So, I gotta brag a little bit. Last night, SWMBO and I met some friends for a special dinner. We usually don't do decadent stuff like this, but we went to a restaurant where the head chef is a James Beard winner. If you call ahead, he will do the chef's surprise tasting menu - 6 courses, each paired with a different wine or beer. I've seen things on the local PBS station that showed the chef is a beer geek, so I went with the beer. Here's what he prepared:
1) Bay scallops and roasted peaches with pickled onions and radish greens, paired with Dogfish Head Festina Peche
2) Grilled swordfish and saffon cauliflower puree, paired with a bomber of 3 Floyds/Mikkellar Risgoop
3) Striped bass in an Argentine bean, veg, and pineapple soup, paired with the rest of the Risgoop
4) Lamb belly, cured lamb sausage, and some kind of fabulous potato thing paired with St. Jacobin sour ale.
5) Elk tenderloin, served like blue rare, pickled blueberries and veg, paired with Ephemere AND with a second glass of a coffee porter of the chef's own recipe.
6) Smoked pound cake with rhubarb and cask vanilla ice cream (seriously - I think they oaked the cream before making it into ice cream) paired with Dragon's Milk.
There was also a lamb liver pate amouse-bouche and a savory apple soup/Granny Smith sorbet palate cleanser before dessert. It was really, really special but definitely a once-in-a-great-while treat. Anyway, end bragging.
1) Bay scallops and roasted peaches with pickled onions and radish greens, paired with Dogfish Head Festina Peche
2) Grilled swordfish and saffon cauliflower puree, paired with a bomber of 3 Floyds/Mikkellar Risgoop
3) Striped bass in an Argentine bean, veg, and pineapple soup, paired with the rest of the Risgoop
4) Lamb belly, cured lamb sausage, and some kind of fabulous potato thing paired with St. Jacobin sour ale.
5) Elk tenderloin, served like blue rare, pickled blueberries and veg, paired with Ephemere AND with a second glass of a coffee porter of the chef's own recipe.
6) Smoked pound cake with rhubarb and cask vanilla ice cream (seriously - I think they oaked the cream before making it into ice cream) paired with Dragon's Milk.
There was also a lamb liver pate amouse-bouche and a savory apple soup/Granny Smith sorbet palate cleanser before dessert. It was really, really special but definitely a once-in-a-great-while treat. Anyway, end bragging.