Friday, August 22, 2014

Stone Beer Dinner at Elaine's...No Big Salad, Though

Beer dinners have caught on with the highbrow crowd, as evidenced by the recent one held at Farm and Table. Welcome a new high-end player in the beer dinner game: Elaine's, the fine dining establishment in Nob Hill, will host a Stone Brewing Co. beer dinner on Tuesday, August 26 at 6:30. Elaine's boasts the cooking prowess of Executive Chef Andrew Gorski, whose resume includes a stint under Thomas Keller, of French Laundry fame. Have always wanted to eat at the French Laundry but barely being able to afford to do laundry put a damper on that dream. But having a Keller disciple cooking for me might just be the next best thing, and a dinner matched with Stone beers might make it even better.
$55 gets you four courses, beginning with a Dungeness crab salad paired with Saison. The second course is ricotta mascarpone ravioli along with Go To IPA, probably the best of the Session IPAs to have come out in the past year. Third course is duck breast, with the beer making a drastic ABV jump to Old Guardian Barleywine. The dessert course is a maple sweet potato custard with candied walnuts, paired with Quadrotriticale, the Belgian-style Quad from Stone's Stochasticity Project.

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Old Town Meets the New Craft Beer Boom

Old Town residents, rejoice! In an area where a wine margarita was considered an exciting drink, craft beer will now abound. The second location of Santa Fe Dining's concept tap room, The Draft Station, is set to open this weekend on Central Ave. just east of Garcia's Mexican Restaurant. And it's about damn time, as all you residents who would only venture out on Mondays to take advantage of Old Town Pizza's craft pitcher specials can attest. The building that formerly housed the X Pac fitness center (I'm sure they've aired it out) has had a tap room in the works for many months, but permitting issues (go figure- how do any of you business owners live the American Dream with the nightmare of bureaucracy you have to put up with here??) held things up. The recent green light from the city can be partly attributed to you local residents, as Santa Fe Dining Vice President of Operations Robert Griego told me, "Our neighbors and surrounding community were very helpful in assisting us in getting our approvals, which says a lot for everyone in our area. People in the Old Town area were really wanting a neighborhood pub that was close enough to walk or bike to. and I think that we will really fill that niche."
The concept of The Draft Station is to feature beer from New Mexico breweries, with an emphasis on breweries who have brewers who, at some point, worked in the Chama River Brewing Co.'s brewhouse. And who hasn't done that, from Rice to Erway to Hamilton to Bullard to Woodward and so on. So expect the majority of taps to consist of Chama and Blue Corn offerings, with a rotating lineup of beers from Marble, La Cumbre, Bosque, Turtle Mountain, and others yet to be confirmed. Adds Griego, "We'll listen to our guests and bring in what they want, but only beer produced in NM."
The Draft Station will have seating for about 60 indoors, with bar seating, tall and standard tables, and couches for you lounge-y types. A patio area will accommodate an additional 50 patrons- a good thing, as the bar should do a brisk business in the opening weeks. We'll see how the employees handle the crush. The bar staff has attended, as Griego says, "classes that taught our staff everything from the history of beer to the proper techniques in serving it. Hopefully people will see friendly, eager servers who are willing to talk all things that pertain to beer." So no, "It's a dark beer" answers when asking about a beer? That's refreshing. Just don't school me too much on a beer. Save your breath for the tourists who strayed while waiting on a table at Vinaigrette.
Food options include chips, salsa, and guacamole from next door neighbor Garcia's restaurant. Another good thing about being right next to Garcia's: you can get a few beers in you and go next door and place bets on how many tortillas the tortilla lady can crank out in a minute. Chama River provides soft pretzels, flatbreads, and sandwiches. Future neighbor Five Star Burgers (yeah Old Town, you're getting one of those too. The hot new neighborhood? Yeah, maybe when the gate to Hell Walgreens at Rio Grande and Central is razed) will provide something. Probably burgers. You won't need too much food to stay on the safe side of sobriety, as The Draft Station will have beer limits along the same lines as local breweries. You know the drill.
Brew Club memberships will be sold for $10 until the end of the year, and a "beer passport", free of charge just for the asking, will offer savings on pints and growlers as well. Non club-types can expect regular pricing on a pint to be $4.50, more for premium styles.
Hours will be 12-12, Monday thru Saturday, but will open at 11 on Sundays during football season. Numerous TVs will broadcast numerous Cowboys losses.
And for you hardcore DOWNTOWN downtown residents: I don't know how you live there. And oh, there are no immediate plans to close the Microbar at this time. But come down and check out The Draft Station. Yes, it's a bar on Central Ave., but with 65% less booming bass.