Recess: Brooklyn Brewery Beer Dinner

Last night, Tim and I had a really great experience at our very first Beer Dinner at Recess.  I didn't initially think I'd write about it, since I've reviewed Room Four and Recess so many times, but it was such a wonderful time that I wanted to share.


I am on the Recess/Room Four mailing list, and had gotten several messages about this beer dinner.  It was super intriguing to us, but we had decided to be smart and not spend the money ($75 per person--yikes!).  For Recess, it's a pretty good deal--a normal meal there runs around $56/person for 4 courses and no drinks.  This was 5 courses and 6 beers.  Still, it's expensive.  But when I saw on Facebook Monday afternoon that they still had some spots left and mentioned it to Tim, we decided to just go for it since we've never done something like that and the menu looked incredible.  I'll be focusing on the food rather than the beers, since that's where my greater interest lies.

We arrived at 6:30, and were promptly handed our "reception beer"--a can of an English style Summer Ale.  It was great.  Light and ridiculously drinkable in an almost lager-ish way, it had a slight fruitiness from the hops but without being bitter like an IPA (key for me).  We both really enjoyed it.

Around 7pm, we were invited into the dining room to take our seats.  Everyone was seated at two long communal tables.  We weren't sure whether we'd like that, but thankfully we were seated next to a friendly couple who we ended up having a ton in common with (the craziest connection?  Our youngest and their oldest sons are in the same preschool class!).  So that aspect of the evening was really fun.

For our first course, we were served a "shrimp cocktail" with probably the most outstanding, tender, delicious shrimp I have ever had.  It was so well cooked!  In the glass was scallop ceviche in a cold tomato broth with avocado, jalapeno, and cilantro.  It had great flavor (excepting the cilantro, of course), with a low amount of heat.  The shrimp was the standout to me, although Tim loved the scallops.  The beer that course was Fiat Lux, which is a Belgian Witbier.


The second course was one of my favorites.  The large pieces of fish in the picture are kampachi crudo, which I had concerns about (I've never been a large-thick-pieces of raw fish person), but which turned out to be incredible.  It was served along with small thin slices of Mojama Tuna, which was kind of like tuna jerky and added a great saltiness.  On the side were two fried oysters (probably the only less-than fantastic part of this dish--there was too much breading and not enough salt involved), and some cucumbers that had been marinated in Tabasco and something creamy (mayo?).  There was also a red pepper gelee, almonds, and green onions, and under the crudo was a mix of what seemed like fennel and a few other finely chopped veggies, which had a pepperiness to it. Greg Hardesty said that with that dish, they wanted to explore several forms of peppers (gelee, hot sauce, and whatever they used in the veggies).  With that course, we got Sorachi Ace, a saison beer. I really enjoyed that one.

 
Our fourth course was roasted lamb rack.  As you can see, it was perfectly cooked.  It was served over what they called a "picnic salad" with grilled corn, broccoli, cauliflower, dried blueberries, and sunflower seeds, all in a slightly sweet mayonnaise based sauce.  The salad was so great, I could have eaten a plate of just that!  Creamy and sweet from the mayo, with all those wonderful textures...yum.  Also on the plate was a salted caramel made from a reduction of the beer we were drinking with this course--Local #2, which was a dark Abbey ale (in the background of the pic--at this point I realized how many pictures I'd be taking and started to combine drinks and food in one pic).  This was a standout dish--my one desire, though, was for just a touch more salt on the  lamb.  Our tablemates pointed out that the salted caramel provided a nice saltiness, and it did help, but it still needed just a touch more salt.  Recess is usually so great about seasoning their meat that it let me down just a touch.  Tim and the others seemed happy with it, though.


The fourth course was another standout.  It was a cheese course called raclette.  It's a Swiss (i.e., from Switzerland) cow's milk cheese that is traditionally set by a fire so that it begins to melt, and then it's scraped onto your plate.  To make things easier, they melted it in ramekins for us and served it with bread from Amelia's Bakery, house made pickles, boiled fingerling potatoes, and Walla Walla onion petals.  This was definitely another of our favorites.  The cheese was pungent and sharp, and so satisfyingly melty.  This course was served with Monster, a barley wine.


Our final course was dessert.  THIS course was definitely my favorite.  The heart of the dish was an amazing little glazed cherry cake doughnut, which sat atop a cherry puree.  It was dusted with powdered sugar and "macadamia snow" (ground macadamia nuts), and was served with Fernet ice cream.  Fernet is most commonly served in espresso in Italy--it's an herby spirit.  It made an AMAZING ice cream.  A bite of everything together was like the best cake and ice cream you've ever had.  The course was served with Black Chocolate Stout.


At the end of the evening, Greg Hardesty came out and announced that he had a $100 gift card if anyone could guess the theme of the music they had been playing all night.  When everyone shouted out "bands from Brooklyn!" right away, he said that instead he'd give it to anyone that could name the one musician they'd played that most people don't realize is from Brooklyn.  Tim was able to quickly and correctly identify Barry Manilow (who knew?!  So grateful for my musically knowledgeable husband!), and we scored the gift card!  Needless to say, it made our last minute decision to attend all the more sweet.

Website:  Recess

Pizzology

I love Pizzology.  We don't get that far north very often, but when we do it's often specifically because we want to go to Pizzology.  We decided to go one recent Saturday evening around 7pm, and, thinking it would be packed, I used their online "put your name in ahead of time" system.  That gave an estimated wait time of 45 minutes--yikes!  But when we showed up, there was no wait at all!  In fact, there were several tables open.  Very surprising.

Anyway, we were both super hungry, and I wanted to try at least one new thing, so we decided to get a starter, salads, and then to split a pizza.  We started with the arancini--balls of risotto stuffed with cheese and sausage and then fried ($10).  Sounds amazing, right?  Well, these were, sadly, just okay.  The risotto itself lacked flavor--it needed SOMEthing--seasoning?  More wine added during the cooking process?  I dunno.  It just needed flavor.  Because there wasn't all that much cheese or sausage.  When I think of arancini, I think of lots of gooey cheese inside, but there wasn't much at all.  And the sausage was in such a small amount that it added little.  The saving grace for this dish was the basil aioli that was served with it for dipping.  It was awesome, with lots of basil and garlic flavor.  The waitress told us it's her favorite dipping sauce and recommend we hold on to it for dipping our pizza later.  It proved to be an excellent idea.

Salad-wise, Tim got one of the specials (not sure how much it was--$7 range?).  It was arugula and other mixed greens in a nice vinaigrette and topped with peaches that had been specially treated (I'm thinking poached, maybe?  Our waitress forgot to mention them when describing the salad so we were just guessing).  Also sitting on top was burrata.  Our waitress described that as being an outer shell of mozzarella with ricotta inside.  When Tim cut into it, it was creamy inside.  I had a small bite and it was good, but not as good as my awesome Italian Chopped Salad ($4).  Man, do I love that salad.  I get it every time we go.  It's Romaine lettuce with plenty of slices of prosciutto, Gorgonzola, green olives, roasted grape tomatoes, shallots, and a fantastic "citronette" dressing.  The dressing is so tangy, and the olives and prosciutto and Gorgonzola are so salty...it's just perfect.  Perfect, I tell you!

We shared the Four Cheese pizza ($13), which has fresh mozzarella, taleggio, Parmesan Reggiano, and provolone on it.  Having tried a number of the others, it has become one of our favorites.  It's simple and just good.  The tomato sauce is very fresh, the cheeses nice and salty (with a little ooze from the fresh mozz and a little funk from the taleggio).  A sprinkle of red pepper flakes and it's perfection.  I love Pizzology's crust--thin but chewy and crispy around the edges.  It's *not quite* as good as the real stuff I had in Italy, but it comes the closest I've seen in Indianapolis.  It's truly a great pizza.

Website:  Pizzology

H2O Sushi

 I've heard a lot about H2O Sushi over the years--I'm not sure why it took us so long to try it.  It could be that I've always had other favorite sushi places and I prefer to stick with the familiar; it could be that it always gave off a pretentious vibe to me (not sure why); it could be because the menu always looked pretty expensive.  Whatever the reason (likely a combo of all of the above), Tim and I did finally get ourselves there, and we were not disappointed.

We started with one of the specials, the shumai--short rib & foie gras dumplings with "miso" broth ($12).  They were, as you might imagine since they contained short rib and foie gras, meaty and rich, and the broth they sat in had a nice brothy, herby flavor (not at all like standard miso soup, which is, I imagine, why they put the "miso" in quotes).

 We also had another special to start--the Indiana Tomato Salad ($11).  It contained fresh, ripe, peeled tomatoes tossed with shallot, basil, and a dijon cider vinaigrette, and it was topped with a mild (i.e., mostly just avocado) guacamole and parmesan cheese.  Give me a super ripe tomato, basil, and a nice acidic dressing and I am a happy, happy girl, so this was right up my alley.  It felt a little strange to have it as a starter in a sushi place, but I like that they aren't shy about doing non-Japanese dishes.

We did partake in a couple adult beverages--for me it was a take on a caipirinha, only made with rum instead of cachaca and brown sugar syrup instead of white sugar, and served in a martini glass.  It was pretty good, although I think the cachaca really makes that drink, so that aspect was slightly lacking.  Still, it was tasty, and the brown sugar added an extra layer of flavor.  Tim got a special gin & tonic off of their drink menu, and it had a very fresh cucumber flavor and I think a splash of orange juice.  He really liked it.  No prices for these because I forgot to take a picture of the drink menu and they aren't listed online, but I'm sure you can guess--$8-11 is the typical mixed drink price at places like this.

We got three rolls for our main course, and they were all really good.  Starting at 12 o'clock in the picture below, we had the Cuban Cigar roll: shrimp, (real!) crab, "salmon cigar," jalapeno, spicy sauce, and avocado ($13).  I have no idea what a "salmon cigar" is--I didn't notice anything special about it, but then again I didn't examine it closely.  The overall flavor was pretty light and it was salty from the crab and creamy from the avocado and spicy sauce (although it wasn't overly spicy).  A solid roll of the "cleanser" variety (our code for a roll we eat after a particularly spicy roll to bring the heat down so we can actually taste again).

At 3 o'clock in the picture is the Buttery Nipple roll ($11).  I wondered why they would call it that (a Buttery Nipple shot involves Butterscotch Schnapps and Irish Cream--nothing sushi-like about that), but then I saw it.   Hee.  Anyway, it contains kampachi, cucumber, sweet onion, masago, and scallions, and was topped with spicy mayo (light orange) and sriracha (the red).  These definitely had a kick, but it was welcome.  Very tasty roll.  We'd never had kampachi before, which is a white fish and I believe is in the same family as yellow tail.  It was mild but the whole roll together was just GOOD.  I have no other descriptive words for it.  It was yummy.  There.

And finally, at about 7 o'clock in the picture, is the Instant Bliss ($9.75).  Inside was cucumber, avocado, and basil, and across the top was tuna and a very thin slice of orange.  My first bite, with the orange, had a bit too much orange flavor for me--it overpowered the subtler tuna.  But then we discovered the secret--we started peeling the orange off.  It left behind a nice orange-y brightness but didn't overwhelm the roll.  Instead, we could taste the basil and tuna, which was a killer combination.  I really, really enjoyed this one.

Our final, overall impression of H2O was great.  We really enjoyed our meal and would have loved another roll or two (although we were nicely full by the end).  The downside for us was just the price.  We threw down a lot of money for this meal.  For the same amount of food--or, really, more--we would have spent half that amount at Sakura.  It was high quality, inventive food, for sure, and I'm willing to pay for that, but only occasionally.  This is not someplace we'd go to just because we had a craving for sushi, or we'd be broke.

Website:  H2O Sushi

Bakersfield on Mass

 The other night I met two of my friends at Bakersfield on Mass for a weeknight dinner.  I'd heard a bit about it, and the reviews were mixed, but the overall feedback has been pretty positive.  I had no idea that it was a chain until I started reading other reviews the other day, but apparently there are a number of these Bakersfield restaurants.  They're supposed to have the vibe of Bakersfield, California, which according to the restaurant website has a Nashville musical influence and lots of Mexican-inspired street food.

I arrived at 6:15pm and was told that there would be a 15-20 minute wait, so I stepped out onto the sidewalk to wait for my friends.  They have the area in front of the restaurant sectioned off as if they might put tables out there, but there were none on the day we visited (granted, it was raining all day).  The large windows were open (one of my favorite features of many Mass Ave restaurants are the huge, open front windows in nice weather--think MacNiven's or Ball & Biscuit) and Johnny Cash was blaring from inside.  It was all very summery and promising.


After a short wait (less than expected), the hostess retrieved us and showed us to our seats.  We were at a "communal" table, i.e. a picnic table meant for 7; there were two ladies at one end, so we took the other end.  There was a one-person bench at the very end where one of us sat, so there was some space between us and our neighbors.  We quickly decided to order a pitcher of the Bakersfield Margarita ($24) to split amongst the three of us, after the waitress assured us that it was the equivalent of 1.5 glasses each (individual glasses are $6).  She ended up bringing us short glasses (regular margaritas come in Ball jars) and I think we each got around 3 fill-ups.  The margarita itself was really good and pretty well-balanced--not too sweet, not too sour.

We also ordered chips and guacamole for the table.  The chips were great--thin but they stood up to the dip, and with nice big pieces of salt on them.  The guac was pretty good, too.  Quite a few large chunks, good amount of lime (although I prefer more when I make it myself), a touch of heat in the background, and not too much cilantro.  It was quite a hearty portion, but we managed to finish it off.

Bakersfield features a lot of tacos, but I'd heard good things about their tortas (Mexican sandwiches) and wanted to try one.  The short rib torta had braised short rib, caramelized onions, chihuahua cheese, arugula, black beans, and a roasted tomatillo salsa.  It was good, although it just felt like a little something was missing.  Acid, maybe, or salt?  Not sure.  The arugula was lightly dressed and the bites with more dressing were pretty good; the salsa is in the cup on the side, there in the picture, and was hard to get onto the sandwich (do I pour it right on?  Dip it?  I opted to dip.).  The salsa was good, but again, didn't pack a ton of flavor like you'd expect it to.  I also kind of wish that the cheese had been melted.  The bread was fairly good, and reminded me of what you might get on a pressed Cuban sandwich.  Overall, tasty, just not what I'd call "crave-able."  I'm not dying to get back there for another, if you know what I mean.

The girls got two tacos each--a fish (fried mahi with cabbage slaw), pastor (pork with pineapple), and I think two short rib tacos (short rib, queso fresco, crema, and radishes).  One friend said the fish was by far her favorite; the other liked the short rib so much that she ordered another.  So I think they were relatively happy with them.

One review that I read said that if someone asked for a good Mexican restaurant recommendation, that they would NOT recommend Bakersfield, but if they just want a snack and a great margarita after work, that this is the place.  I'd have to agree wholeheartedly with that assessment.  The food was not so outstanding that I'm counting the minutes till I return, but it was pretty good, and the atmosphere (aside from being incredibly loud--come on, turn the music down a notch or two so we can converse) is summery and fun.  I'd love to sit outside sometime if they do put tables out there, with a margarita and more of that guacamole.

Website:  Bakersfield on Mass

Steak & Shake

Steak & Shake's GCB

Let me start by saying that I usually try to avoid reviewing chains.  Not because I don't eat at plenty of them, but because they are everywhere, and the general public has usually tried most of them already, so what's the point of a review?  (Okay, yes, I also did one of Waffle House, but I felt the need to advocate for it.)

But when I heard that Steak & Shake was offering a Garlic Double Cheeseburger, I had to try it myself and then share the results.  You see, I went to a certain university here in Indiana that's near a restaurant named Marvin's, which is famous for its Garlic Cheeseburgers (GCB's, for short).  They're a bit of an obsession for most of us alumni.

The original GCB

As you can see from the pictures, Steak & Shake's version is pretty different from Marvin's good old GCB in the looks department.  I will give S&S props for a pretty good bun (not their standard steak burger bun), and the meat is probably of higher quality than Marv's.  However, at S&S  butter is the featured ingredient on top of the bun (and throughout, really), rather than the garlic salt.  The original is much more dry and garlic salt heavy, in a good way.  S&S's was greasy and strangely tangy, possibly from something in the garlic butter spread they put inside.  Kind of odd. Both had standard American cheese on them, although I couldn't really taste it beyond the butter on S&S's burger.

Overall, the S&S burger was pretty good, even though I could feel my arteries clogging as I ate it.  But it was really no substitute for the original GCB, which in my unbiased opinion, is perfection.

Website:  Steak & Shake and Marvin's

Thai Taste: Revisit

Awhile back, I did a review of our favorite Thai restaurant, Thai Taste.  At one point, I mentioned that I also love the Basil Fried Rice.  Well, Tim and I went there the other night and that's what I got, so I thought I'd post a quick picture and review.

The rice is a bit spicy--that's standard (I asked if it could be medium, and the waitress assured me that it always came fairly spicy).  You can see bits of red and green bell pepper mixed in, along with strips of beef (you can choose beef, chicken, pork, or a combo).  The price for one type of meat is around $10, and the combo is closer to $12.  And of course, the star of the dish is Thai basil--whole leaves that are wilted into it.  It gives the whole dish a yummy, herby flavor.  I'm not sure what type of sauce the whole thing is stir-fried in, but it's delicious.  I highly recommend it!

Website:  Thai Taste

Sahm's Place

 Tim and I knew we wanted to go to one or two of the Chow Down Midtown restaurants, but we like to be sure we're getting a good deal.  A lot of the restaurants on the list you could easily eat at for $30 a person under normal circumstances, so you're really not saving any money, and that misses the point of the event.  Luckily, several of the restaurants were offering 2-for-$30.  That's much more our speed.  Sahm's Place was one of those, so we decided to give it a try.

Peppy Naners

 Sahm's was actually a pretty great deal.  For $30 we got one flight of Bier beers to share, a starter to share, two salads, two entrees, and a dessert.  Not too shabby.  The beer was great--Bier is by far our favorite local brewery, and to be honest it was one of the factors in our decision to eat at Sahm's.  There were tasters (from right to left in the picture) of Special K Kolsch (a German style lager), Weizengoot (a Hefeweizen), Smoked Brown (an American style Brown), and CLA (an American pale ale).  I liked all except the CLA, and that's because I don't care for the hoppiness of pale ales; Tim loved it because he does love hoppy beers.  The Weizengoot is one of our all-time favorite Bier beers (we've had it many times before), and the Special K is a solid and very drinkable lager.  Brown was good, too, with a definite smokiness to it (guess they named it well).

Hoggmann salad

On to the food...we got the Peppy Naners to start:  banana peppers stuffed with Smoking Goose garlic sausage and cream cheese, then wrapped in crisped bacon and topped with melty Muenster cheese.  These were pretty insanely rich, but delicious.  Think of a jalapeno popper on steroids.  There was some ranch dressing to dip them in, in case they weren't already enough to give you a heart attack.  The portion was one pepper per person, but it was enough, and was a great way to start the meal.

Pickled Belly

We both opted for the Hoggmann salad:  mixed greens with roasted tomatoes, small slices of capacolla, chopped cucumber and radishes, basil, and a parmesan vinaigrette. I would never have thought to put those items together (well, most of them), but it made sense and turned out to be a tasty and coherent salad!  Room Four often puts basil in their salads, and I liked it here, too.  Just adds an extra something.  The radishes were nice and crunchy, the tomatoes a bit sweet, and the capacolla a touch spicy.  The vinaigrette was also very good.  Thumbs up.

London Broil

 I got the "Pickled Belly" as my main--pork belly that was crispy on the outside but tender inside sitting atop pickled veggies (cauliflower, cucumber, and carrots) and a soy-sauce based broth, and topped with wontons that were stuffed with a spinach-cream cheese sort of thing.  Overall, it was really pretty good, although the pickled veg were cold--they clearly hadn't been warmed through--which was a bit jarring.  The broth was good but borderline salty if you got too much.  They had a good start on creating this dish, it just didn't come together completely.  Tim, on the other hand, loved his London Broil with fingerling potato hash, Swiss Chard, asparagus, and parsley butter.  He gave me a bite, and it was truly delicious.

Fortune Cake

  For dessert, we got the "Fortune Cake."  It consisted of a fried wonton that was stuffed with a sweet cream cheese mixture, and the whole thing was topped with chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and strawberries.  It was a nice combo of sweet and creamy and fried things.  My only complaint was that it was a bit tough to cut because wonton skins tend to be a little tough, and so all of the insides squished out.  But it still tasted great, and wasn't a deal breaker by any means.

It looks like Sahm's has some good weeknight deals, and they do a Tap Takeover with Bier Brewery every once in awhile.  Tim and I agreed that we'd have to give this Sahm's location another try sometime!

Website:  Sahm's Place