Pig & Pickle and Odell Brewing Co. Beer Dinner (Held 6/17/2013)

Lucky enough to attend another fine fine beer dinner event in the Valley. Friends (and major hop-heads) Sarah & Tom B joined us, along with my sister Cheryl K. Dinner was set for 6:30, and we arrived at 6:15 to find our seats all together (thanks Sarah!). With such a full menu, we decided to hold off on the pre-dinner beers (oh yeah, and C & I had been pre-cocktailing off-site).

The Beer Dinner Menu

This was the fantastic menu that was waiting for us. Up front, I'll say how much I appreciated this set-up, as we were able to pre-pay ($44.44 included dinner, tax & gratuity) and have no worries on the night of the event. Genius plan...

So, the first beer, "Double Pilsner" was a perfect match to the pretzel stick and cheese dip appetizer. It was light and refreshing. The cheese dip was soooooo yummy; warm, cheesy and bacony-three of my favorite things!

Pretzel stix & cheese dip

They placed a plate between each four people, so we got a really good portion of the cheese dip. The four people to the right of me were obviously zombies or some other type of mutants, as they allowed most of their dip to go back to the kitchen. If this was really the Wild West, I would have been justified in taking them down.

Next up was one of the most fantastic salads I've ever eaten. (Refer to prior postings regarding my soup whore propensities and you'll know I'm no big salad fan...this one may turn me into a salad eater.)

Grilled Peach Salad

Served with Tree Shaker (a Peach Imperial IPA) This salad was composed of grilled peaches, fresh mozzarella, mixed baby greens and topped with a brown sugar peach vinaigrette. Pow. It truly was awesome and just the right amount of salad for an "anti-green" eater!

Oh, I should probably talk more about this beer. Just not my speed, but I can't like them all...as a matter of fact, I like very few of them.

So why the beer dinners? That Sweet Baboo is a fan and I try to keep him monitored 24/7, which requires my attendance at beer dinners...NOT. It is really fun to watch others enjoy their pairings and I am always hoping that there will be a beer that I will find to my liking so that I can order one along with everyone else that likes the suds!

Main course time. New beer-Celastrina, a Saison ale with hints of banana and a clove-like flavor is a seasonal brew at Odell. Again, a Saison is not on the top of my list, but this one did have a good flavor and was paired well with...WHAT HAVE WE HERE? Chamomile and Lemon Verbena brined pork, gruyere mashed potatoes, pickled apples and pickled garlic? Holy Heck! This dish was insanely delicious. If you've ever had me cook your Turkey Day dinner, you know I'm all about the brine...and this one was a touch of genius. Great flavors, well cooked and those taters were just lousy with gruyere. Yummy Yummy Yummy, I Got Love in my Tummy.

Main Course-Pork Loin

Dessert

So I'll admit that I was really waiting around and eating all of this food because I was most excited about the dessert course. We had been out sampling the brewpubs on Sunday and I'd had a lovely sample of Odell Brewing Co. Lugene at another establishment. When I saw it was being served at our beer dinner I flipped (mentally, there's no way I can ACTUALLY flip any more...or could I ever?)

All of my dessert dreams came true...the kitchen team selected a dessert that really complemented the Chocolate Milk Stout that is Lugene. White cake with white chocolate frosting, fresh strawberries between the layers and a strawberry sauce on top. The sauce consistency was a bit thick for my liking, but those crunchy bits of white chocolate made it all better.

Totally delish way to finish a meal with lots of fun and laughter with friends and family.

The amazing kitchen staff

Kudos to all at Pig & Pickle for a fantastic evening.

While nicely planned and pretty flawlessly executed, it would have been a nice add to hear the chef tell us about the food that was chosen to pair with the beers. I always like to hear the specifics. This staff was busting their tails to make this dinner right and it would have been nice to hear the "why" of the pairing.

SWAG

And thanks also to Odell Brewing Co. for co-hosting and providing a nice full pour to sample. They also provided us with some wicked awesome SWAG. You can see what was left of our first beer there as well. Truly a grand evening.

AZ Restaurant Week Spring 2013 (Portland's)

How have we never come here before? Portland's has been winning awards since 2004, so we've somehow avoided it for at least 9 years...until now! Portland's Restaurant

May 18-23 was AZ Restaurant Week this year. Normally, we avoid this like the plague, cuz many of the restaurants we frequent either don't participate OR we just try to avoid the crowds. For some reason, this year, we decided to take the plunge and give a new place a whirl-practically on their dime!

We chose Portland's for the simple reason that we HADN'T been there and we still can't figure out why that is. (Some type of retrograde amnesia is my guess...it's probably the thing that has kept hubby married to me for over 25 years.)

We were seated into a fairly quiet dining room-and it sounded like it might have been a bit busier on the bar side. We had a great table, both of us sat on the same side, facing the glass and a fine view of the streetscape outside on "PORTLAND" street.

While some restaurants include a glass of wine with their Restaurant Week dinner, Portland's did not, so I was happy to see that I could get a nice special  glass of the bubbly for $5. Sweet baboo (SB) ordered the Pinot Noir and of course we made a note to deduct on our taxes (NOT!). Nice touch to offer a wine that was both good for us and others.

Le Menu

We perused the fantastic AZRW menu and the regular menu while enjoying our vino. So many things to chose from! I think many of you know of my soup-whore tendencies, so no big surprise what I selected for my starter course! pan-seared Diver Scallops? Parmesan-asparagus risotto? That's how you spell my name...I'm all ordered up.

SB was going to go off the reservation and order from the regular menu, but reigned himself in at the last minute and stayed the course. He chose the Prsciutto-wrapped Asparagus and the scottish Salmon for his dining pleasure.

While waiting for starters, we enjoyed another round of the OneHope wines from the menu. Really tasty. And that will be my last mention of our alcohol consumption.

The crowd was picking up a little bit, but thankfully not too much, as our waiter was the only one I saw during the entire meal. There was a good handful of support staff filling up water glasses, taking away dirty dishes and delivering food, but the one waiter was IT for face time.

Soon enough, our starters arrived. Presentation for both was very nice. It's hard to make a broccoli-based soup look like much more than a Linda Blair prop, and if there is ANYONE who says different, they're lying. That asparagus was done to perfection and the prosciutto and sauce made it a HOLY trinity of goodness.

Finished morsels were cleared quickly and effectively, waters refilled and we're ready for some awesome main courses...

pan seared Diver Scallops with Parmesan Asparagus Risotto

scottish Salmon

Seriously. WHY THE HELL HAVE WE WAITED SO LONG TO COME HERE?

Although I wasn't warned about the Rooster sauce with the scallops, (I would have respectfully declined-don't hate), the sear was good enough to repel the sauce and I rescued the big guys quickly. Risotto was done to perfection and had a great blend of flavors. Allegedly the salmon was good (soup whores don't eat fish of any kind-we're seafood folk)!

And then came the Sophie's Choice moment of the meal...which dessert to select?

Oh, and like these three choices weren't enough, there was also a caramel walnut sundae was an option as well. Candied walnuts? Check.

Major conflict for me here...Strawberry shortcake can be so, uh, dry. Tiramisu can be so, uh, wet. Mama loves caramel and chocolate, but the waiter tipped me off that this was no regular shortcake...it has cream cheese in it. CREAM CHEESE? I'm in. SB orders the caramel walnut sundae despite a 25-year insistence that he doesn't care for nuts or caramel. I think he just says that so I won't hide those things in the kitchen like I do the chocolate chips. That way there's at least 1-2 things he can find easily when he wants a snack. Just a guess.

Caramel Walnut Sundae

 So while his dessert was very tempting, I totally think I won the Dessert Wars here. This mo-fo of a dessert was supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. (BTW, I spelled that without GOOGLE folks. Seriously, how to spell this word I can remember, but last night I spent 30 minutes trying to find my car keys...life is SO not fair.) Anywhooz, you can see in the photo that my TOTALLY AWESOME dessert was basically two squares of cheesecake bars with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. In the history of man, there has never been a better strawberry cheesecake imitator. Sure, it's not "historically" accurate, but screw you...it had CREAM CHEESE!!!

Strawberry Cream Cheese Shortcake

So, food grades here were excellent. Service was at a relaxed pace, but knowledgeable with good insights and very patient with all of our questions and changing SB's order after he changed gears.

The AZRW deal was a good way to tempt us in, for $30 per person-which looks like about what we would have paid on the regular dinner menu.

Portland's has a full array of burgers, artisan pizzas and salads as well. There were a couple of pasta dishes on the menu that looked interesting as well. We'll surely be back...and not just for that amazing shortcake!