Manhattan

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Blue Plate Special at The Mermaid Inn

February 6, 2009 in Beer & Food, Manhattan, NY Brews, NYC restaurants | 2 comments

When the e-mail announcing The Mermaid Inn’s new Blue Plate Special appeared in my inbox on Monday, I took notice. A lobster sandwich, fries and a bottle of Blue Point Toasted Lager for $20? Count me in. I’ve enjoyed several meals at Mermaid Inn in the past and found the food delicious, the atmosphere charming, and the service excellent. So Wednesday evening I met my friend and fellow degustation advisor, Chris Cuzme, at the East Village location. I had made reservations but we opted to eat at the bar instead. The bartender was attentive and our orders were quickly taken. Tasty crackers are provided to take the edge off of your appetite and the beer bottle is served very cold with a small water glass to drink out of. Blue Point’s Toasted Lager is a clean beer with a subtle toasted maltiness and enough hops to balance but not distract. I consider it a great food beer as it pairs nicely with almost anything. Mermaid’s lobster sandwich is no exception. The lobster salad is on a brioche roll instead of the traditional bun and is served with fries seasoned with Old Bay. This is a tasty combination – the sweetness of the lobster salad melding nicely with the buttery bun and contrasting with the spiced saltiness of the fries. And it washes down nicely with a swallow of the Blue Point. In lieu of a dessert menu, a small pot of chocolate pudding is provided at the end of your meal along with a Fortune Teller Fish, a novelty that I remember fondly from childhood. This was a delightful meal.

What you need to know: The Blue Plate Special is available from 5:30-7 pm daily and sounds like it will change monthly. The restaurant filled quickly around 6 pm – I recommend making a reservation on OpenTable just in case. You can always choose to sit at the bar if there is room. The special is available at both locations – the original in the East Village and the newer on the Upper West Side. How good of a deal is it? The sandwich normally costs $26 and I’m guessing the beer runs $5 or 6 (I forgot to check), so this is a heck of a bargain. I’ll be returning several times before the end of the month and I recommend you do the same.

Dogfish Head Dinner at East Village Tavern

November 19, 2008 in Events, Manhattan, NYC restaurants

Captain Lawrence at Blind Tiger

April 17, 2008 in Events, Manhattan, NY Brews | No comments

14 taps of Captain Lawrence beer were available last night at the Blind Tiger event. Yeah, that’s right, 14, the largest selection of Captain Lawrence beers on tap ever assembled, according to Captain Lawrence owner and head brewer Scott Vaccaro, who was enjoying the fruits of his labor last night. I arrived around 7 and the Tiger was hopping, as usual. A nice mix of beer geeks, Tiger regulars, and casual sippers crowded the place enjoying fantastic craft beer. The line-up included:

Wine barrel Smoked from the Oak in cask
Bourbon barrel Smoked from the Oak
Un-oaked with elder flowers Nor’easter in gravity keg
Oaked Nor’easter
St. Vincent Double 2006
the only keg produced of Golden Delicious
Xtra Gold
Sunblock Witte
Liquid Gold
Imperial IPA, Pale Ale
Brown Ale
Smoked Porter in cask and keg

It was a tough choice, but I started the night with what turned out to be my favorite, the un-oaked with elder flowers Nor’easter, a beautifully complex beer. Scott’s favorite beer was the newly released Xtra Gold, an American Trippel that Scott dry hops with Amarillo. He increased the amount of hops this year and it shows as this is one intense brew. The Golden Delicious kicked early in the evening, followed closely by the wine barrel Smoked from the Oak, the latter a beer I was really looking forward to. Guess I’ll have to pick up a bottle or two instead. The Tiger always throws great events and this was no exception – a fun night!

Ultimate Belgian Tasting III

April 16, 2008 in Beer festivals, Events, Manhattan | No comments

Last Thursday night I had the privilege of attending the Ultimate Belgian Tasting III, held by Ale Street News at the Heartland Brewery Empire State Building location. It was a pricey event at $98 a ticket, but well worth it in my opinion. Tons of tasty brews, delicious food, and great company made the night one to remember. I noshed on roasted, smoked buffalo sandwiches from Heartland, beer marinated filet mignon from Rod’s Steak & Seafood Grill, creamy mussels from The Oyster House, Indian spiced pork loin with peach Belgian ale au jus from Waterfront Ale House, Augustin’s Waffles, ice cream bars hand dipped in Belgian chocolate from Brothers Desserts, and Belgian chocolates from Leonidas. And that was only part of the goodies; I skipped out on all the cheeses and several other things, as I had to save room for all of the great beer. I started the evening off with a glass of Malheur Brut, the perfect aperitif, and ended with Cuvee Renee, always a favorite of mine. I didn’t have a bad beer the whole night, but especially enjoyed, in no particular order, Defiant Farmhouse, an extra tart and funky Saison, Stone ’06 Vertical Epic, Dogfish Head aged Raisin d’Extra, Southampton Cuvee de Fleurs, and Smuttynose Abbey Single (an easy drinking Belgian that will replace their Portsmouth Lager). I met quite a few new people and loved hanging out with old friends. I ended the night with a meal at the Spotted Pig with David Yarrington and Tom Briggs of Smuttynose. More pictures from the event are here.

My true love…

April 8, 2008 in Events, Manhattan, NYC restaurants | No comments

is craft beer and food pairings. Chris Cuzme and I formed the New York City Degustation Advisory Team about a year ago. The NYCDAT is dedicated to the promotion and appreciation of craft beer through delectable food pairings. We’ve been hosting monthly beer and food pairings at Jimmy’s No. 43 in the East Village of Manhattan for over a year. We recently doubled the number of pairings in response to high demand (we had sold out the previous 5 months weeks ahead of each event) and have branched out into private and corporate pairing events. We generally do 5-6 pairings per session, most commonly consisting of beer, cheese and chocolate. Tonight are our first April sessions and we are featuring Rick’s Picks, cheese from Saxelby Cheesemongers, sausage and beer. Chris and I always hold at least one pre-tasting to conceive of and plan the pairings, here are two pictures from last night’s session:

My mouth is watering already. More pictures coming soon, for further information about our events, please visit our website. I’m off to Jimmy’s…

Recent beery highlights

March 5, 2008 in Beer festivals, Brooklyn, Manhattan, NY Brews, NYC restaurants | 2 comments

The cask festival at the Brazen Head in Brooklyn the weekend of February 22-24. Alex Hall always does a spectacular job and this weekend was no exception. Highlights for me included the eye-opening Green Flash ‘West Coast IPA’, the dark & delicious Chelsea ‘Czar’s Revenge’ Imperial Stout, the traditional Stoudt’s Scarlet Lady ESB, and the delicious in every way Allagash Curieaux. I’ll confess, the Curieaux was my very favorite and only the high alcohol content prevented me from drinking more. The fest was not as crowded as usual, perhaps due to the 6″ of snow that fell on Friday, our first real snowfall of the season. The next NYC cask festival will take place on March 28-30, noon to midnight each day, at Chelsea Brewing Company in Manhattan. Information can be found here. I hope to see you there.
A visit to Seymour Burton, a new restaurant in the East Village. I went for the burger, fries and house-made ice cream, but the limited beer offerings are exclusively craft. No draft beer, but cans of Pork Slap and six varieties of Ommegang are offered: the Witte, Rare VOS, 3 Philosophers, Hennepin, Ommegang, & Ommegeddon. I’m an advocate of drinking locally and visiting a restaurant exclusively featuring New York craft beers warms my heart. The burger & fries are fantastic here, particularly if you’re a burger purist as this one is all about the meat. The fries were perfectly done, crispy with nice potato flavor, and the ice cream was phenomenal, chocolate bourbon being my favorite flavor. I’d love to see them offer a local porter or brown ale, my favorite beer to drink with a burger, but the Rare VOS paired quite nicely. I’ve read favorable reviews of other menu offerings and recommend a visit if you’re craving a burger and craft ale in the East Village.
The Black Flip at PDT in the East Village. Whoa, I’d read about this historic drink but never had one. PDT mixes a great version, using Cruzan blackstrap rum, Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, and an egg. This is a BEAUTIFUL drink and combines two of my passions, craft beer and old-school cocktails. Although primarily a cocktail place, PDT offers four local craft beers on draft and is a great place to take a date. Get there early as seating is limited and order one of their specialty hot dogs if you get hungry. I recommend the Chang Dog, the bacon wrapped deep fried Crif Dog topped with Momofuku kimchee. PDT is one of my favorite joints at the moment.
Canadian Cousins night at Spuyten Duyvil in Williamsburg. Last Wednesday night Joe Carroll of Spuyten featured beer from two Canadian breweries, Dieu Du Ciel and Hopfenstark. It was a real treat to meet the guys and drink their beer. Seven beers were offered, Hopfenstark’s Ostalgia Blonde, Saison 55, and Kamarad Friedrich and Dieu du Ciel’s Rigor Mortis, Aphrodisiac, Péché Mortel, and Corpus Cristi, the latter being on cask. My favorites were the Ostalgia, Saison 55, Rigor Mortis, Aphrodisiac & Péché Mortel. A trip to Montreal is definitely in order.
California Night at The Gate in Brooklyn. I enjoyed Green Flash ‘Le Freak’ and ‘Grand Mantis’ while listening to the Grateful Dead bootleg, nice.
Two trips to Dram Shop in Brooklyn. Another delicious burger & fries can be found here, very different from Seymour Burton’s but just as good. Twelve taps are offered, most of which are craft. I enjoyed a Sixpoint Brownstone with my burger, a possible perfect combination. Dram Shop’s burger features two patties and is fully dressed and the fries are medium cut and crisp. My only complaint is all beer is served in frosty mugs, ugh. Be sure to ask for a room temperature glass when you go. It’s a cool place and I’ll be visiting again soon.

Whole Foods stepping up in Manhattan

July 24, 2007 in Manhattan, NY Brews | 1 comment

I stopped into the new Whole Foods Bowery last night after the tasting to pick up a few bottles of the Schneider-Brooklyner Hopfen Weisse. I was told by a very reliable source that Whole Foods will be opening a craft beer store at this location. Located on the corner of Houston and Chrystie, the store will feature six local taps (with at least one being Sixpoint) for growler fills and an extensive bottle list. Cross your fingers for a late August opening.

Bacon and beer, baby

July 24, 2007 in Events, Manhattan, NYC restaurants | 1 comment

Jimmy’s No. 43 presented a bacon, beer & pickles tasting last night. Bacon and beer, mmmmm, how could I resist? Food writer Josh Ozersky aka Mr. Cutlets hosted, along with Jeff from Sixpoint Craft Ales and the Rick’s Picks folk. Six different bacons and five Sixpoint Ales were available, including the delightful “black market” porter on cask. We started with Oscar Meyer bacon and the Brownstone brown ale. Eh, not bad. Next up was Dines Farm smoked bacon. I found that this bacon completely overpowered the Brownstone, but worked pretty darn well with the Righteous Rye. The match amplified the salty-smokiness of the bacon and brought out the spicy character of the rye beer. High Hope Hogs wood-smoked bacon was paired with the Otis oatmeal stout on nitro. The High Hope is a balanced bacon, but lacks smokiness due to the low fat:meat ratio. Josh explained that the fat in meat acts as a flavor amplifier for smoke, etc. The bacon has a nice “porky character”, though. The Otis was pretty stirred up, with quite a bit of yeast cloudiness and I didn’t get much from the pairing. Violet Hill’s bacon was passed around next. This is made from the butt, or shoulder, of the pig. It was very salty, with substantial texture (a bit chewy, really), and had more of a ham-like flavor. I found that this worked very well with the Brownstone, enhancing the porkiness of the bacon and really bringing out the maltiness of the beer. Flying Pigs Farm’s bacon was next, a belly bacon. Flying Pigs is one of the top butchers in America according to Josh. It’s a very balanced bacon. I tried it with the porter, which is made with carob. The bacon brought out the chocolate goodness of the beer, but the beer overpowered the bacon. Last was freshly-smoked bacon from RUB BBQ. Their bacon is thick-cut Berkshire pork bellies, aged for ~7 days, cold-smoked twice, and hot-smoked once (with the traditional hickory, which is the signature flavor of bacon according to Josh). This bacon has lots of fat and lots of flavor. It paired pretty nicely with the Bengali Tiger. A bite of bacon, ohhhh, hickory-smoked goodness; a sip of Bengali washed the smoke away and woke up my tongue with its intense bright citrus. Wait, where’s the bacon? Ah, there it is, back after the swallow. An interesting pairing. I snacked on some Rick’s Picks as well. These deserve beer pairings all on their own – with a bit of creamy cheese (fresh goat, maybe?) I bet some marvelous flavor combos would arise. Another night, maybe. Jimmy’s puts on regular food & beer pairing events. The next is this Wednesday, the 25th, hosted by Chris Cuzme and Anne Saxelby of Saxelby Cheesemongers. Chris and I will be hosting an evening of beer, ice cream/sorbet, and fruit pairings on August 1 (who doesn’t love a good beer float?). Should be fun.

Schneider-Brooklyner Hopfen Weisse

July 16, 2007 in Events, Manhattan | 1 comment

I went to Zum Schneider tonight for the NYC debut of Schneider-Brooklyner Hopfen Weisse. Schneider-Brooklyner is a collaboration between Privatbrauerei G. Schneider & Sohn & Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewery. When I arrived around 6:15, the place was packed! I lined up to get my Schneider-Brooklyner at the bar. The bartender was pouring the beer into large steins, letting it settle a bit, then pouring into glasses. It was a cloudy pour even after that – intriguing. The glasses are beautiful – Weizen glasses with a lovely blue, yellow & gold insignia – very eye-catching. I found a seat with a friend and let the beer settle. Garrett grabbed everyone’s attention with the clinking of a glass and a speech was made. He thanked everyone for coming (it was a nice turn-out) and introduced Hans-Peter Drexler, his co-brewer of this special beer. The Schneider-Brooklyner is the first of two versions of the same beer, the first brewed in Germany as a pale weisbock. The remarkable thing about this beer is that it is dry-hopped with Hallertauer Saphir hops – 70 to 75 pounds per 25 barrels, or 3 pounds per barrel! “Outlandish”, Garrett said, for a German beer. Quite tasty, though, in my opinion(and that does explain the greenish cloudiness). The bottled beer should be spectacular! This Wednesday, Garrett and Hans will be brewing the second version of this beer at Brooklyn Brewery in Williamsburg. Hans has brought yeast over from Germany and will be selecting his favorite varieties of American hops to dry hop with. The beer will be available on draft in early August. I’m looking forward to it and a vertical tasting will definitely be in order. Schneider-Brooklyner Hopfen Weisse is available on draft and in 16.9 oz. bottles (yeah, the bottle design is all that, too). It is 8.2% ABV and 40 IBUs. A very special beer and a fun evening!

My friend Mike has more pics of the event at his Flicker site.

I also spoke with the owner of a soon-to-open craft beer bar in South Park Slope. Beer Table will be opening on 7th Avenue between 14th & 15th St. There will be 3 drafts with a limited bottle selection that will change frequently. Housemade pickles and sausage will be available as well as cheeses. This is a very exciting development for this neighborhood (of which I am a resident)! Can’t wait to check it out.

Wild Salmon

July 5, 2007 in Manhattan, NYC restaurants | No comments

So I read about a new restaurant serving Pacific Northwest beers not found anywhere else in NYC. But, of course, I could find no mention of what the actual beers were (big surprise, as beer is scarcely mentioned in your typical restaurant preview/review). Hmmmm….. I booked us a reservation on OpenTable to find out more. Wild Salmon is located on the NE corner of 3rd Ave & 40th St. We walked in and were immediately seated (thank you, OpenTable). It’s a beautiful restaurant (Slander was entranced with the “stream” of metallic fish hanging from the ceiling). Oh – and the beers – 6 drafts: 4 from Pacific Rim Brewery, including Rat City IPA, Driftwood Ale, Vashon Old Stock Ale, and Admiral ESB; and 2 from Rogue, the Juniper and nitro Stout. They also have 9 bottles: 4 from Maritime Pacific Brewing Company, Nightwatch Ale, Islander Pale, Flagship Red Alt, and Imperial IPA; also Widmer Hef, Red Hook Copperhook Spring, Rogue Dead Guy, Stella, and Heineken. I’ve never had a Pacific Rim or a Maritime, so we were off to a good start. We tried several over the course of the meal, our faves being the Admiral ESB, Driftwood Ale, and the Nightwatch Ale. The meal was very good. They brought out freshly made flatbread sprinkled with herbs, yum. We shared a Pacific NW Nuts & Berries salad and the oven roasted alaskan sea scallops wrapped in lamb prosciutto, yeah, the latter was really good. I’m starting to drool just remembering. Slander had the Alaskan King crab legs (which went splendidly with the Nightwatch) for dinner, which he was quite happy with. I ordered the Coho Salmon, cedar planked, with wild oregon morel pinot noir sauce – very tasty. We finished with the goat cheese cake and the chocolate extravaganza. I love goat cheese cake and was very pleased with this one. We settled the bill and headed upstairs to check out the bar area.
The grey marble bar seats eleven. Wood ceiling and floor with recessed upside-down candle lighting set off the red banquettes with black seat cushions and cheetah-print pillows placed throughout. There are also grey and brown leather chairs, milk chocolate brown crushed velvet chairs and crocodile-patterned ottomans scattered around. Tortoiseshell candleholders on the copper-topped tables add to the atmosphere. A plush, sensual feast with comfortable seating. A flat screen TV were playing the Yankees game. The taps are ice-covered – undoubtably serving the beer too cold, but very cool looking. They have a nice bar menu, with snacks and more substantial fare. Draughts ran us $7 each, bottles $8 (entrees run between $23-$50, btw). Oh, and the upstairs bathrooms are a 5 out of 5 – clean, spacious, and aesthetically pleasing.

My consensus: the restaurant is recommended to craft beer lovers looking for a special meal, or check out the bar for Pacific Rim and Driftwood beers in a beautiful setting (with tasty snacks as an option).

Wild Salmon
622 Third Ave, corner of 40th St
New York, NY 10016
212.404.1700

nearest subway: 4, 5, 6, or 7 train to Grand Central, walk west on 42nd to Third Ave, then south to 40th St
parking garages abound in the area (use NYC Garages to find the cheapest one before you go)