritzers instead.

Springtime calls for a clean, simple spread. A nice votive candle doesn't hurt!

It’s easy to make a white wine spritzer; just mix white wine and club soda. This crisp drink has its share of benefits. For one, as stated before, it complements the delicate flavors of a spring salad without bombarding your taste buds. Secondly, it’s lower in calories. (That wine can be hell on your figure!) And perhaps most importantly, it lowers the alcohol content. White wine goes right to my head and causes me to behave in a manner not befitting a gentleman.

And we simply couldn’t have me hooting and hollering during such a nice meal.

So, Kyle and I sat on the veranda, with a cool breeze blowing through our hair, and we welcomed spring, the only way we knew how: Porcelain plates, cloth napkins, fresh ingredients…just two best buddies clinking wine glasses over an arugula salad.

Until next time!

Ryan

Sam Adams Noble Pils

2010-03-24T19:43:00.000-04:00

Tasters at Beer Lover Choice, an event hosted by Samuel Adams, voted for the Noble Pils brew in such overwhelming numbers that the brewers at Sam Adams decided to make it their new Spring Seasonal beer. You’ve heard from the commercial, or could maybe assume from its name that this new spring offering is hopped with a blend of all 5 Noble Hop varieties.

It’s golden in color and is an average 5.2% ABV. My first thoughts were simple, I really liked it. It has a light body with no overwhelming flavors. The hops lend a nice herbal, earthy character (which I guess translates to, "It kind of tastes a little grassy" but not in a bad way). Also, although not sweet, it does have some honey flavors.

In general, it is a pretty subdued and refreshing brew that would best be enjoyed while lounging in the beautiful spring sun. I enjoyed it much more than the old White Ale Spring Seasonal, but it still is released too early and is already being replaced by Summer Ale even though we’re less than a week into the spring season. No matter how much I think about it, I cannot understand why Sam Adams has us drinking Winter Ale in October, a Spring Seasonal in January, and Summer Ale in March. Is it a Miss Cleo predicting the future? A play on consumer impatience? Or is it a rogue groundhog deciding when seasons begin and end?

Either way, drink up while you still can!

-Kyle

Guinness vs. Murphy's

2010-03-19T15:43:00.000-04:00

Full of St. Patrick's Day spirit we decided to compare Guinness Draught to Murphy's Irish Stout. Both beers are in the Dry Stout variety pouring a beautiful chocolate milk color that's mesmerizing to watch as it settles to a near black with a rich creamy head. That's because both of these beers contain nitrogen as well as a low level of carbonation. The characteristic smooth taste is also a result of the nitrogen.

Guinness, as we all know, tastes of sweet roasted malt, toffee, coffee, cocoa and iron followed by a briefly bitter finish. I think it's delicious and many consider it the Irish Stout by which to judge all others. We put Murphy's to the test. It's very similar to Guinness but both of us found it to improve on everything we liked about Guinness. It was richer, creamier, smoother and tastier. Unfortunately we're sad to say it's owned by Heineken.

Guinness vs. Murphy's?

Murphy's Wins.

-Kyle

The Taco Bell Five Buck Box.

2010-03-10T11:35:00.000-05:00

The five buck box,
It rocks, it rocks.
It rocks for a jock,
It rocks for a fox.
It rocks for a meal that’ll give you the trots.

You’ve seen the commercial. You’ve seen a red-velvet-bathrobe-wearing Charles Barkley enter a phone booth, and come out the other side in a bizarre Taco Bell-themed universe (not to mention no longer wearing a red velvet bathrobe). You’ve debated whether he’s talking or rapping as he’s greeted by “a guy with dreadlocks,” the Nets mascot, cheerleaders, paparazzi, a decrepit red carpet reporter, and Lamar Odom for some reason. You’re left puzzled. You don’t know what to think. This commercial is “Green Eggs and Ham” meets “The Round Mound of Rebound.” As you can tell, I’ve seen this commercial roughly 100,000 times; and I always watch it in its entirety. I just can’t look away. It’s absolutely baffling, beautifully absurd, and I’m still trying to figure out if Barkley wrote it himself. It’s just mesmerizing.

In fact, Taco Bell in general has always had a special place in my heart. It just makes me laugh for some reason. Next time you see me, mention Taco Bell, and see if I don’t start grinning like an idiot. It could be the restaurant’s silly name, or the fact that it just invents Mexican foods by throwing extra layers of cheese and tortillas on things. It could be the fact that people just seem to be intimidated by it. But the fact remains: no other fast food restaurant combines LDLs and comedy in such equal measure. That’s why I was particularly giddy for Food Plus Beer’s next mission: Barkley’s own 5-Buck Box.

I was already in full giggle mode as we pulled into the Taco Bell drive-thru. This is where we learned that there are actually 2 versions of the 5-Buck Box: The Cheesy Gordita Crunch version, and the Volcano Taco version. Despite the fact that we both love spicy food, we chose the former, because that’s the one Barkley rapped about (plus, we planned on using copious amounts of Hot Sauce packets anyway). The total came to 10.60, making the 5-Buck Box really the 5.30-Box, but now we’re talking semantics. We were handed our food – in a bag.

What!? A bag? Points marked off! Points marked way off!

I'm looking...but I don't see no box.

The five buck bag.
It’s sad, it’s sad.
It’s sad for a dad,
It’s sad for a lad.
It’s sad for a promotion that really doesn’t follow through on its namesake taco-delivery vessel.

It was a bummer, but not enough to throw me off my giddiness altogether. Not only was our food in a bag, but it wasn’t branded with NBA stuff as I’d also hoped. I wanted to see which players were roped into appearing on a 16-ounce Taco Bell soda cup. LeBron? Kobe? Ron Artest? Gilbert Arenas? Darko Milicic?

An inside view of the Cheesy Gordita Crunch.

We brought the 5-Buck Bag to my house and dug in. What can you say? It’s Taco Bell – we all know what to expect. It’s cheesy, it’s meaty, it’s delicious. It’s fantastic soaked in hot sauce. The Cheesy Gordita Crunch is the clear standout item of the box, but everything was satisfying and actually fairly filling, even for a fat person such as myself. And I giggled the whole time I ate, which probably burns a few calories.

It was a successful Food Plus Beer mission, and I’d certainly do it again – but next time, they better have my (*#*(&@*#*@^ing box.

Stamford Restaurant Week Winter 2010

2010-03-03T13:11:00.000-05:00

Better late than never - you still have time to enjoy it this weekend!

Stamford Restaurant Week Winter 2010 is from 2/21/2010 – 3/7/2010. Restaurant Week gives you the opportunity to get a full 3 course meal (most restaurants offer an appetizer, entrée, and dessert) for a fixed price with choices from a special prix-fixe menu. Although you may be able to find some deals, beware, not everything is worth it.

Here's the chart of participating restaurants (click for menus):

$10.10 Lunch and $15.10 Dinner
Black Bear Saloon
Kujaku Japanese Restaurant
SBC Restaurant & Brewery
Tigin Irish Pub & Restaurant

$10.10 Lunch and $20.10 Dinner
Bradford’s Grille & Tavern
Butterfield 8 Restaurant & Lounge
Remo’s Brick Oven Pizza Company
Tengda Asian Bistro
$19.10 Lunch and $30.10 Dinner
Barcelona Restaurant & Wine Bar
Bennett’s Restaurant
The Capital Grille
Columbus Park Trattoria
Emme of Capri
Ferrante
Grand Restaurant*
Kona Grill
Market Restaurant
Mitchell’s Fish Market
Telluride
*Dinner Only
http://www.stamford-downtown.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=129

Donovan's & Mackenzie

2010-03-01T20:48:00.000-05:00

Norwalk, CT
http://www.donovanssono.com/

Menu

Beers on Tap: Bass Ale, Bud Lite, Captain Lawrence Pale Ale, Dogfish 60-Minute IPA, Guinness, Magic Hat #9, Newcastle, Shocktop, Samual Adam's Seasonal, Stella Artois.

Happy Hour: M-F 3-7, $1 off all drinks, free hors d'oeuvres

Though there are plenty of delicious and deserving restaurants in our hometown of Stamford, sometimes you just need a change of scenery. So on a snowy night this past Friday, we took Food Plus Beer on down to South Norwalk for beer and burgers.

After parking near the Maritime Center and thinking about how cool the shark tank is, we made our way to Donovan’s & Mackenzie restaurant a few blocks away. During this walk, approximately 43 snowballs were formed and thrown at road signs, telephone poles, and girlfriends.

With cold snowball hands, we entered Donovan’s & Mackenzie to find that it had set a new record for “most TVs simultaneously tuned to Olympic Curling.” They had at least five or six TVs set to the broom-heavy sport, shattering the previous record of one. Furthermore, the patrons were loudly cheering for the Canadian team. I still haven’t figured out whether their excitement was genuine or sarcastic.

I ordered a Dogfish 60-Minute IPA from the decent-sized beer menu, and started to look over the menu. This, of course, was a formality. It was destined to be a burger night and that’s just all there was to it. I ordered a Bacon Mushroom Cheeseburger, Kyle had the same minus the fungus.

The beef was high quality and flavorful, and the bacon was big and thick…exactly the kind of bacon one hopes for when one orders bacon on a burger. I found the burger to be one of the messiest I’ve had in recent memory. That’s not necessarily a gripe…what the hell do I care if I’m licking ketchup off my fingers? No one’s looking at me anyway – Curling’s on.

The fries were “crispy, yet soft” as one friend of the blog implored me to write. I tend to agree, but I must also note the subtle, delicate notes of potato throughout.

‘Twas a nice little night in ol’ SoNo; I daresay we will be back before long. As we made our way back towards the car and thought about the sharks at the Maritime Center once more, we finished our trip just as we had started it: With a 4-seam snowball falling about 2 feet short of a nearby “No Parking” sign.

I’ll stick to watching winter sports.

-Ryan

IHOP Free Pancake Day 2010

2010-02-22T19:55:00.001-05:00

Who doesn't love pancakes? Even better, who doesn't love FREE pancakes? Get your free short stack tomorrow (2/23/1010) at IHOP! It's National Pancake Day!

All that IHOP asks is that you make a donation to the Children's Miracle Network.

http://www.ihoppancakeday.com/

Valentine's Day Beers

2010-02-14T15:55:00.000-05:00

I'm sure all of you will agree that Valentine’s Day is not your favorite holiday. You might be disgusted by how much of a commercialized, lame, hallmark holiday it truly is. If you have a special someone, you're expected to provide flowers, chocolates, gifts and dinner. You're supposed to be romantic. You're supposed to fight for a table at the fancy restaurant on its busiest night of the year. You're supposed to buy dozens of roses at outrageously inflated prices and mediocre chocolates in a heart-shaped box. All of this just to say, “I love you”. Wouldn't any of this be significantly more meaningful on any other day? Wouldn't that increase your message tenfold?

Anyway, I can't change the world in a paragraph. You still have to go through the motions (sorry). But, think outside the box of chocolates, try something new and exciting instead of the same old boring holiday traditions. I bet beer isn't the first thing on your list as a romantic drink to share with your significant other. You're probably thinking champagne or wine. But why not beer? Check out these beers that may be good for your date.

Lindemans Framboise (2.5% ABV)
This Belgian Lambic doesn’t even taste like beer. It’s light, fruity, and incredibly sweet. It’s highly carbonated and might remind you of champagne without the dry taste or even soda! I’ve had both the peach and raspberry varieties, and both were delicious. This low alcohol beer goes down real easy. Serve in a Flute.

Magic Hat Feast of Fools (7.5% ABV)Chocolate Raspberry Stout

The raspberry aroma hits you immediately - it smells amazing! But then the taste is slightly disappointing because it can’t live up to that great smell. The sweet raspberry taste is most noticeable, followed by roasted malts and a touch of dark chocolate. It’s very light for a stout with a somewhat thin feel, unlike that thick taste you might be accustomed to with a stout.

Southern Tier Crème Brulee Stout (10%)

This is dessert in a glass! The aroma is wonderful, and it tastes almost equally as good. It truly does taste like Crème Brulee with sweet vanilla and burnt sugar flavors. This beer is great for a dessert but you wouldn’t want to drink it all night. Serve in a snifter.

All of the above beers are sold in large bottles perfect for sharing.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love,
FPB

A Rant About Nachos

2010-02-10T16:12:00.000-05:00

In 1937 in Guadalajara, Mexico, a steel mill worker named Carlos Nunez was enjoying his favorite afternoon snack: sliced Jack cheese. Meanwhile, his co-worker on the job, one Miguel Santos, was snacking on the baked tortilla crisps his wife had made for him that morning. As they carried on in conversation with their respective snacks behind them on their work station, the heat emanating off of the nearby smelting equipment caused the cheese to melt into a gooey pile, inspiring the two men to dip the tortillas into the cheese, creating the world’s first nacho.

Just kidding. Actually, I have no idea how nachos were invented. But I’m sure it’s way less interesting than that.

Nachos are one of the staples of the appetizer world, and of course, I love them dearly. But there’s a problem in the nacho world these days: Lazy, cost-cutting nacho manufacturing.

If you’ve ever made nachos at home, (and really, who hasn’t?) you know the key: layering the cheese. You lay down a layer of chips, you lay down a layer of cheese, olives, sour cream, salsa, whatever. Repeat as necessary. Not layering your nachos is a rookie mistake, and yet restaurants continue to do it all the time. This is a farce and needs to be dealt with via vigilante justice, or blogging.

As a result of this dastardly nacho manuever, you wind up with about a dozen nachos and 30 or so plain tortilla chips. Now, who needs that? That’s certainly not what you’re after when you place the order. But alas, it’s commonplace. In fact, I hesitate to order nachos in restaurants because of the near-inevitability of disappointment.

But, my friends, it’s not all bad. Here are some phenomenal nachos you can make at home:

Ingredients:

1lb Thick Bacon
1lb Chicken (your choice of cut)
Mexican Seasoning
1 Bag Tortilla Chips
8oz Montery Jack Cheese (it'll taste better if you buy a block and shred it yourself)
8oz Sharp Chedder Cheese (above)

Choice of Toppings:

Olives
Onion
Pickled Jalepenos
Lettuce
Chopped Cilantro
Salsa
Ranch Dressing
Sour Cream
Guacamole
(anything under the sun - be creative)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Fry the bacon in a pan, drain the greese, lay on paper towls to dry. Crumble when cool.
Chop the chicken into small pieces and fry in the same pan you used to cook the bacon. Add Mexican Seasoning (to taste). Cook until done.

Layer chips down in a large casserole dish. Cover with a layer of shredded cheese. Sprikle on some crumbled bacon and chicken. Continue until all of the base ingredients are used or until you have no room left in your dish.

Place in the oven and cook until all of the cheese has melted (about 15 minutes).

Cover with the rest of your chosen toppings. I definitely recommend a generous drizzle of ranch dressing and some fresh chopped cilantro.

As you might expect, this dish is best served with a cold beer. Just try to avoid the Corona.

3 IPAs reviewed

2010-02-02T21:11:00.000-05:00

India Pale Ales are my favorite style of beer. In the 1700's Britain had many soldiers and colonists living in India. These poor souls were left without any of their good homeland ale! Malts and other raw ingredients spoiled during their journey sailing around Africa and up to the spice land. As a result India Pale Ale was born. It was a slightly higher alcohol beer brewed with lots of hops to help it survive its voyage in oak barrels on rocky seas.

Modern American IPAs are generally copper in color and well hopped, in the medium-high alcohol range.

Sierra Nevada Estate Brewers Harvest Ale (6.7% ABV)
All of the ingredients used to brew this beer were grown in Sierra Nevada's private estate. I really enjoyed this beer. It was well balanced and smooth. An easy drinking IPA without any overwhelming flavors and a faint aroma. It's one of the better Sierra IPA varieties but for over $10 a 24oz bottle it's a bit pricey for what it offers.

Ithaca Flower Power IPA (8% ABV)
You might remember me mentioning this in my favorite beers list - each sip just reaffirms that idea. You probably imagine someone with bare feet and hemp pants drinking this because of the name, but once you catch that hop smell you'll understand. Flower power is super dry-hopped with a very floral smelling hop variety. The hop blast is very present with a lingering bitterness and notes of citrusy grapefruit. All in all I find it to be it to be a very flavorful IPA.

Southern Tier Unearthly IPA (11%)
Bang! Pow! WHOMP! If a comic character were drinking this that would be the little bubbles popping out of his mouth. This delicious imperial IPA is loaded with hops from front to back. It has a wonderful citrus hop aroma, strong bitterness and a hint of sweet caramel. It's hard to tell that it is 11% ABV from the taste.

Brickhouse Bar and Grill

2010-01-16T16:55:00.000-05:00

Brickhouse Bar and Grill
Stamford, CT
Menu

Taps: Anchor Steam, Bass Ale, Blue Moon, Bud Lite, Miller Lite, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Palm, Samuel Adams Boston Lager, Samuel Adams Seasonal, Stella Artois, Stone IPA.

Have you ever taken a step back and looked at Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s acting career? What a crap sandwich pu-pu platter of movies; “Gridiron Gang.” “The Scorpion King.” “The Tooth Fairy.” “Race to Witch Mountain.” you get the drift.

I mean, this guy is THE ROCK! The creator and sole proprietor of the People’s Elbow. The man who encourages you to shove it up your roodie-poo candy ass. He obviously wanted to be the next Stallone or Schwarzenegger; but with all the corny kids movie’s he’s done, he may as well join the Wiggles. So why would the People’s Champ keep signing up for these abominations?

Money. The same thing that keeps us going back to Brickhouse.

What can you say about Brickhouse? It’s always overcrowded. The music is about 50% higher than it ever should be. You’re ALWAYS in somebody’s way. Cigarette smoke whips through the corridors like a wind tunnel. They serve shots in those little plastic lids that you use to drink your Robitussin. But who the hell are we to pass up $5 Miller Lite pitchers and 25 cent wings on Wednesdays? Much like The Rock, we’ll all take a bit of crap if the money’s right. And on Brickhouse Wednesdays, the money is right.

This past Wednesday marked the latest chapter in our storied relationship with Brickhouse. I hadn’t been since October, and I was ready to step back in the ring. I got to the bar before anybody else, so I grabbed the biggest table available…a table for four.

Now, Brickhouse features a bizarre barrier between the bar and the tables, meaning that on either side of the barrier [EDIT: This barrier is required by law for bars], you have approximately 2 feet of room to walk. There are only so many seats at the bar, and no table can accommodate more than 4 people, so what you get is a ton of spillover into the aforementioned 2-foot walkway. You can’t possibly not be in the way. The wait staff hates you, and you can tell. If you want to go to the bathroom, you have to ask a dozen or so people to move, which means screaming in their ear due to “Tik Tok” blaring at an unnecessary volume from the speakers above.

The wings are nice and flavorful, with a bunch of different sauce options (not that I ever get anything other than Buffalo), and you find yourself ordering round after round of pitchers because they’re so beautifully affordable. But once you’ve reached your fill, you just want to go. Nothing more to see here. On this night, we stayed a while.

After I lost my voice an hour into our stay at Brickhouse, I just stopped talking to people. I literally ignored my friends and watched some lopsided college hoops game. Having a conversation takes too much effort in Brickhouse. You know when you tell a joke, and someone says “what?” so you repeat it, they say “what?” again, and you say nevermind, because now the joke has been overanticipated and is destined to fail? That’s Brickhouse.

But again. $5 Miller Lite pitchers. 25 cent wings. It’s just too good to pass up.

If anyone from Brickhouse ever reads this, please: Turn down the music. ~~Take down the barrier~~. It will improve the bar ten-fold. Until then, you simply can’t justify going unless it’s a Wednesday.

But even then, you don’t feel great about yourself. You feel like you’re better than this. You’re only in it for the money. But really: who could pass up such a good deal?

Suddenly, it dawns on you. You can smell what the Rock is cookin’.

-Ryan

Go to Restaurant.com to get a $10 dollar gift certificate for 80 cents using coupon code INDULGE (expired - but search google for one).

Amore Restaurant

2010-01-11T21:45:00.000-05:00

Amore

Stamford, CT

Lunch Menu / Dinner Menu

We as Americans are slaves to hyperbole. Nothing gets us quite so riled up as arguments like “who’s the best quarterback,” “what’s the greatest movie of all time,” or “what’s the worst song ever written?” We love “bests” and “worsts.” They give us the opportunity to be bold. For instance, if I say Shawshank Redemption is a good movie, you probably don’t care. If I say Shawshank Redemption is the best movie of all time, you definitely care. You have an opinion. You’re going to tell me I’m an asshole and that “Gladiator” is the best movie of all time. Or “Pulp Fiction.” Or “Showgirls.” Okay, probably not that. Even Kyle will disagree with my anointment of Shawshank as GOAT (Greatest of All Time, acronym n00b), but that’s the beauty of hyperbole. It stimulates conversation, and even prompts convoluted analogies about movies on a blog that deals with the subject of food and beer.

…Which finally brings us to our point. Our friends over at Stamford Pizza Tour, upon running the gauntlet of every pizza establishment Stamford has to offer, crowned Amore Pizza as Stamford’s finest pie. Hyperbole. They came right out and said it. “The best.” And that got Kyle and I fired up. When someone says something’s “the best,” you’ve got to try it. The curiosity is enormous. And so on Saturday night, we did.

Kyle and I walk into Amore with our girlfriends, and immediately find it far more of an “Italian Restaurant” than a “pizza joint.” It was quiet and sparsely populated, and I found myself with the sudden urge to check the bathroom for a revolver stashed in a wooden flush-box. The bathroom had no flush-box. I’m marking off points for that. There were also little certificates and newspaper clippings in various spots celebrating SPT’s “Best Pizza” proclamation. Clearly, Food Plus Beer has work to do in terms of notoriety.

The service was warm and friendly, with the waitress playfully poking fun at my pained attempts to pronounce Italian words like Brad Pitt in Inglorious Basterds, but without the Southern Drawl. We ordered the Scarpariello pizza, (topped with chicken, sausage, garlic, hot and sweet peppers, and tomato) and the Mare & Monte pizza, (topped with shrimp, scallops, calamari and mushrooms). They were both very flavorful, with deliciously tangy tomato sauce, good balance with the toppings, and enough of an ass-kicking with the hot peppers (important).

The delicious Mare & Monte pizza.

But here is what happens in these situations. You see, Kyle and I are members of what you’d call Stamford’s “Colony Army.” Colony Grill has been our favorite pizza for approximately 40 years. It is insanely difficult to judge new pizzas objectively; because the first place we go in our minds every single time is “is this pizza better than Colony?” And Colony pizza is so unique, it’s almost apples and oranges to make the comparison.

So here we are in Michael Corleone land, enjoying an incredibly tasty pizza, but both of us are deciding in our minds that it’s not enough to dethrone Colony. I can see it in Kyle’s eyes. And then he says it, which made me feel weird for having gazed into his eyes for interpretation. It’s also worth noting that it wasn’t quite as filling as we would have hoped…it made a late night McDonald’s run necessary and my arteries take issue with that.

So for all its hyperbole (which sounds suspiciously like what you’d call the Superbowl of a competing football league), where does Amore stand? The pizza was extremely good, but I can’t in good conscience allow it to knock off the mighty Colony. It was also a little pricey, a little undersized, and a little bit out of the way. Those caveats keep it from ranking higher in the Pantheon of Stamford’s pizzas. I’d rather walk around the corner from my house to Emilia’s, and have the most inexplicably affordable pizza in town, or go downtown to Remo’s, which features a pie similarly delicious to Amore but with larger portions for the price.

Plus, we didn’t even see a beer list. Scary stuff.

They call the place Amore, and indeed, it was love at first bite. One of the best pizzas in Stamford for sure – but not the best.

Hyperbole debunked.

-Ryan

Beers in Philly - The Foodery and McGillins

2009-12-29T13:32:00.000-05:00

Connecticut is a pretty crappy state when it comes to varieties of beer distributed. For that reason I make sure that whenever I travel I taste the local flavor and stop a liquor store to bring back some out of state goodies. During my visit to Philadelphia I went to two places worth mentioning, and both of them are worth revisiting.

McGillin's Olde Ale House
Philadelphia, PA
Menu / Beer

First off, good luck finding this place. It's on a tiny side street and is easily over looked, but you'd be making a big mistake if you just passed it by. I typed "beer bars philly" into google and McGillin's was the first result. Decision made.

McGillin's has had it's doors open and taps flowing since Lincoln took office, making them the oldest continually operating bar in Philly (I don't know what they did through prohibition). They'll be celebrating their 150th anniversary this New Years.

During their impressive century and half of operation they've definitely figured out how to draw a crowd. The food is cheap and completely satisfying. But more importantly there are 35 taps to choose from, all of which are affordable and available in a pitcher for around $13. I happened to be there on a Sunday when you can buy your own McGillin's pint glass for $5 and get $1 refills all day. And while you're there help yourself to some complimentary home-made soup.

The Foodery

This little place is half deli, half craft beer shop. With over 800 domestic and imported beers to choose from I actually did feel like a kid in a candy store. All beers are sold as singles, with the option to create your own six-pack and receive 10% off. Unfortunately this place was no bargain. The average price for a 12oz bottle (not including belgians, barelywines, and other specialty or high ABV beers) was about $2.50. A little math tells us that that's about $15 a six- pack. But hey, it's the holidays. Spoil yourself, spoil your friends, and make your resolution to never drink shitty beer again.

My beer purchases from The Foodery

-Kyle

Nips Yankee Swap

2009-12-22T09:40:00.000-05:00

So, we haven’t written anything in about four weeks. Whoops. Let’s chalk that up to the Thanksgiving Tryptophan. We slept for a solid month. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.

Anyway, we recently partook in a holiday drinking celebration that warrants documentation, the Nips Yankee Swap. Now, this event featured neither food nor beer, but because we were all drinking beers on the side, it counts. Don’t you love loopholes? Don’t answer that.

If you don’t know what a Yankee Swap is, first, remove your head from your rear end, clean it off, and return to your computer screen. Back yet? Okay, I’ll explain the rules. Everybody brings wrapped gift(s) to a party. An order for picking is determined, and the first person chooses a gift and unwraps it. The next person can then choose to either unwrap a new gift, or steal the gift that the first person unwraps. This unfolds for the rest of the participants, working in rounds if multiple gifts are involved. Hilarity ensues.

So the Nips Yankee Swap was this idea with a Charles Barkley alcoholic twist to it. Each person bought 3 different nips from their local liquor store. All the nips were put into a big bag, and rounds unfolded with people blindly pulling bottles out of the bag. After each round, contestants drank what they were left with. I ended up with Southern Comfort, 99 Apples and Frangelico. Random, I know. But so is Christmas.

Everybody, have a merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year’s, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Ramadan, enjoy stewing angrily in Atheist Anti-Christmas, or whatever it is you do. Just eat a lot of food, drink a lot of beer, and do it safely. My new year’s Resolution is to write on the blog more. Crap, now it won’t come true.

-Ryan

Thanksgiving Statistics

2009-11-25T12:42:00.000-05:00

Sorry this is all I could come up with, I'm stuffed from the turkey and stuffing.

About 45 million Turkeys are consumed each Thanksgiving. That's 15% of all turkeys produced in a year and about 675 million pounds of turkey.

Minnesota produces the vast majority of turkeys in the U.S.

Thanksgiving has more cooking fires than any other day of the year. In 2005, cooking fires were involved in roughly 1,300 reported home structure fires on Thanksgiving – nearly three times the daily average.

About 15 houses will be burnt to the ground as a result of a deep fried turkey fire.
Wild turkeys can run 18 mph.
The largest turkey raised was 86 lbs. (that's terrifying!)

Happy Turkey Day from Food Plus Beer! Now go make yourself a Thanksgiving leftover sandwich and make us proud!

Food For Thought #2

2009-11-25T12:07:00.001-05:00

Article: Hungry Jack's chipped over monster burger (The Sydney Morning Harold)

Hungry Jack's double Angry Angus Burger has been under attack in the last few days. According to the article:

Hungry Jack's double Angry Angus, packed with deep fried onion rings, two slices of cheese, two beef patties and several rashers of bacon, contains 26 grams of saturated fat and 5.6 grams of salt - 10 grams more saturated fat and 1.6 grams more salt than the daily intake recommended by the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Now that sounds like a meal! I'd have already bought one and been telling you how awesome it was (how could it not be?) but the closest Hungry Jack's is in Australia. The article then states that:

Eating the Angry Angus would cause a diner's blood pressure to rise immediately and eating it regularly would cause chronic high blood pressure, leading to heart attack, kidney failure and stroke, the chairman of the Sydney World Action on Salt and Health, Bruce Neal, said yesterday.

Health officials in Australia aren't very happy about this. In fact, many are demanding the burger carry a warning label. We all know the surgeons general warning on alcohol doesn't stop anyone. And alcohol has age restrictions, legal limits, and other regulations associated with it, why would this have any effect on a burger which has no restrictions whatsoever? What do you think?

Oh yea, a top health official also said:

''The burger has a great title because it makes me doubly angry. It is highly disappointing that a manufacturer in modern-day Australia would consider serving this to people. 'To think that you could have only one of these burgers every two days and nothing else is a ridiculous idea.''

Ridiculous indeed. Sign me up!

-Kyle

Ryan’s Birthday in New York: A Food and Beer Spectacle

2009-11-17T19:58:00.000-05:00

In Connecticut, you can’t rent a car until you reach age 25. That’s all that’s left for me. My last real milestone. I have reached 22; the first of the many non-exciting ages I will reach here on out for the rest of my life, before I am eaten by a shark off of Australia’s Gold Coast at the age of 76. I had a vision.

But hey – just because the milestone isn’t exciting doesn’t mean we can’t have fun, does it? That was a rhetorical question.

With the denial of my inevitable mortality in mind, I ventured into New York City with Kyle and 3 friends of Food Plus Beer for a full day of misbehavior.

BROOKLYN BREWERY

After dropping off our things with our generous hosts, we hopped a subway to Brooklyn Brewery, home to some of the best beers I’ve ever had. When you walk into this place it actually smells like they're brewing beer. The beers here were 6 for 20$ (you buy tokens for beer). We had our first at about 2:10 p.m. For me, it was the Blast!: an Imperial IPA with a 8.5% ABV. So tasty. The flavors just pop, but it’s not overpowering. It doesn’t feel like you’re drinking such a strong beer. I followed with their 6.1% Winter Ale, a dark and sweet little number that reminded me a bit of Newcastle.

Brooklyn Brewery has cat.

We then took the “tour,” which in reality was just a short spiel by one of the brewery workers. Brooklyn only brews during the week, and they only give tours during the weekend. So there wasn’t much to see, but our tour guide had spilled something on his crotch, so there’s always that. There was also a great story about the time the brewery had its forklift stolen, only they didn’t have the money to afford a new one at the time, so the two brewmasters drove around all night in order to find the forklift and steal it back. Did I mention I love this company? It was also interesting to learn that they use pure unfiltered NYC tap water for all of their brewing while most craft breweries go to great lengths to get theirs filtered.

We downed another Blast! for the road, but since the place was BYOF (bring your own food - or order some to be delivered there) we skipped joyfully out of the brewery. Those beers don’t mess around, so we were already doing a bit of wobbling at this point.

MUGS ALE HOUSE

After stopping at a hipster used-clothing store and contemplating purchasing a circa-1994 leather Chicago Bulls jacket, we made our way to a bar called Mugs Ale House for much needed appetizers and of course, more beer (not to mention shots of the always-dangerous Rumplemintz). We had decent wings that could have used some more sauce, and nachos that my beer-riddled brain remembers as quite tasty. They had 36 beers on tap. I chose beer called Sweet Hoe, which I picked solely because of its funny name, Remember, I’m 22 years old.

SHAKE SHACK

After this, we went back to our hosts’ place (after getting off the wrong exit on the L train, of course) to continue to drink and prepare for dinner. Dinner was a delicious little burger-and-fries place called the Shake Shack, where they give you a fun little buzzer that vibrates when your food is ready. The meal was delicious and inexpensive, and the beef was top notch. This short blurb doesn't do it justice, if you see one, immediately go order yourself a burger.

EAST END BAR AND GRILL

Our next stop was the East End Bar and Grill, a Texas Tech fan bar that we went to in order to watch the Tech game with our host. Rather than taking a cab there, the group opted to take a drunken stroll through Central Park, which was blurry and beautiful. The game was a back and forth affair, but the smelly Oklahoma State Cowboys came through in the end. Magner’s and Smithwick’s were consumed here.

P.D. O'HURLEYS, GRAY'S PAPAYA

At this point, Kyle and his lady friend left for Stamford, leaving just 3 soldiers to carry out the remainder of the mission. We chose to usher in my birthday around midnight at an Irish pub called P.D. O’Hurley’s. As soon as we walked in the door, the Irish bartender was in a shouting match with a customer and violence was being threatened. We were clearly in the right place. We grabbed a couple Harp’s… and then we all realized that enough was enough. There would be no overdoing it on this night. We stopped by Gray’s Papaya for some sauerkraut chili dogs, and hit the sack.

3 bars, one brewery, and junk food galore. It was a good birthday.

-Ryan

November Food and Beer Events (Greater Connecticut)

2009-11-07T11:32:00.000-05:00

There's lots of stuff going on in November! If you're looking for something to do and can't think of anything check out the list of Food and Beer events below. I'd say the best events are New Haven Restaurant week with it's $29 prix-fixe dinners, The Great International Beer Festival in Rhode Island, and the 19th Tri-Annual 'Cask Head' Cask Ale Festival.

My personal favorite idea from the list below is the 3rd Annual Big Game & Big Beer Dinner in Northampton, Massachussetts featuring only beers over 8% ABV and MEAT! The meat includes Bison, Gator, Elk, Wild Boar, Anteloupe, and Venison.

No one has use this yet but I'd figure I'll try. Theres that Restaurant.com link thing to the left. Check it out if you're going out to eat somewhere - you could save big.

Take 70% off Restaurant.com $25 Gift Cert. orders + Receive FREE $10 Gift from The Fruit Company. Use code DINE and Pay $3 thru 11/9/09.

CONNECTICUT

11/7 - 5th Annual Beer/Wine Show
Danielson, Connecticut - Beer Tasting

11/8 - 11/13 - New Haven Restaurant Week
New Haven, Connecticut - Restaurant Week

11/8 - New Haven Cocktail Competition
New Haven, Connectict - Cocktail Competition

11/11 - Night of Arrogance!
New Haven, Connecticut - Beer Tasting

11/12 - Sierra Nevada Beer Camp #12 Edge of Darkness Tapping
Willimantic, Connecticut - Beer Tasting

11/16 - Dogfish Head Beer Dinner at The Gingerman
Norwalk, Connecticut - Beer Dinner

11/18 - Wednesday Night Tasting featuring Clipper City Brewing Co.
New Haven, Connecticut - Beer Tasting

11/20 - 5th Ever Not So Snooty Beer, Wine, & Cheese Adventure
Windsor Locks, Connecticut - Beer Tasting

11/21 - Brewery Tour to Thomas Hooker Brewing Co.
Stamford, Connecticut - Beer Tour / Pub Crawl

MASSACHUSSETTS

11/7 - Beer Summit Harvest Fest 09
Boston, Massachusetts - Beer Festival

11/7 - New England Real Ale Exhibition North (NERAX North)
Haverhill, Massachusetts - Beer Festival

11/9 - Mayflower Brewing Company -- Brew Dinner
Boston, Massachusetts - Beer Dinner / Pairing

11/10 - Harvest Beer Dinner
Cambridge, Massachusetts - Beer Dinner / Pairing

11/10 - Magic Hat Brewing Company Beer Dinner
Cambridge, Massachusetts - Beer Dinner / Pairing

11/11 - Lagunitas Beer Dinner
Greenfield, Massachusetts - Beer Dinner / Pairing

11/11 - Long Trail Brewmaster Meet & Greet
Weymouth, Massachusetts - Beer Tasting

11/14 - Autumn Brewers Dinner at Cambridge Brewing Co.
Cambridge, Massachusetts - Beer Dinner / Pairing

11/14 - Crossroads BEERFEST
Palmer, Massachusetts - Beer Festival

11/15 - Harpoon Helps pre-Thanksgiving Beer-B-Q
Boston, Massachusetts - Charity Beer Event

11/16 - Brewer's Choice Beer DinnerBoston, Massachusetts - Beer Dinner / Pairing

11/17 - Ancient Ales Dinner with Dogfish at Technique - A Cordon Bleu Rest
Cambridge, Massachusetts - Beer Dinner / Pairing

11/22 - 3rd Annual Big Game & Big Beer Dinner
Northampton, Massachusetts - Beer Dinner / Pairing

NEW YORK

11/7 - 11/08 - 19th Tri-Annual 'Cask Head' Cask Ale Festival at The Brazen Head
Brooklyn, New York - Beer Festival

11/7 - Chelsea Brewing Company Tour
New York, New York - Beer Tour / Pub Crawl

11/7 - Greenpoint Beer Festival at Red Star
Brooklyn, New York - Beer Festival

11/7 - Pennsylvania Beer Night at Tri-boro Beverage
Astoria (Queens), New York - Beer Tasting

11/8 - Brooklyn Homebrewers Tour
New York City, New York - Homebrew Event

11/10 - Dundee IPA Re-Launch at Tap & Mallet
New York, New York - Professional Event

11/11 - English Beer Night!
New York, New York - Beer Festival

11/11 - Samuel Adams Utopias Release at Tap & Mallet
Rochester, New York - Beer Tasting

11/12 - Fancy Dutch Beer Week
New York, New York - Beer Festival

11/12 - Ithaca Beer Tastling at Wegmans - DeWitt
DeWitt, New York - Beer Tasting

11/12 - Ithaca Brewing Night at The Peekskill Brewery
Peekskill, New York - Beer Tasting

11/13 - Dogfish Head Beer Dinner
Ellenville, New York - Beer Dinner / Pairing

11/13 - Meet the Brewer- Dave from Climax Brewery
New York, New York - Beer Tasting

11/13 - The Divese, Superb & Unique Beers of Belgium
New York, New York - Beer Tasting

11/14 - 6th Annual Beer & Wine Festival at Holiday Valley
Ellicottville, New York - Beer Festival

11/14 - International Great Beer Expo at Nassau Coliseum
Uniondale, New York - Beer Festival

11/14 - Ommegang Brewery Series Night
Mahopac, New York - Beer Tasting

11/18 - Victory Release of Yakima Twilight
Williamsville, New York - Beer Tasting

11/19 - Sixpoint Craft Ales Tasting Event!Staten Island, New York - Beer Tasting

11/23 - Craft Beer & Artisanal Cheese
New York, New York - Beer Tasting

11/25 - Thanksgiving Eve Bash- Abita Brewing Co. at The Peekskill Brewery
Peekskill, New York - Beer Tasting

RHODE ISLAND

11/10 - Harpoon Brewery Paired Fondue Feast
Providence, Rhode Island - Beer Dinner / Pairing

11/13 - Left Hand Tasting with Simoes Imports (The Beer Guys)
Exeter, Rhode Island - Beer Tasting

11/14 - Great International Beer Festival
Providence, Rhode Island - Beer Festival

October 9th Part 2: Burgers/Monster B's Party Bus

2009-10-27T17:56:00.000-04:00

Previously, on Food Plus Beer:
Uh…just read the post below this one. That should provide adequate summation.

Anyway, with the rapture of Stew Leonard’s still fresh in our minds, Food Plus Beer decided it was time for…

Food and Beer. What, are you surprised?

In my case, it was more like Food Plus Beer Plus Rum. Always ends well. We threw back a few while watching UConn football build up an impressive lead against Pittsburgh and then throw it away in vulgarity-inducing, heartbreaking fashion. It was the type of sports-related tragedy that only meat can fix.

Now; there are burgers, and there are blog burgers. And we’re not going to bore you with the former.

It's common knowledge that everything is better when it's wrapped in bacon. In this case we decided to wrap it around a pair of massive beef patties. Here's how we did it:  

Start with some fatty ground chuck (80/20). Make sure you have enough for at least two-third pounds per burger (otherwise you'll have wimpy burgers).  

Season your meat as desired then make two one-third pound, flat patties of equal size. Put a slice of cheese on top of one, and then put the other patty on top. 

Pinch the sides together so that you have one large burger stuffed with cheese. (make it a little thinner in the middle so you don't end up with a meatball) 

Lay out 4 slices of bacon in a weave formation:

Center the burger on the bacon weave and fold the strips over the burger. Grill on high heat on both sides for 2 minutes to start in order to sear the bacon and have it properly stick to the burger. 

Cook as desired and add more cheese to the top during the last minute.

How was it you ask? Well, it was awesome. With bacon drippings getting absorbed by the burger as the fat renders, and a slice of cheese in the center, this might just be the juiciest burger you'll ever have. You'll have a hard time burning this one. Although the burger was full of delicious bacon flavor, the only problem I had was that the bacon didn't get crispy. I enjoy a bit of crunch when I'm eating my burger. Solution: cook more crispy bacon in the traditional way and throw it on top!

-Kyle

After dinner, we were joined by several more friends of Food Plus Beer, and the thought of going to a bar arose. I was indifferent at first…there were drinks where we were that weren’t 5 bucks. But then someone said something that woke up megabuzzed One-Track-Mind Ryan: “Monster B’s Party Bus.” You may remember a brief mention of this magical service in our initial Monster B’s writeup.

It was over. This was happening. Even if no one else wanted to go, we still would have gone. But as it turned out, everyone seemed pretty thrilled about this magical idea, and so we called. There were 9 people in our party, and they said we needed 15. We pulled the old “Well, I suppose I’ll just take my business elsewhere” routine, and before long, the bus was picking us up.

There’s just something surreal about an actual bus that brings you to and from the bar free of charge. I’m still not sure whether or not that happened. We didn’t stay long, and our time there was a bit hazy, but one thing is for damn sure – we haven’t ridden the party bus for the last time. Also, smart business plan. Seriously. That bus provided them with 9 customers who otherwise certainly wouldn’t have gone to Monster B’s – and there was a cover charge. (The one bummer about the whole thing – there was some cover band there that night).

So the bus brings us back to our downtown location, and drops us off in the middle of the road. As we’re walking away, the bus gets pulled over. Kind of funny, but mostly, it’s a shame. Anything that disturbs the Monster B’s Party Bus in the performance of its duties is ill-advised in my book.

October 9th. Nice day to be alive.

One more thing...Stop by your local delicious Taco Bell on Halloween and pick up a free Black Taco! 6 pm to midnight.

-Ryan

October 9th Part 1 – Stew Leonard’s

2009-10-15T10:36:00.000-04:00

Just about every town in America has a grocery store, but only four (Norwalk CT, Danbury CT, Newington CT, Yonkers NY) have a Stew Leonard’s.

Answer me this: Does your local grocery store have a petting zoo? Ice cream store? Singing and dancing mechanical Chiquita banana? Free food samples every 3.5 feet? Dairy products made in-store? A hoedown-inducing animatronic country-western Milk Carton band? Or the crème de la crème, a push-button controlled mooing cow? This is not a grocery store. This is a spectacle of the highest order.

The Chiquita Senorita performing the Banana Boogie.

In my youth, I can remember going to Stew’s fairly often, and the years in between have done nothing to diminish the mystique. I still push the cow button. I still watch the milk band. I still make noises at the goats hoping they will understand my dialect and respond in kind.

As my sisters and I got older, we didn’t really go to Stew’s anymore. I get it – there are obvious benefits to bringing children here. All the bells and whistles of this magical place would keep us wide-eyed and slack-jawed long enough for my mom to get some shopping done, unlike at our local Grade A ShopRite, where we likely pelted each other with produce and threw shiny cereal boxes into the cart when mom wasn’t looking.

Push button, cow moos. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Still though; being there again makes me feel like I’ve missed out on years of quality Stew’s time. There’s a sense of joy about the place. You never see somebody with a “Why the hell did I come to Stew Leonard’s?” look on their face. You just don’t. Young and old people alike are jumping up and down on the inside…it’s just that kids are also jumping up and down on the outside.

And my God, the samples.

They had free samples of the following: Pumpkin pie, apple cider, pomegranate juice, French bread + olive oil, salmon salad on a cracker, chicken pot pie, gelato, garden salad, tortilla chip with cheese dip, chicken salad on a cracker, and at least two more that I’m forgetting.

It’s unbelievable. For one, it totally increases your excitement about shopping. Also, I decided then and there that if I ever found myself unemployed and homeless, I’d be setting up cardboard camp near a Stew’s. Not a bad life.

We had it in our minds that the drawback to all this was the prices; you’ll certainly pay more for all the hubbub. Not the case. Granted we only bought burger-making supplies, but we found that the prices were comparable to the grocery stores we usually go to. This of course begs the question; why the hell don’t we just always go to Stew’s?

I’m still trying to think of a reason why not. (Well, there's the fact that they don't seem to have toiletries and a lot of your other everyday grocery store items. But who cares? Why make a grandiose statement if you're going to back down? Go to CVS for all that other junk).

Stay tuned for part 2 of the October 9th Food Plus Beer mega-day; including a new way to make death-defying cheeseburgers, beer, and the Monster B’s party bus.

-Ryan

McDonald's and Miller High Life

2009-10-07T19:05:00.000-04:00

When Food Plus Beer went on its first two culinary missions to Monster B’s and Black Bear, the trips were predetermined. Kyle and I had brainstormed earlier in the day and picked restaurants based on appeal, specials, and overall relevance to our cause. We were accompanied by friends of the blog, ate at dinnertime, and paid attention to our surroundings for fun anecdotes. This was nothing like that.

So, it’s about 9 PM, and Kyle and I are polishing off glass number 2 or 3 of his homebrewed Porter. Here’s a riddle for you: How do you get beer out of the fridge without opening it? Easy. Install a tap.

This is the greatest thing Kyle’s ever done, and I’m so excited about it that I’m threatening to abandon the rest of this post and list 100 or so reasons why every American should have a tap on their fridge. But I won’t.

Anyway, not eating dinner and throwing back homebrews alerted us to the fact that we were both hungry, and eating took precedence over watching The Office at that particular time. We discussed criteria for food.

Leftovers won’t cut it.
Can’t be expensive.
Faster is better.
Preferable if food is endorsed by creepy clown.

Do you see where this is going? That’s right. The Golden Arches.But we needed a beer that was appropriate for the mission. How’s your SAT score?

Filet Mignon is to Homebrewed Kegerator Beer as McDonald’s is to ___________.

If you said Miller High Life, give yourself a pat on the back. We grabbed 2 MLHs from my house and headed to the drive thru. 4 McDoubles, 1 McChicken, 2 small fries. $7.60. Amazing.

Note: I’ve always been suspicious that the McDouble is the Double Cheeseburger. We asked, and they said that the Double Cheeseburger has an extra slice of cheese. For 60 cents extra. What a curious pricing maneuver. Also, I cannot reiterate enough, never leave the drive-thru without looking in your bag first. Your order gets messed up approximately 300% of the time. Although, they got ours right this time – fate must have been on our side. I credit the lucky High Life cans. We’ll get back to this in a second.

So, we get back to Kyle’s house and we pound the food as you might expect. The smell of grease permeates the house. There is a tacit understanding that both of us are going to be fighting over the bathroom in the near future. I love McDonald’s.

And that brings us to the Miller High Life. What can you say, it’s cheap beer. You get what you pay for. But the reason I bought Miller High Life was the cans. They are hilarious; head to toe in camouflage. You know, except for the label and everything. This is definitely the beer to drink on a deer hunt. Or an Army mission. Or when you’re hiding in a pile of leaves waiting to scare children. Beer already makes me giggle – beer in a camouflage can gets me even sillier. Which is why Kyle and I decided to test out the can’s ability to blend into its surroundings.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t see it anywhere.

Like a chameleon.

-Ryan

NY Craft Beer Week + Stone

2009-09-27T20:58:00.000-04:00

So I went to craft beer week in NYC and I went to one of the Stone kick-off events in CT and I have to say these meet the brewer events aren't as exciting as I thought they would be. Don't get me wrong, I had more than my share of great beers, but I don't really know exactly what I expected.

On Saturday I went to NYC with some friends. Took the train from Stamford into Grand Central and then a short walk overto Gingermans on 36th. Gingerman's in NYC is an awesome place. With 70 beers on tap and 3 casks you don't even need to look at their bottle selection. They had The Onion for free in print, and a sign in the from that read Meet the Brewers of Harpoon and Magic Hat from 5 - 7. What a great suprise. I just heard this was a good bar and that we could get some good beers here, meeting some brewers was a bonus.

The beers were about $6.50 each, but they came in 22oz glasses (its called an imperial pint) so the price wasn't so bad, especially since wewere ordering some really big beers. I got a Harpoon Harpoon IPA Chinook Dry Hopped, Bear Republic Racer 5, and tasted everone elses. Both beers were spectacularly hopped and delicious, but I have to give the edge to Racer 5. It was my favorite beer of the night and I highly recommend it if you can find it. We waited there until 6 but there were no brewers to be seen - who would have thought that brewers would be punctual? Anyway, we all left with a good buzz so we were happy.

Next up was Rattle N' Hum on 33rd St., having the brewers of Troegs, Elysian, and Ithaca. I like Ithaca - their Flower Power IPA is one of my favorite beers. But this bar was way too packed, and people didn't seem to be into the beer scene. There was a big Washington Huskies sign outside (wrong type of Huskies as far as I'm concerned) and it appears countless fans assembled here to watch them play USC.

I dont really like fighting my way to the bar especially with other untested brew pubs in the city, so we moved on. The end game was a show on Bleecker St. so we ventured to the Blind Tiger for their respectable 30 taps. Here I tried another great beer, a green flash IPA (I told you I like IPAs). This bar was crammed, but it had a cozy feel with a fireplace and the menu written on a chalkboard. Not to mention the fact that although their draught offering was less than half the size of the gingerman it was very well selected.

After drinking some beer there, we grabbed some burritos and that was it for the beer and food. Tasty, intoxicating, and fun - can't go too wrong with that.

Every bar we went to in NY had some Stone Brewing Company beers on tap, but I held off knowing I was going to a kick-off event in CT in which I would try some Stone beers. I went to Monster B's where there were 7 Stone draughts available for the event. These were DELICIOUS, I'm so glad they made it here. I had the Ruination IPA, a smoked porter and an Arrogant Bastard Ale. The Ruination and the Arrogant Bastard were both great. The smoked porter was tasty, but a little weak. I would recommend Otter Creeks Stovepipe Porter instead.

Again I ran into the same story. Apparently beer people just aren't very punctual. They were only 30 minutes late this time, but unfortunately no brewers were here. Just sales guys. I got some bumper stickers and probably could have milked them for a free beer if mine wasn't already full, but all I really ended up with was a breif conversation.

All in all I guess I thought these events would be more organized. I expected a more formal brewer presentation, maybe with a Q and A with some sort of giveaway - I don't really know. All it really was, was the brewers were drinking at the bar as If you and I were, except that if you wanted you could walk over to their table and strike up a good conversation about your favorite brew. In the end, I still had some great beers everywhere I went, and I still had a great time. I just expected something different at a scheduled meet the brewer event. It was more like just running into someone you knew at the bar.

-Kyle

Connecticut Beer and Food Happenings

2009-09-17T21:27:00.000-04:00

You might have noticed some recent changes to our blog. For starters, we added that nifty menu to the left. You're probably looking at it thinking its just useless advertisements. WRONG! Although we write this because its fun, and a good amount of you seem to enjoy it, everyone likes to make a little beer money.

All we ask is that if you're going to buy something from Amazon, click that little box over there to access the Amazon site. That way we earn some coin (4% of the amount you spend) and you don't spend anything extra.

Next, the button above that, Restaurant.com, is actually very useful to you and also has the ability to earn us some money. Go to restaurant.com (through our link), put in your zip code, and voila! There's a listing of restaurants near you with the option to purchase $25 gift certificates to that chosen restaurant for $10. Not bad eh? But wait! There's MORE! (had to do it). Don't ever buy anything from that site full priced. There's always a coupon code (use the code "ENJOY" for 60% off through 9/21). The sites legit, I've been using it for a bout two years now and haven't had any problems. I'll try my best to update you with current coupon codes and provide links when we review restaurants or bars listed there.

Enough of the infomercial - on to bigger and better news.

Stone Brewing Company is probably my favorite brewing company. They have great beers in their line up, and a really cool gargoyle on each bottle. Can't go wrong with that. Unfortunately, they haven't distributed to Connecticut until now.

Welcome them to Connecticut by joining them in some kick-off events across the state. They'll have several of their delicious beers available and probably some giveaways. I recommend that you check them out. Here's the schedule:

Tuesday, September 22
6:00pm - Stone CT Kick-off at Prime 16 (New Haven)
9:00pm - Stone CT kick-off at Delaney's (New Haven)

Wednesday, September 23
6:00pm - Stone CT Kick-off at Plan B Burger Bar (Glastonbury)

Thursday, September 24
6:00pm - Stone CT Kick-off at Tigin Irish Pub (Stamford)
9:00pm - Stone CT Kick-off at Monster B's Bar & Grill (Stamford)

Friday, September 25
6:00pm - Stone CT Kick-off at The Ginger Man (Norwalk)

There's a very good chance you'll find us at Monster's on Thursday and possibly at Tigin before. If that doesn't do it for you, here are some more events in Connecticut this month:

9/21
Craft Brewers Oktoberfest Beer Tasting, Willimantic Brewery (Willimantic)

9/26
Pipes in the Valley Celtic Music Festival (Hartford)
Go there for bagpipes, falconry, highland games, and of course food and beer.

Brewers Fest, Ski Sundown (New Hartford)

9/26-27
Blues, Views & BBQ Festival, Levitt Pavilion (Westport)

Enjoy!

-Kyle

Black Bear Saloon @ Stamford

2009-09-15T20:41:00.000-04:00

Stamford, CT
http://www.blackbearstamford.com/

Menu

Happy Hour: M-F 4-7pm
$3 drafts & wells, other daily food specials

In nature, a brown bear is more likely to attack you for territorial reasons. They think you’re messing with their babies; and they don’t like that kind of thing. Play dead and start praying. On the other hand, if a black bear attacks you, you’d better try to fight it off - it’s more than likely trying to eat you.

Exactly one week ago, however, it was we that were eating the Black Bear, in Stamford’s Columbus Circle. While I was much chagrined to learn that seared bear loin was not available on the menu, I found solace in a huge cheeseburger, which I proceeded to rip from limb to limb like a black bear (Ursus americanus) might a wayward hiker.

We went on a Tuesday, which was 2 for 1 burger night. There are two ways to go about this deal:

Maximum Gluttony. Be a man and order two burgers for yourself for the price of one.
Gentlemanly Restraint. Eat one burger and pretend to be full afterwards.

I’d like to tell you we fought the good fight and chose option 1. I’d like to tell you that. But prison is no fairy tale world.

Whoops, got caught up in Shawshank Redemption.

Yes, dear friends, myself and my 3 companions each enjoyed one of Black Bear’s fine burgers. I went with the Bleu Cheese Bacon Burger. The beef was tasty and tender, high-fiving the bacon and seesawing back and forth over my palette with its good friend, Bleu cheese. I also decided to have sweet potato fries as opposed to its more traditional counterpart because hey: I’m crazy like that. They were quite good.

All I ask is 3 beers apiece for each of my coworkers. Damn it, Shawshank. Black Bear had the dubious task of being the next Restaurant/Bar review following Monster B’s and their bevy of beer, and the difference in selection is obviously huge. But really, as long as they have one beer you really like, it’s not so bad, huh? So the four of us went with the always satisfying Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. And pints were just $3 all night. Score.

Here’s the beers that were on tap:
Bass, Bud light, Budweiser, Guinness, Magic Hat Circus Boy, Miller Lite, Sam Adams Winter Lager, Shocktop, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Stella Artois,

A few other things:

Every one of their booths running across the back wall has its own TV. We watched the Yankee game and laughed gregariously at the miserable job the closed caption guy was doing. “Alex Rodriguez is dalkgdan 2 gor 4 tonihgty.” That kind of thing. Good comedy.

Also, we were able to knock 10% off the bill with the iShop Stamford Downtown card (http://www.ishopstamforddowntown/). How’s a huge burger with fries and two Sierra Nevadas for about $12 plus tip sound?

Black Bear has deals Sun-Wed every week, and that’s a great time to check the place out. Good food, good beer, what more could you want? Maybe the opportunity to lasso a bear, but now I’m splitting hairs.

In the battle of Food vs. Beer, it is hereby decreed that Black Bear is…

A food place! Go around 6-7 and enjoy it before it gets annoyingly clubby.

-Ryan

NY Craft Beer Week 2009

2009-09-11T16:24:00.000-04:00

http://www.nycbeerweek.com/
September 11 - 20

Live in The City? Going to The City? Need an excuse? Either way, if you're up for it, today is the start of NY Craft Beer Week.

The week starts off tonight with the Gotham Cask Ale Festival which will go on throughout the weekend. Cask ale is beer that is unfiltered, unpasturized, and naturally carbonated and served from a cask. This is the way beer was traditionally brewed.

Theres all sorts of other fun events going on including beer dinners, beer lessons, beer walks, bar crawls, meet the brewer nights and more! Check out the NY Craft Beer Week site for the schedule of events.

It all sounds pretty exciting to me, although some of the events are a bit pricey for me. If I make it down there I'd definitely like to go to a meet the brewer event. Here's the Brewmaster Night schedule at one of the bars that has great reviews and a lot going on.

Rattle N Hum
Meet the Brewers of:

Friday 11th - Ballast Point, Blue Point
Saturday 12th- Oskar Blues
Sunday 13th - Sierra Nevada, Shmaltz
Monday 14th - Victory, Sixpoint, Flying Dog
Tuesday 15th - Brooklyn, River Horse, Boulder, Goose Island
Wednesday 16th - Stone, Bear Republic
Thursday 17th - Smuttynose, Stoudts
Friday 18th - Ommegang, Allagash, Southampton, Captain Lawrence
Saturday 19th - Troegs, Elysian, Ithaca

At these events you can expect the brewmasters to do a little talk about their beers, probably some Q&A, and have a lot of their beers available for tasting. So choose some breweries you like.

The bottom line is, if you're thinking about going down go to the official site for the best information about everything going on. If you're wondering what beers on tap at which bars check out http://www.beermenus.com/.

-Kyle

Oktoberfest

2009-09-08T18:07:00.000-04:00

With over six million people attending Oktoberfest in Munich every year, it is the world's largest fair. The first Oktoberfest took place in 1810 and traditionally takes place during the sixteen days leading up to and including the first Sunday in October. This year's Oktoberfest will occur from Sep. 20th - Oct. 5th.

This festival is all about eating vast amounts of food and drinking tons of beer. Here are some fun stats from last year's event:

6 million visitors

Things consumed:
6.6 million liters of beer
460,000 chicken pieces
117,000 sausauge pairs
104 oxen

Items found:
680 identity cards and passports
410 wallets
360 keys
265 spectacles
280 mobile phones
80 cameras
4 wedding rings
1 set of diving goggles
1 set of angel's wings
1 superman costume
0 false teeth (for the first time since records began…)

As you can see, people get silly. There’s even a special name for people who get way too silly – "Bierleichen" which is German for “beer corpses”.

Unfortunately, most of us are stuck here in America just reading about it. But the good news is since the first of September Oktoberfest style beers (aka Märzen) have started to appear on shelves in liquor stores. These beers are usually in the 5-6% ABV range, dark copper in color with a full-bodied taste of toasty malts. Not much of a hop profile.

-Kyle

We decided to sample some of the Oktoberfests BevMax in Stamford had to offer:

From the left: Brooklyn, Blue Point, Hofbrau, Samuel Adams

Sam Adams Octoberfest, being the only Octoberfest I'd ever had, was a natural place to start. Good beer, but a little malty. At least that's what Kyle says. I really don't know what I'm talking about.

You see, Kyle is the beer guy of the two of us. He brews, (I just said Hebrew) and I wouldn't be surprised if he read beer publications. I love beer, but my critiquing could probably use a little work. I'm the color guy. I'm here to make you laugh gregariously and forget about how painful and empty your sad, depressing life is. Kyle's Dan Schulmann, and I'm Dick Vitale. Okay, baby?

Phew. What a load off my chest. Now I can talk about my thoughts without feeling the need to get too technical about things. Because a lot of you probably don't know what the hell he's talking about, either. Love you, Kyle. Let's have beer lessons soon.

Anywho, what I noticed about Sam Adams' Octoberfest was that its aftertaste contained a slight essence of funk.

Brooklyn's Oktoberfest, however, had a very similar taste, with a smoother finish. No funk. Crisper than Crispin Glover.

Blue Point's offering was good, but not really as interesting as the previous two. I mean, even Sammie's funk is something worth mentioning. Blue Point's was just kind of unremarkable.

Hofbrau was really good, but definitely felt out of place. It was such a departure from the other three that it would be irresponsible of me to include in in the judging. Hence, I disqualified it on the basis of "apples and oranges." It would be like comparing 3 colas and a Sprite.

So, in the end, the Brooklyn takes home the gold medal, and my love affair with this brewery marches on.

-Ryan

Monster B's

2009-08-27T17:01:00.000-04:00

Stamford, CT
http://www.monsterbs.com/

Food Menu / Draught Beer Menu / Bottled Beer Menu

Happy Hour: M-F, 4-8pm
$3 draught pints, Half-priced appetizers

If you’re a 20-something living in Stamford, you may not be aware of this, but there are bars outside of the Downtown area. That’s right, it’s true. One such place is a little slice of heaven called Monster B’s, located on Glenbrook Road.

What’s so special about this place?

First and foremost, it’s the beer selection. With 30 beers on tap and more than 180 bottled, there’s plenty of room to explore. In fact, last year they won a “Best of the Gold Coast” award for their incredible beer selection! If you come here and order a Bud Light, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Second, they have a friggin' party bus. That's right, you can call Monster B's and have them pick you and your friends up for a ride to the bar. They'll even give you a ride back. I'm not sure of the details exactly, but I've got to say this is one of the greatest ideas of all time. Even better than the Keytar. Check out the website for more details.

Third, the music selection is surprisingly tolerable. Albeit, at one point we were subjected to Hole and the nauseating quasi-musical stylings of Courtney Love, but the rest of the tunes were A-OK. Live, Soundgarden, Foo Fighters – that sort of thing.

This might seem a minor detail, but at Brickhouse, an overcrowded bar with an irresistible Wednesday deal that we’ll chronicle soon, the music has me thinking homicidal thoughts. Lady GaGa, Pitbull, Sean Kingston – a who’s who of people we’d like to see put in a space shuttle and shot towards the sun.

But I digress. We went to Monster B's for Happy Hour, which just may be the best in Stamford: $3 for every beer on draught, and half-price for most appetizers. I had the loaded nachos; $9.99 normally, $5 at oh-so-beautiful happy hour. They were super cheesy and loaded with chili. I’ve had better, but they certainly hit the spot. My beers were a Great Divide Titan IPA, A Brooklyn Brewmasters Reserve Cuvee de Cardoz, and Abita Purple Haze. Three totally different beers, all satisfying. This is the place to go to discover something new.

[ Kyle interrupting here] I also had a Great Divide Titan IPA, but followed it with a Lagunitas IPA and a Captain Lawrence Captains Reserve Imperial IPA. I guess you can figure out that I like IPA’s (That’s India Pale Ale if you were wondering)… In the food department I had a dozen wings doused in Monster B’s own Hero Sauce. I was warned by the waitress about the heat level of this sauce but did not waiver from my decision. Hot damn! Those were hot. Tasty, but scorching. If you’re not familiar with hot sauce, don’t be a Hero. [Done, just had to say my piece]

‘Twas a hootenanny of a good time. How can you go wrong with 3 flavorful beers and a plate of nachos for $14? You just can’t. But this is Food Plus Beer. Every establishment has an emphasis. Are you coming to Monster B’s mainly for the grub, or for the Tedy Brewskis (look it up, non-football fans)? The tribe has spoken. In the case of Monster B’s…

Food vs Beer?

Beer wins. Fatality.

-Ryan

*Since the draught beers aren't updated on their website check out the comments to this post for the beers available when we went on 8/26.

Food for Thought #1

2009-08-20T14:09:00.000-04:00

You know, not every entry can be about massive double cheeseburgers and sweet deals. Well, OK, yes it can.

But there are a lot of philosophical matters in the world of food, and Food Plus Beer aims to tackle those as well. We will call these posts "Food for Thought," because it's a brilliant pun of Good Humor popsicle stick proportions.

Warning: This entry contains Non-FPB-Approved Dining.
At Food Plus Beer, we encourage culinary exploration – after all, your next favorite food could still be out there somewhere, unbeknownst to you. But this exploration could lead you into a moral dilemma.

New Zealand Dog Barbecue
The above link is a story of a relocated Tongan (native of Tonga…don’t worry, I had to look it up, too) man living in New Zealand who caused a whirlwind of controversy when he decided he’d had enough of his Staffordshire terrier, so he beat it over the head with a hammer, slit its throat, and ate it.

“Damn…Why didn’t I think of that?”
New Zealand law states that citizens can kill and eat their dogs, as long as they’re killed humanely. And what’s more humane than being bashed over the head with a hammer?

This man grew up in a part of the world where eating dogs is no big deal. I mean, we love to eat cows, even though it freaks out our wacky friends in India, right? Perhaps our aversion to eating our beloved terriers is nothing more than typical American ethnocentric attitude.

So let’s put it to a poll, shall we? You’ll notice the burning question lingering to the right.

Would you ever try dog meat?

-Ryan

About Us

2009-08-18T20:28:00.000-04:00

For the launch of our blog we wanted to give you some fun content first, however we didn't say anything about us (the bloggers)! So here goes:

We're two young lads from Stamford, CT who have been eating food since before our baby teeth and drinking beer for longer! We believe this experience makes us exceptional critics, connoisseurs, afficionados and so forth. Here is a little insight into our favorite foods and beers.

Kyle

Favorite Foods:
- Lobster
- Baby Back Ribs
- Philly Cheese Steaks

Favorite Beers:
- Ithaca Flower Power IPA
- Stone IPA
- Victory Prima Pils

Favorite Snack:
- Beef Jerky

Favorite Topping:
- Bacon

Favorite Thing Wrapped in Bacon:
- Scallops

Ketchup, Mustard, or Mayo?
- Mayo

Ryan

Favorite Foods:
- Pizza
- Wings
- Burgers

Favorite Beers:
- Brooklyn Lager
- Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
- Blue Moon

Favorite Snack:
- Now Defunct...The Legend of Guacamole Doritos

Favorite Topping:
- Bacon

Favorite Thing Wrapped in Bacon:
- Bacon

Ketchup, Mustard, or Mayo?
- Bacon

See our latest post below!

Stamford Restaurant Week Summer 2009

2009-08-18T12:50:00.000-04:00

I'm a day late in posting this, but I'm sure you'll manage. Yesterday, Monday, August 17th, was the first day of Stamford's Restaurant Weeks, which will continue for the next two weeks until Sunday, August 30th. Restaurant Week gives you the opportunity to get a full 3 course meal (most restaurants offer an appetizer, entrée, and dessert) for a fixed price with choices from a special prix-fixe menu. Although you may be able to find some deals, beware, not everything is worth it.

Here's the chart of participating restaurants (click for menus):

$10.09 Lunch and $15.09 Dinner
Black Bear Saloon
Kujaku Japanese Restaurant
SBC Restaurant & Brewery
Tigin Irish Pub & Restaurant*

$10.09 Lunch and $20.09 Dinner
Remo’s Brick Oven Pizza Company
Republic Grill Asian Bistro

$19.09 Lunch and $30.09 Dinner
BUtterfield 8
Chez Jean-Pierre
Columbus Park Trattoria
Emme of Capri
Ferrante
Market Restaurant**
Mitchell’s Fish Market
Mona Lisa Ristorante
Telluride
The Capital Grille
*Call 203-353-8444 for details
**Dinner Only

Stamford Downtown Restaurant Week '09 Site

I've taken a brief look at most of the menus and in general most of the lunches to me seem like pretty awesome deals. The majority of lunch menus are nearly the same as the dinner menus and are significantly cheaper. But who goes out for a big lunch? As far as dinner goes, I think your best bet is to try the restaurants that are generally more expensive to begin with. Although $30.09 per person may seem like a lot, some of the restaurants on the list are serving entrees that usually cost more than that.

Take The Capital Grille for example – If I were to go there I'd order:

Clam Chowder: $8
Kona Crusted Dry Aged Sirloin with Shallot Butter: $42
Creamed Spinach: $9
Flourless Chocolate Expresso Cake: $7

Total Normal Cost: $66

There are other menu options that you could choose, but they all come out to about the same total cost. With restaurant week you can eat at a great steak house with 50% off. However, some deals suck. Black Bear thought it was a great idea to offer only an entrée, say their Southwestern Burger, for $15.09 when it usually costs only $9.99 – go figure!

Anyway, check out the menus and decide what you like best. Post some comments and share your thoughts on any of these restaurants or deals!

OTHER NEWS:

While you're doing Stamford restaurant stuff, make sure you sign up for the free iShop Stamford Downtown Card for 10% off selected restaurants and stores.
New York City Restaurant Week has been extended through Labor Day (weekdays only).
Boston Restaurant Week continues through Friday, August 21st.

And although unrelated to food and beer, everyone hates taxes, so I thought I'd remind you that it's Tax Free Week in Connecticut this week until August 22nd, for all clothing, shoes, and accessories under $300.

-Kyle

Double Bacon Cheeseburger

2009-08-06T14:09:00.000-04:00

Well, it's been 5 months in the making...let's get this baby goin'! Ladies and Gentlemen... Food plus Beer! Hey everyone, this is Kyle, and here's a little man-feast I whipped up that's packed with bacon both inside and on top.

Ingredients:

1.5 lb Ground Chuck 80/20
.5 lb Ground Pork
1 lb Bacon
½ Large Onion (chopped)
1 Clove Garlic (crushed)
2T Montreal Steak Seasoning
1T Barbeque Sauce

Poppy or Sesame Seed Rolls (classic buns won’t be able to handle these big boys)
2 Slices of White American Cheese per Burger (don’t get singles)
2 Slices of Monterey Jack Cheese per Burger
Lettuce
Tomato
Mayonnaise

Directions:

Cut half of the bacon into 1 inch pieces and sauté. Set aside the rest of the bacon for topping.
When bacon is getting crispy add chopped onion and continue frying until onion is soft
Drain half of the grease from the pan and let the remainder cool
Once cool, combine mixture with all remaining ingredients (excluding buns and cheese) in a bowl (use your hands! It’s the easiest way by far)
Divide mixture into as many patties as you like. When it comes to burgers the bigger the better, so I made 3 massive patties. Make your patties a little thinner in the middle so they don’t turn into meatballs.
If you’re burgers are really big, I recommend starting each side on high heat and then lowering the heat. Flip burgers only once during cooking. Meanwhile prepare the rest of the bacon to put on top.
When done, flip burgers once more and add your cheese for the last 2 minutes (until it melts)
Drop it on a lightly toasted bun and add desired toppings
Proceed straight to Burger City, first stop, Bun Town. As always, wash it down with a cold beer.

You can feel the intensity in my eyes. That's me, Ryan. Hi. Eating this burger was guttural. Primal. I felt like a lion tearing apart a zebra on the Serengeti. A zebra covered in melted cheese. I mean, come on, stop it. Food this good just isn't fair. But it wasn't just food. After all, the site is called Food Plus Beer, ain't it? We complemented this Meatapalooza by throwing back a few Longhammer IPAs, a sexy hoppy little number with a 6.5% ABV (Alcohol by volume, stupid) and a slight malty finish. Bottom line? I'd do it again. Right now.

-Ryan

The Ginger Man: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company Beer Dinner

2009-08-06T10:18:00.000-04:00

I think it's a bit pricey but for those who are interested, it's $65 per person for 5 courses paired with 5 beers at The Ginger Man in Norwalk, CT. Here's the email:

It's that time again! On Monday, August 10th, The Ginger Man will host the
Sierra Nevada Brewing Company for this month's beer dinner.

From Chico, California, Sierra Nevada is one of the premier craft breweries in the world. The company is tirelessly dedicated to the green effort and devotes considerable resources to technologies involving recycling, fuel cells, solar energy, heat and carbon dioxide recovery, and even green transportation for their distribution truck fleet. And all the while, they make tremendous beer!

For those not familiar with our beer dinners, your $65 ticket is all inclusive: 5 courses paired with 5 beers, tax and gratuity. The evening kicks off promptly at 7pm, cocktail style--check in, meet your friends and enjoy hors d'oeuvres. 4 courses follow, including a cheese plate and dessert.

Further information about the beer selections and food menu can be found here in PDF or on our website.

Please call or come in to purchase your tickets. Due to the high demand for beer dinner seats, we are unable to offer a refund for cancelled tickets. Feel free to contact us at info@gingermannorwalk.com for further information.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Statement of Purpose

2009-03-03T13:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome,

We love food and beer. Simply put, these two things make the world go ‘round. And since you’re reading this, you too must have a decent appreciation for at least one of these things.

So what is the purpose of this blog?

With countless shows, books, magazines, and websites (yes, even other blogs) all dedicated to food and drink you may wonder what makes us different. We’re going to put food and beer into layman’s terms. We’re guessing you haven’t graduated from a culinary institution and neither have we. We are on the same page as you the reader and we will blog about the same things that you eat and drink. Visit our blog for reviews of your local man-food restaurants and bars, fast food chains, snacks, delicious and cheap brews, recipes and tips for great cooking, and news about food and beer events.

There are two types of people in this world; those who eat to live, and those who live to eat. This blog is for the latter.

-The management

P.S. If you have any requests or ideas for blogging let us know at FoodPlusBeer@gmail.com