Beer School

Happy New Year everyone! Last month (or last year, if you will), before my wife got me on this 21 day diet without sugar (or sweeteners), I got the chance to attend a Beer School event at Barley's Brewhaus OP to celebrate (and coincide with) the Founders Brewing release in Kansas. I love Barley's anyway, but this event was really top notch!

If you have never been to Barley's: There are 99 different beers on tap (including those from sister restaurant 75th St. Brewery), and a few more in bottles. But that is not where the fun stops, Chef Ryan does a great job of comprising a menu that brings together all of your bar favorites with items for the more gastronomically inclined. You can get: a pretty dang good buffalo chicken wrap that has just enough kick to it, pub chips with a bacon and bleu cheese sauce, "haus-made" (get it?) Heritage Farms pork meatballs, and "haus-made" Serrano and Kielbasa sausages. Not a huge bleu cheese fan? First of all, why not? Second of all, you are in luck, because the pub chip sauce was crafted as a bleu cheese dip for non-blue cheese eaters. Also, your opinion of bleu cheese is in stark contrast to mine and Chef Ryan's (and Chef Ryan's 3 year old son's). Chef told me a story of how he walked into his living room one Saturday morning to the sight of his 3 year old eating his bleu cheese wheel (that he brought back from Wisconsin) with a spoon while he was watching cartoons. That kid has amazing taste!

But I digress, this is a post about Knile and Gabe (from Founders) coming to Kansas to teach us about Founders brewery and their beers (they also come around to your tables to talk beer with you in case you have questions and are too shy to ask in front of the whole class).

Beer School is a really awesome event that Barley's puts on periodically. My buddy and I had wanted to go to the Free State Brewery Beer School earlier in the year, but it didn't really work for our schedules. A couple more Beer Schools came and went before the stars aligned and we were able to attend one. But Man, it was worth the wait!

I can't speak to all Beer School events (because I have only been to one), but... This is not really a school  that you go to and learn how to brew beer, but rather learn the story behind that brewery's beer (and try an array of their beers). This particular Beer School was set up to essentially be a brewery tour, where instead of you going to the brewery, they bring the brewery to you. But, if you are a home-brewer (or looking to become one) and searching for inspiration: Fear not, there is inspiration coming for you!

Knile is Founders' local rep. An Irishman that actually knows the cabbie that drove Bourdain through Belfast on his Northern Ireland episode. Gabe is Founders' All-Star brewery tour guide. He took us all the way back to the beginning of Founders. Founders started when a couple buddies quit their soul-sucking corporate jobs and started a brewery. They hired a highly revered local homebrewer as their head brewer (see, I told you homebrewers that I had something good for you, almost every one of you go to sleep at night praying for this to happen to you) and all was well with the world.

Initially brewing unexciting beers that Founders' founders thought would appeal to a wider variety of people, business did not go so well. In fact, business went so "not well" that they were in danger of having the brewery foreclosed on. With this looming foreclosure, they started brewing crazy beers (to fill their own beer cellars with). They did not care if anyone else liked these beers, they were only brewing them for themselves. The funny thing is that these crazy beers really caught on, sales went through the roof, and the business was saved. One of their most popular beers, "Dirty Bastard", is even a tribute to the bankers (dirty bastards) that were going to take their brewery from them.

I bet that if you cut Gabe open, he would bleed Red's Rye (discussed below). His family is Founders through and through, his wife works in the tasting room and legend has it that she can make even the most macho men feel inept about the level of spiciness that they can stomach. The legend, as Gabe tells it:

Founders occasionally brews spicy chili beers (Most recently: Mango Magnifico) and Gabe's wife just so happens to love them.
Man at Table of Guests: I would like the chili beer
Gabe's Wife: That beer is really spicy, let me bring you a sample of that before I pour you a full pint.
MATOG: Why, do you not think I can handle that beer?
GW: No, it's not that, I just want you to try it before I pour you a full pint.
MATOG: I am man enough to handle it
GW: Sir, I believe you, but please let me bring you a sample first.
MATOG: No, just bring me a pint of it.

Gabe's wife obliged and when coming back around to check on the table some time later she noticed that the beer had barely been touched. She asked if everything was alright. The man wanted to send the beer back, she refused by saying that she begged him to take a sample first and that he wouldn't take it. When he realized that she wouldn't take it back he claimed that he bought her a beer. After going and clocking out (because you cannot drink on the job), she came back and chugged the beer right in his face!

Fast forward a couple years to the birth of their first child. Gabe and his wife check in to the hospital, get to their room, and then a woman that had been sitting at the chili beer table walks into the room. That woman was their labor and delivery nurse and remembered Mrs. Gabe from the aforementioned encounter. I can only assume that the L&D nurse did not try to push the drugs (if they were not requested) after seeing Mrs. Gabe's pain tolerance. Talk about your all-time epic stories!


But back to the beer. We were set to sample 5 of their beers:

Centennial IPA - Pretty self explanatory: IPA brewed with only Centennial hops. Floral, not bitter, strong IPA.
Porter - Again, pretty self explanatory: A porter (of the sweet and hoppy variety).
Breakfast Stout - Double chocolate, double coffee, double oatmeal stout. So good!
Dirty Bastard - Malt forward beer with hops and slight smoke (not enough to taste like the "hot dog" beer that my buddies and I once brewed though, which is a very good thing!)
Red's Rye - A red rye IPA. A spicy, hoppy, red beer.

But that was not all. They also brought the ever-so-hard-to-obtain KBS for us to sample! People wait in line for days for a chance to buy KBS, it's release is like a beer Black Friday. So you can imagine the smiles on our faces when they busted that out, it was like Beer Christmas! For those that don't know: KBS is a Kentucky Bourbon Barrel aged Breakfast Stout. It is consistently rated in the top 5 beers on both RateBeer.com and BeerAdvocate.com. Simple the best barrel aged beer that I have ever experienced.

That was such a cool surprise, for them to bring the KBS. And that really sumarizes my Beer School experience: Not exactly what I expected to get (although I didn't really know what to expect either), but a pleasant surprise. It has also increased the amount of Founders beer that I buy, by quite a bit.

Cheers!

7one5 in the 7eight5

We all know how much I love Lawrence, KS. The last time I had the pleasure of staying the night in town, the night before my last triathlon of the season, I had to check out 715. The place has been open a little over a year and has been receiving all kinds of praise, and as I found out, it is for good reason.

Since we didn't have reservations, we had the option of waiting or sitting in the kitchen window. Kitchen window? Yes, please! Whenever you have the option to sit in the kitchen window, or the chef's table, at a restaurant, you take it (unless I am on my way, then you save it for me)! After putting in our drink orders (for one house red wine & one house white wine) a Rosemary Flatbread came over the counter at us, compliments of the chef (BTW, they have no idea who I am. This was not because I was a blogger, just because they are nice people.). The buttered flatbread was delicious and the fresh rosemary was joyfully fragrant. Since I am a strong believer in taking care of those that take care of me, I bought the kitchen a 6-pack. Buying the kitchen a 6-pack is a $12 menu item (it is $12 because you are not buying them Bud Light, since they did not buy you a Pizza Hut personal pan pizza), this ensures that this tip amount goes to the hard workers in the kitchen.

The house wines are served in tumbler style glasses, which I loved the un-pretentiousness of this, and the house varieties are very good. However, if you are a big wine snob (you know who you are), and want a wine glass that allows you to swirl and sniff your wine, they non-house varieties come in stemmed wine glasses.

After we polished off the rosemary flatbreat, we had to try the smoked trout crustini because of the combination of smoked trout and arugula & lemon caper aioli. They did not disappoint! One thing about the smoked trout that did catch us a bit off guard, was that it was cold, I guess I had expected it to be freshly smoked and still warm. Nonetheless, the flavour was amazing and it actually reminded me of the smoked fish and crackers that I had while ocean kayaking off of the Prince William Sound in Alaska.

I badly wanted to try one of the nightly specials that all looked so good, but since I was in town for a triathlon, I decided to be safe and stick with a pasta dish. My smoking hot date concurred. We got the spaghetti with lamb meat balls and tuna spaghetti, respectively (and switched half way, as usual). The house-made fresh spaghetti was out of this world! The lamb meat balls were tender, juicy, and everything that I had hoped that they would be. Top that off with a very nice marinara sauce and you have a recipe for a good night!

The tuna spaghetti was just as good, if not even better! The absence of the marinara in the picture shows just how hearty those house-made spaghetti noodles are. The oil (presumably of the olive variety) is the perfect lubricant for the noodles, while the saltiness of the capers and creaminess of the fresh mozzarella chunks are the perfect compliments to the flaky Italian Tuna in the pasta. Also worth noting is that we both got the "half" size of pasta and we both had some left over for a midnight snack. Granted, we had a couple appetizers and split the dessert that you are about to see, but these were still very generous portions.

715 has daily, nightly, and seasonal specials. When we were in, one of the seasonal desserts was something that I believe they called a Peach Pie(or a Fried Peach Pie, or something to that effect), what it was was essentially a peach empanada that had been covered in blend of cinnamon, sugar, and other spices. It came with two delicious scoops of what was either house-made ice cream or ice cream that was made somewhere close. The peaches were fresh local peaches (as we visited right at the end of peach season), and they were caramelized and glazed then stuffed in that empanada dough and deep fried.

The motto at 715 is "Local Handmade Food, Reasonable Wine" and they delivered on that, hard! We sat around for a while after our meal, talking, sipping our wine out of tumbler glasses, and watching the kitchen work as if they were our own personal live version of a Food Network show. This place is very impressive, the kitchen runs like a well oiled machine, and I saw some of the most gigantic cuts off meat that I have ever seen (in my life) come across that counter. They have a 2+lb rib-eye and what looked to be the worlds largest lamb chop, these both match the super-sized swine that is pictured on the folded receipt discretion deal (for lack of a better term, someone please comment below if you know what this is called). The kitchen staff are also very friendly and happy to answer any questions that you have (provided that they are not in the heat of battle at the particular moment you decide to be inquisitive).

You have not seen the last of me 715! Cheers!

Food Truck Roundup (Part Trois)

Food trucks (all street food really) have been the bread and butter of this blog since Day 1. I love everything about them and it has been way too long since I have made a food truck post. So without further adieu, here are a few of the food trucks that I have recently added to my rotation:

We will start off with a KC food truck veteran, that I just recently had the pleasure of trying: The Magical Meatball Tour. The Magical Meatball Tour (MMT) is a purveyor of fine meatballs, the most famous of which (and also most comically named) is the bleu ball. This made it an obvious choice for me, as I do love a delicious dish with a dirty name. The bleu ball slider was tremendous! The bleu balls come covered in a very spicy buffalo sauce, served on a bed of slaw and bleu cheese crumbles. The meat was tender and the slaw was terrific. The slaw was much more than a filler, it was a great compliment to the spice of the buffalo sauce. More bleu balls are definitely in my future (along with other ball varieties too). 

The Magical Meatball Tour is really an all around amazing food truck, it even comes complete with a Ringmaster (See photo to right). You can also find a MMT recipe in the upcoming edition of Food Trucks for Dummies, which is slated to hit bookstore shelves in April 2013 (I know what I am asking for for my next birthday). Stop by after you pick up your copy to get it autographed, but don't wait until then to see what all the buzz is about. My only regret was that I did not try this truck sooner.

Next up is Smokin' Fresh Streetside BBQ. Smokin' Fresh Streetside BBQ (SFSB) is Kansas City's only all-natural, organic-only BBQ food truck. SFSB also has the juiciest dry-rubbed, smoked meat I have ever had in my life. I do not know if the juiciness of the meat comes from it being organically raised meat, or the process by which it is cooked, and (speaking as a hungry truck goer) it really doesn't matter. All I know is that it is delicious regardless of where the juice comes from.

The brisket sandwich and burnt ends are both equally incredible. The burnt ends are done cube style (Jack Stack), not shredded style (Gates), which just works to hold the juices in until you bite into them. The brisket sandwich comes piled high with brisket, topped with a wonderful BBQ sauce.

Not only are Doug and Paula great barbecuers and food truck owners, but also great Kansas Citians and food truck supporters. On the weekends that they are not out with their truck, you will probably find them eating at another local food truck. Two of the nicest people that you will ever meet!

Crave of KC Food Truck is a newcomer to the local food truck scene. I have had two different varieties of the fusion tacos (and before anyone reminds me how much of a taco purist I am,  the rules of authentic Mexican tacos do not apply to fusion tacos, now back to the post), they are truly awesome!

The Chicken Fusion Tacos are great. I would have to say that my favorite part of them is the homemade peanut sauce (nut allergies beware). The chicken was also perfectly cooked. The Carnitas Tacos had incredibly tender carnitas and a great salsa verde (we all know I love a good salsa verde). The tacos pictured to the right are in the order in which they are described, from left to right.

Joe and Chris (and Matt too) are also great food truck owners and super nice people. They normally stick to the lunch circuit, but you occasionally catch them in the evenings. Although, I do have to catch up with them for breakfast sometime, as they have an Amaretto French Toast that I just have to try. I feel like it may even give my Wheatfield's sour dough French Toast a run for its money.

Driftwood KC was a new truck when I first tried them (this summer), but by the time my lazy butt has gotten around to writing about them, most of you have probably already tried the smoky goodness that is Driftwood KC. Driftwood is owned and operated by a classicly trained chef that just got sick and tired of working for The Man. I cannot say enough about this truck, I have dined at some good food trucks in my day, but Driftwood is easily in my top 5 (if not top 3)! I am lucky enough to work just a few blocks from this truck, thus I have had almost everything on the menu.

The brisket sandwich is awesome, the brisket is tender and the bed of slaw that sits inside the bun with it is incredible! Like MMT (above), this slaw is not just a complimentary component of an entree, it is good enough to stand on its own. The slaw is what I would call a very rugged cut slaw, which I love, and the flavour profile of the slaw morphs as it sits on your palate (you get the sweet, then the savory, then the tangy, then a tad bit of kick at the end, just wonderful). The complex flavour profile of the slaw comes from the garlic-chipotle aioli that holds the cabbage and onions together. Plus, don't even get me started on the molasses based BBQ sauce (I am a sucker for a good molasses based sauce)! You will need a knife and fork for this sandwich, do not plan to eat it like a sandwich.

My favorite item on the menu is the ribs. These are quite possibly the meatiest ribs I have ever had in my life, I would swear that they came off of either a brontosaurus or Hogzilla, yet they are not tough and chewy at all (as most meatier ribs are). Also, if you are not as huge of a sauce fan as I am, I put the globs of sauce on myself, it did not come through the window like that.

The fries are also great, they are fried when you order them and then tossed in a BBQ rub. Whether you like them with the bacon and bleu cheese aioli or the molasses BBQ sauce, you cannot go wrong.

My only complaint is that they are not open more days of the week, or for lunch and dinner, but this is probably better for my waist line in the long run.

And finally, a Food Truck Roundup post would not be complete without an update on the ever changing menu of Indios Carbonsitos, who along with MMT will have a recipe in the forthcoming edition of Food Trucks for Dummies. The Akcel sandwich is killer, and I am pretty sure it is my wife's new favorite menu item. You can order it tame (recommended for those with stomachs prone to ulcers) or on fire (which would clear even the toughest sinus congestion). The cheese on the Akcel is an awesome compliment to the carne in the tame version and offers a very small amount of relief from Adrian's "Diablo" sauce on the fire version of the sandwich. At the end of the day, you really cannot go wrong either way, unless of course you have a sensitive stomach (in which case you should probably go tame).

Happy Trucking!