Hopewell Brewing - Monday Night Dinner with Flat and Point

 

I really like Hopewell Brewing.  They are good people that do some good and interesting beers.  Periodically, on a Monday night (when they are normally closed), they will invite a neighborhood restaurant who they are friends with and will host a Monday Night Dinner.  It gives them a chance to feature their beer with some different and interesting food served family-style, and it gives their friends a chance to try something that might not normally do.  For this Monday Night Dinner, they invited Flat & Point, a neighborhood restaurant that is similar to a barbecue restaurant.  The food is locally sourced and whole animals are used, though they feature things other than smoked meat.  The Hopewell Taproom is big and open with a bar on one side and three long communal tables in the center of the room.  Besides the large windows in the front, the space is lit with hanging light bulbs.  The walls also feature hanging art, which changes periodically.  The art that is now hanging was interesting and bright and if I were to add descriptors, I would say that it looked to me like Psychedelic and Robotic Aztec Art.  As in previous dinners, there was a Hopewell cooler sitting in the back of the room filled with beer to welcome us.  To be hospitable, I grabbed one, a Lil Buddy Lager, a light and crisp beer served in 8 oz cans and is very easy drinking.  Because I was dining solo, I was seated with another group which was fine because it made it easier to serve things family-style and it gave me a chance to socialize somewhat.

 

After everyone had arrived, was seated and had a beer, we started.  Our first beer was a favorite of mine, Table Salt Gose which is made with French Gray Sea Salt, Lemongrass, Lime Leaf, and Cardamom.  It's tart with a nice lemon-lime flavor and a salty finish.  This was paired with Charcuterie.  We were served Leberkase (literally Liver Cheese, it is a Sausage made with finely ground Corned Beef, Pork and Bacon), with Smoked Ricotta Cheese, and Pickled Radishes, on Sourdough Bread.  This was not what I expected as far as charcuterie was concerned, but it perfectly fit in with what Flat & Point does.  It was smoky and meaty, with the creamy ricotta, and dense and flavorful sourdough.

 

From the appetizer we went to the salad and what better beer to serve with salad then a Saison.  Great News Saison is a classic saison providing flavors of fruit, pepper, and citrus, and went very well with those things green.  Our salad wasn't completely colored green, but because it was all plant-based, I will use green as a generic descriptor instead of the color.  Our salad was a Winter Salad with Smoked Delicata Squash, Wilted Baby Kale, Carrots, Pumpkin Seeds, and Honey Dijon.  I really liked this salad because it had a lot of flavors and textures.  I am generally not a huge fan of Kale, because texturally, it's generally a bit stiff.  Wilting it, did soften it up, but with the squash and carrots, there was enough to chew on.

 

Our next course was lasagna, though it was lasagna with a definite twist.  It was a Veggie Lasagna with Parsnips, Sweet Potatoes, Kale, and a Truffle and Creamy Mushroom Sauce.  It was served with Off Black, Hopewell's Schwarzbier (Black Lager), which is both earthy and crisp.  The Lasagna was layered with Sweet Potatoes and Parsnips, sliced, laid on its side, and covered in the amazing Mushroom and Truffle Gravy.  It was tender and very flavorful, and the earthiness of the sweet potatoes and parsnips went well with the earthiness of the Schwarzbier.

 

 

After the excellent lasagna, many of us would have been happy to finish, but we still had our entree and dessert to go, so on we plowed.  Our final beer was a seasonal beer that they have made since the beginning, 24:37 Red IPA (24:37 is the length of a day on Mars, the red planet).  It's good and a bit unusual, being both malty and hoppy.  It was served with a Thuringer Porchetta (a spiced Pork Sausage made largely from Pork Shoulder) with Red Cabbage and 24:37 Red IPA Gravy, it was also served with a big bowl of Polenta.  This was really good, though it was tender and flavorful, it was also heavy and it was hard to get through after the rest of the food.

 

Happily we made it to the end and while dessert was nice and sweet, it wasn't exceptionally heavy.  Our beer was a Cold Brew Imperial Coffee Stout made with the coffee of a local roaster and featuring flavors of Dark Chocolate and Coffee.  What better to match a stout with than a Double Chocolate Crinkle Cookie which was made with Glazed and Made with Dark Chocolate.  It was sweet, bitter, and made for an excellent finish for a great meal.  I was happy to talk to both the owners of Hopewell and the Chef/Owner of Flat & Point.  I will continue to go to Hopewell's Monday Night Dinners and will definitely visit flat & Point for dinner some night. 

New Years Eve at Harp and Fiddle

I generally don't make plans for New Years Eve.  That doesn't mean that I don't do anything, it just generally means that I have a quiet night with friends with good food and drink.  I had no plans for this last New Years Eve, but a friend noted that an Irish Pub in a suburb close to where they live was doing a five course dinner for a good price.  It sounded like a good deal and I would be hanging with my friends, so I decided to go.  I had been to The Harp and Fiddle, in Park Ridge, before and knew that they had a pretty good craft beer list and did some pretty good bar food. I arrived on New Years Eve and saw (and heard) that there were live musicians playing, but we were sitting on the other side of the dining room, so we could actually hear each other speaking.  Looking at their multi-page list, I was looking for something unusual and there were a few beers that certainly fit the bill.  I started with Untitled Art Barrel Culture Dragonfruit Sour IPA.  With the exotic fruit and the fact that it was purported as both a Sour and an IPA, it really interested me.  The risk of trying something unusual that you don't really know much about is that you might not like it.  With the pour, I saw that it had a nice head and an unusually red color.  It had a nice tart and citrusy aroma and flavor, but the finish that some have called floral, I found soapy and didn't care for it.  I was able to drink it, but I don't know that I would ever order it again.  The fact that I disliked it was totally on me, and while I didn't care for it, I'm glad I tried it out.

While I was sipping my beer, our first course came out.  It was an incredibly creamy Wild Mushroom Bisque, topped with  Black Truffle and Arugula Coulis.  It had a great mushroom flavor with a creamy texture and a sprinkling of truffle oil on top.  The Coulis added the funky and savory truffle flavor on top of the savory mushroom flavor, as well as the bitter pepperiness of arugula.  Several of us would have been happy with another large bowl of this.

Our second course followed the standard course progression map and was a vegetable dish.  It was a salad of sorts with a Shredded Brussels Salad with Shaved Parmesan, Carrots, Baby Heirloom Tomatoes, and Cherrywood Smoked Bacon.  It was crisp and very flavorful, with a very nice Creamy Garlic Dressing and this I enjoyed as well.  With two courses down that were both wins, I was wondering if I should up my preconceived assessment that they did good bar food, but don't expect much more than that.

Our next course was our first entree, Grilled Salmon.  It was served with a Rattatouille made with Sliced and Grilled Zucchini and Summer Squash topped with a Tomato White Wine Broth that really reminded me of Ketchup.  The salmon was tender, flaky, and flavorful without being exceptionally strong.  The vegetables tasted fresh and cooked enough to be tender without getting mushy.

Our second entree, the red meat, could have theoretically been pretty simple.  The chef and company, though, amped things up to good measure.  As presented, it looked like steak and mashed potatoes, the steak cooked medium well, though still juicy.  The steak was actually Filet Mignon, topped with a Mushroom Madeira Gravy, and the potatoes were actually Pureed Parsnips.  The filet was fork tender and very flavorful.  The gravy, which very much tasted like the soup at the beginning of the meal with added Madeira Wine was also very good. 

 

By this time, dessert, I was looking for my second unusual beer, but one that would also go well with dessert.  I went with an Imperial Oak Sinister Minister Quad with Tart Cherries.  For dessert we had a the Chef's Special Bread Pudding that was topped with Syrup, Whipped Cream, and Cinnamon.  The beer was something else.  As it was a Quad, it was pretty big.  It was pretty big and tasted boozy, both from the fact that it was a quad and the barrel aging.  In addition, it had a nice and tart cherry flavor.  It was heavy, but it was also cold out, so it was a fitting beer to be drunk.  The bread pudding was good.  It was soft, sweet, and a fitting end to a fun night.  I really enjoyed myself and my opinion of their food has increased.  I am not saying that I had thought that their food was bad, I thought it was good, but pretty simple.  The food that I had had tonight impressed me and while it is a little far for me to hang out.  I would come for something special.

   

Eleven|Eleven - Tasting Collective Dinner

The majority of my posts are positive, because I like food and I think that most places that I go to try their best to please their customers.  There are some restaurants, however, that while I want to like, had some serious problems during my visit.  I had encountered Eleven|Eleven at a few benefits around town, and while I had liked what I had tried from them, they weren't really on my radar.  Most of the dinners that I've had with Tasting Collective I have really liked, so I trusted them to curate a good meal at a restaurant that might not be known well by the greater dining community, but should be, so when I signed up for dinner I was pretty excited.

The menu is very eclectic with global influences, so I was very interested to see what would come out.  We started with California "Maki" Rolls with Grilled Calamari, Avocado, and Hibiscus Rice.  While three of the rolls were wrapped with Nori, they were all essentially the same.  I really liked these.  It was presented nicely, the rice was very flavorful, and the calamari and avocado made a good combination.  It was better, in my opinion, than a standard California Roll which uses Imitation Crab instead of the calamari.

The second course was also very good and kind of a show stopper.  It was a spin on chicken and Waffles, a dish that I like, but it was presented in a very unexpected manner.  The Breaded Chicken Nuggets were presented in a Waffle Cone with Buttermilk Dressing in the bottom of the Cone, Green Mango Salad topping the nuggets, and XO Sauce, a spicy sauce made with roughly chopped seafood like scallops and shrimp, originating in Hong Kong.  The chicken was tender and flavorful.  The Green Mango salad added a tart flavor, along with the buttermilk dressing, the XO Sauce added a spicy seafood flavor, and the waffle cone added a nice crunch.

 

 

 

The third course was when the wheels started to fall off.  To start, the third course had actually been listed as the fourth course on the menu.  This isn't a big deal most of the time, but it seems now that it was foreshadowing.  The course was Charcuterie and Cheese presented with accompaniments and served with Rice Crackers.  We were served three different meats, 3 different cheeses, Celery, Olives, Cranberry, and Peppers, and Rice Crackers.  The idea of this was good, but we only received one tray of each item for the table, which was set to receive two plates of each.  All of these items also arrived separately, so it was a bit confusing trying to try things and/or combine flavors, without knowing if the last plate had arrived yet.  All of the meats and cheeses and were from good companies (La Quercia and Smoking Goose), so it all tasted good, it was a bit confusing.

 

Our fourth course also arrived in two separate parts, was not explained, and we weren't brought enough, so the kitchen had to come back with another service.  We were first served our Salted Shishito Churros that were supposed to have been drizzled with Butterscotch, but seem not to have been.  The churros were very light and flavorful, it just seems that we weren't served enough.  After we wolfed down our churros, the Bourbon Glazed Pork Belly arrived.  It was tender and tasted good with a nice flavor of bourbon and wood with the sweetness from the pork, but the presentation looked like a joke.  There were three pieces of meat on the plate (for six people) and they looked like they were thrown on the plate and sprinkled with baby greens.

 

There was a pause for a bit before the fifth course showed up.  It was essentially Steak Frites served on two plates.  We first received a large bowl overflowing with Sticky Black Truffle Fries with Grana Snow which were the side to the main course, the Steak, a Wood grilled Bavette Steak with Pesto and Chips.  The steak was very good, flavorful, tender, and perfectly cooked, but it took about half an hour to arrive at the table and there really wasn't enough for the people it was serving.  The fries (Frites) were also perfectly cooked and flavorful, but there was enough for the table.

When we finally got to dessert, there were many people waiting for it to be over.  Luckily, dessert wasn't a fail, though it wasn't completely what is was advertised.  We were supposed to be getting a three pie flight.  What we received were three Shortbread Cookies with some very good pie fillings, Mama's Apple Pie, Banana Cream, and French Silk.  My argument in this case is semantic.  What we received tasted good and the pie fillings were there, if not the crusts, along with some very nice Whipped Cream.

While this dinner was ultimately a fail, it was not a failure of flavors; all of the food that we had tasted very good.  Our service also seemed polite, if harried.  This seemed a failure of poor planning, something the management has vowed to correct, so i am willing to give them a second chance soon.      

Forbidden Root - Southern-style Beer Dinner

 

 

I really like Forbidden Root Brewery.  Their base beers generally start out exploring Belgian styles, though they also do a lot of IPAs.  Having said that, comparing their finished beers to the starting beer is like comparing Vodka to Gin.  While gin starts as a basic clear liquor, the addition of botanicals makes it a completely different thing.  The same can be said of the beers of Forbidden Root.  They work with some very standard and recognizable styles, but the addition of different botanicals changes them significantly from where they start.  In addition to their creative beers, they have an interesting food menu in their brewpub and regularly host beer dinners where the kitchen can play and the brewery can pair their interesting beers more directly to the interesting food coming out of the kitchen.  Their last beer dinner of the year was a Southern-style Dinner where the chef could showcase the food that he grew up with.  The dining room has a large 4 sided bar in the center which is full service, but there are also tables on either side of the bar (the entrance is at the front and the brewing area/kitchen is at the rear of the space).  When I have dined (and drank) here, I have sat both at the bar and on either side.  There is a large communal table in a semi-private hall in the back of the space that sits in front of the brewery (and next to the kitchen) where the beer dinners take place.  I sat on one end of the table where I could see everything, though it did put me, at times, at a distance to the food that was being served.

 

We started out with an Amuse Bouche with its own beer pairing, Collaborade, a German-Style Wheat Beer that was served with a Shrimp Hush Puppy with Creole Remoulade and Chives.  The yeast in many wheat beers will give a beer the flavor of bananas.  While that was there, there was a lot of Lemongrass added which gave this beer a lemon flavor without being exceptionally sour.  The hush puppy was crisp and had a lot of shrimp flavor, which went well with the lemony flavor of the beer.  The remoulade, a French-made condiment with a mayonnaise base similar to tartar sauce, but with Stone Ground Mustard, spices and Red Pepper, added a nice spice and went well with the chopped shrimp in the hush puppy.

 

Our first official course started with the beer as did most of the courses.  We were served Atomic Child, a New England-style IPA which was actually less hazy than other NEIPAs that I've tried.  It also was brewed with White Grapes and had a definite grape finish.  Paired with this were the Fried Green Tomatoes with Black Eyed Peas, Pickled Shrimp, Buttermilk Vinaigrette, and Tobasco Vinaigrette.  It was crunchy on the outside, very juicy on the inside, and had a nice tart flavor and the two vinaigrettes added a nice sour and spicy flavor that went well with both the tart tomato and the grape flavor of the IPA.

 

The first entree was some Fried Chicken which has been popular in Chicago for the last few years, Nashville Hot Chicken, which was served with a Pullman Loaf, Slaw, and a Dill Pickle.  The chicken was paired with 200 Units Golden Ale, a good golden ale, but one of the most standard takes on a beer that they do.  The heat in Nashville Hot Chicken can vary widely.  Some is barely hot and some is so hot that you can barely eat it.  This was very hot.  The crust was very crispy and the meat was nicely juicy.  It was hot, but it wasn't so hot that I couldn't finish it, though I did have to eat it slowly.  The pickles and bread did help to cut the heat somewhat.

After what I had eaten so far, I was starting to get full.  The food at this point was very good and there were two courses left, so onward I went.  The second entree was essentially the signature course and it kind of blew the diners away. It started inauspiciously with their Hoodie Weather Oak Aged Vienna Lager.  Shortly after, they brought out a board with slices of Texas Toast and Grilled Lemon.  This was obviously not the entree, but it was good enough that the kitchen had to bring out another loaf.  The Vienna Lager had a nice oak flavor and was good enough that I forgot to take a picture of it until I was almost finished.  By that time, the star had arrived.  It was a Low Country Boil, a large pot of seafood and potatoes served in the broth made from the boil.  Included in the boil were, Mussels, Prawns, Andouille Sausage, Corn, Red Potatoes, more Grilled Lemons, and Fennel.  This was really good and while there were some people that had been getting boxes for previous dishes, this was not something that would have traveled well in a cardboard box.  It was really good and the pan sat on the table for a while while we worked on it.

And then came dessert.  Most of the table was very full by this time, but after what had been a very good dinner so far, no one was going to turn away before having it.  There was a small pause, which was actually kind of a good thing, so people's stomach could kind of reset.  The beer came out which was a Basil Raspberry Hefeweisen and the chef came out shortly thereafter to tell us that he had had to do some improvisation because the dessert wasn't coming together as he had hoped.  On the menu for dessert was Apple Pie with Cheddar Cheese Ice Cream.  Unfortunately, the Ice Cream Machine decided to die on that day, so they had to try other methods that ended up not working.  We were served Mini Apple Pies, which were very good with Vanilla Ice Cream, Cheddar Cheese Sauce, and a Brown Sugar Crumble.  While it wasn't what the chef had hoped to serve, it was still very good and served as a good finish to a very good meal.  I like both the beer and food at the Forbidden Root Brewpub and will definitely return for more of the same.   
  

Twisted Hippo - Saint Auggie's Day Feast

I had been to Twisted Hippo before and really liked it, so was excited to go to their St. Auggie's Day Feast.  Why would a brewery be celebrating the feat day of a Catholic Saint?  There are actually several reasons.  First, St. Augustine of Hippo is actually the patron saint of brewers.  Second, the mascot of Twisted Hippo, Pinky, is essentially a hippo, and third, Head Brewer and owner Karl Rutherford shares his birthday with the feast day of St.  Augustine.  The space is colorful and a little weird and we were seated at a couple of communal tables at the back of the main dining room.  That was decorated with a center planter full of tropical fruit.  There was a portable tap an infusion device set off to the side, which gave us the idea that they were going to do something special.  Things started out with Karl and his wife and partner, Marilee, telling the story of Twisted Hippo.  It started with Karl as a toddler running away on a pink plastic hippo, which became Pinky, next door to his grandmothers house.  It was here wear they also explained the connection to St. Augustine or St. Auggie.

 

We started out with a beer made for the feast, Ol' St. Auggie's Hoppy Farmhouse Ale with 3 variants: Hibiscus, which was very floral and surprisingly bitter, Mallorca Melon, which was very sweet, and Hop Infused, which was hoppy.  Of the four, I think that I preferred the Hibiscus variant.  Paired with the beer we were served Crispy Pig Ear Salad with Mixed and Microgreens, Green Olives, Crispy Pig Ears, and Hibiscus Ol' St. Auggie's Dressing.  This was served family-style and it was huge.  The greens were very fresh and the olives provided some saltiness.  The crispy pig ears were more tender than I would have expected.  There is a lot of cartilage in a pigs ear and they are frequently used as a dog's chew toy, so I would have it expected it to be leathery.  They were crunchy and chewy and had a nice pork flavor, but they were very edible and good.  

For our next course we were served an Okra Tagine with Okra, Tomatoes, Chermoula, Crispy Fried Onions, with a Crispy Baguette on the side.  Paired with this we had Wit Ever Man!  Belgian Wit.  Also served family-style and also huge, the tagine was another vegetarian dish originating in Morocco, which is important because St. Augustine was from North Africa.  Hippo was the ancient name of the Algerian City of Annaba.  This was a little spicy and very flavorful and despit the fact that there was a ton, I would have eaten more.

Our North African glutton fest continued with Beef Meatballs in a North African Tomato Sauce with Saffron Cous Cous and Cilantro Pesto served on the side.  This was paired with Ballooner Weisse Berliner Weisse.  This was also very tasty and flavorful, though with the saffron, it stained my beard.  With the amount of food we were being served, I was also getting kind of full.

Realistically, the last course could have been the main course, but the food kept on coming.  Our next course was another family-style feast in two parts.  We started out with Stoemp, a very rich, Belgian version of Mashed Potatoes combined with other root vegetables.  This version combined Mashed Potatoes with Leeks, Carrots, and Cabbage.  The stoemp was the side dish for the Braised Lamb Shanks braised with Pinky Toe Table Stout, Red Wine, and Herbs.  Paired with the Stoemp and the lamb shanks was the Chubby Monk Belgian Stout.  It was all good and very filling, but I had to limit my lamb intake if I was going to get to dessert.  The stoemp, though, I may have to make myself.

With many beer dinners, the heaviest beer is saved for last, and in many cases, that would be the stout.  As I noted, the stout was actually served with the main entree, so they came back a little and went with Run-AMZ Double Dry Hopped IPA.  This was served with a crazy Pavlova.  A Pavlova is a Meringue Dessert topped in Whipped Cream and topped with fruit.  It's like a neater version of an Eton Mess.  With this Pavlova, it had the typical Meringue and Whipped Cream and was topped with Figs, Spiced Mango Jam, Fresh Papaya, and Pomegranate, and garnished with fresh Mint.  While I was very full, by this point, I really enjoyed it.  I like both the beer and food at Twisted Hippo, whether it's on the regular menu or if it's part of a special dinner.  I will definitely return for some good food and drink, but I will especially return for a special dinner.