Saturday, July 22, 2006

Happy Anniversary to Me! And a gripe about fine dining.

Well, the 16th was my first wedding anniversary. We're celebrating it today by holding a clambake. Shitty weather for it, bute we'll cope.

So it's off to Beers of the World for a couple of cases. I'm tempted to go with American micros since I haven't been giving them their due lately. Maybe or something from What goes well with clams?

Anyway, Last night after the game, I stopped by the a fine dining restaurant where a friend of mine bartends. As is fitting for a place whose entrees hover around $20 per dish, the wine list was excellent and extensive.

But the beer choices sucked.

Heineken, Stella, Labatt Blue, Bud, Coors Light. This beer menu belongs at a baseball stadium, not a place of gastronomy. Why is beer always so totally ignored by chefs? There's a whole world of it out there, and you're stuck with Coors light to complement your Crispy Skinned Maple Leaf Farms Boneless Duck Breast. Gimme a place with a beer cellar, thanks very much. Oh, and waiter, you don't have to open it at my table. I have a keychain for that.

-Mark

-Mark

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I couldn't agree with you more. Any restaurant that doesn't have a decent beer list gets an automatic thumbs down in my book.

I went to this place in Key West called the Beer Garden once. Being used to a great selection at the Old Toad I couldn't wait to find out what a place called "The Beer Garden" had on tap. Sadly the answer was "Yuengling"... and that's it. They had a decent selection of bottled beer, but come on.

PS: you should ditch the keychain bottle opener for a "ring thing", google it, I have one and it's so handy. (pun intended) ;-)