Beer Me

About a week ago me and a friend of mine decided that we would exchange our NYC restaurant wish lists with the hopes of coming to a consensus and going out to dinner this past Friday night. After throwing around a bunch of restaurants that were probably out of the price range for this dinner, Robuchon, Le Bernardin etc. we decided on Resto, a restaurant recognized as serving the best Belgian food in the city.

I arrived a little early and started looking at the food and drink lists and was most struck by the list of beers. There were over 60 choices in several different styles, many of which I had no knowledge of whatsoever. I ended up trying a couple of different ones that went really well with the food at Resto (mostly meat and mostly fried) and left the dinner with a new goal: to learn more about beer.

Quick note on the restaurant—I liked the food, especially the deviled eggs on fried pork toasts, the butter ballen (fried pork and veal croquettes) and the tete de cochon sandwich which was pretty amazing. I was a little disappointed by the fries (too starchy, not crispy enough) and thought the kanpachi dish we had was good but a little nondescript. Overall I think Resto would be a great place for a beer and a snack or an amazing place for a late night meal thanks to all the fried stuff. I’ll probably find my way back at some point but I’m not exactly sure when.

Anyway, my cluelessness about beer had me really frustrated and yearning to learn more about it. I felt like I had done a relatively good job of learning about wine and have started to learn more about cocktails, but how could I not know about beer? I was in a frat for two years!

I found myself on Bowery on Saturday morning, strolling through the restaurant equipment stores and decided that I should hop into the Whole Foods beer shop on Bowery and Houston. One thing led to another and I took myself on a little beer shopping spree, trying to pick up a bunch of different kinds of beers that I haven’t had and treating myself to one that I have. I think I bought a 6 pack of Brooklyn Summer Ale, a mixed 12 pack of Beer from upstate New York, two different kinds of Allegash beer, two different kinds of Hitachino, one kind of beer brewed in 2003 and aged in Calvados Casks, a Norman Apple Cider, a couple of different kinds of Belgian beer and a couple of others.
Of course, I have no time or plans to drink any of this and am clearly not jumping into this learning project by myself. Anyone up for a beer dinner next Saturday?