Last night I attended the Dogfish Head Happy Hour at Noodlecat. This event was part of Noodlecat's grand opening yesterday. The menu for the event was simple, three tasty brews paired with three steamed buns prepared by Chef Brian Reilly and one bonus brew at the end.
The pairing went like this: Dogfish Head Burton Baton (an oak aged Imperial IPA) paired with the BBQ pork steam bun, My Antonia (a continuously hopped imperial pilsner) paired with the fried chicken steam bun, and Raison D'Etre (a Belgian style brown ale) paired with the miso steam bun. We were also given a pour of the Indian Brown Ale when we were finished.
The steam buns all came out at once along with the three beers. The buns themselves were very tasty and held up very well with everything put inside them.
The pairing of the Burton Baton with the BBQ pork was spot on. Although this version of Burton Baton was slightly less hoppy that we remembered, which might have been due to it being a draft version, I still found the combination to work very well. The BBQ pork itself had just a little bit of kick to it which was cut nicely by the hops in the beer.
My favorite paring of the night was the crispy fried chicken with the My Antonia. The chicken was seasoned perfectly and the mayo that came on it had two mayo haters loving it! The fresh bubbly mouthfeel of the beer complimented the crispy and flavorful chicken. Chef Brian commented that this was the steam bun he was most excited about, and for good reason!
My least favorite pairing was the miso and salted cucumber steam bun with the Raison D'Etre. The beer was actually better than I originally reviewed it, so I might have to go back and revisit it, but the Miso lacked flavor in comparison to the fresh and up front flavors of the cucumber. It wasn't a bad steam bun, but just not as good as the other two. The beer for me didn't do it with this combination, in fact the Rasion D'Etre could have easily beer paired successfully with the BBQ pork.
Overall the event was well worth the $40 online price that included both tax and gratuity. The amount of food in combination with the overall quality and quantity of beer poured left everyone I was with very pleased. I look forward to making it down to Noodlecat soon to dive into their full menu because it looks and sounds amazing!
1 comment:
Sounds like a fun night--we still need to check out Noodlecat. I've really liked My Antonia and Burton Baton (although I found the draft version at Greenhouse hoppier than the bottle I had--maybe it had something to do with the age of each?) I found the Raison D'Etre too sweet, but maybe they've tweaked it. David Chang actually published his steamed pork bun recipe in Momofuku--it take some work but is worth doing.
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