I first came across beer and wine hybrids at the Firestone Walker Brewery in Buellton when I was writing West Coast 101. Now I've come across another good version at the Belching Beaver Brewery in San Diego. Coastal Mist is a wild ale with pinot noir grapes and a touch of Himalayan pink salt that helps cut through the sourness a little. I was told that wild yeast ferments at a warmer temperature than other types of yeast, and it provides more sourness. There seems to be a little honey in the nose and taste, but there is no sweetness to the beer at all. The salt is subtle, but you can taste it if you know it's there. Like they do at Firestone Walker, this beer was served in a wine glass.
Location: Belching Beaver, 4223 30th Street, San Diego, California. Date: July 26, 2021.
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This was basically a Pho, that famous Vietnamese soup, but this version had a whole large beef bone in it, complete with bone marrow, leaving no room for rice noodles. The broth is made from bones, and then what I think they do is cut the bones open to expose the marrow and serve them in the broth that those very bones made. The meat that still clings to the bones or has fallen off into the soup is tender and delicious. I tasted star anise in the broth that I think is commonly used in Vietnam. The soup came with the usual side of sliced jalapeño peppers, Thai basil, and bean sprouts. I put it all into the soup and let it steep. The broth got spicy and very delicious, and the bean sprouts added some crunch. The star of the bowl, though, was the buttery bone marrow; that alone was worth the modest price of this delectable soup. I had a Saigon export beer that had a nice malty flavor to it to drink with my soup. I was asked if I'd like it over ice, which is probably common in Vietnam, especially when it's hot and humid, but I didn't think it was necessary on this cooler than usual summer day in San Diego.
Location: Shank & Bone, 2930 University Avenue, San Diego, California. Date: July 26, 2021. I believe this is the fist time I'm blogging about an Ethiopian lamb dish. Yebeg Tibs is pieces of lamb meat cooked in a mildly spicy sauce with onion and garlic. It was served with a side of house sauce and salad. You could order the house sauce mild or spicy, so naturally I went for the spicy. The very red sauce was hot and sour with an exotic floral note. The salad was lettuce, tomato, and red onion simply dressed with lemon juice. The lamb stew, that had really good lamb flavor, was served on injera (a sourdough spongy pancake made from a type of grass seed). I enjoyed this spicy, sour, and savory dish with a Harar beer, my favorite Ethiopian brand. It's malty and just a little bitter and slightly sweet. On the label it says “Enjoy the taste of real beer”.
Location: Addis Restaurant, 3643 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego, California. Date: July 16, 2021. This is one of my favorite currys, and I realized today that I didn't have it documented. So I went to my favorite Indian restaurant in the valley, and it paid off with the best paneer cheese I've ever had with spinach curry. It was soft and delectable. I ordered my dish with garlic naan, and the garlic on the bread enhanced the flavor of the blended spinach. I had my lunch with my go to Indian beer: Taj Mahal. It's just hoppy enough and malty enough to be a pleasant accompaniment to a curry that I ordered spicy.
Location: India Oven, 35875 Date Palm Drive, Cathedral City, California. Date: June 19, 2021. The smoked whitefish was served on toasted bagel halves with cream cheese, lettuce, tomato, and onion. I chose to have it on an onion bagel. There was some really nice smoke on the meaty whitefish fillets. I chose potato salad for my side and it came with very little mayo, so that was a nice. There were crisp kosher dill pickles on the table, and I had an Israeli beer for my drink. It was Goldstar dark lager which had a rich taste and just a hint of sweet. There was a generous portion of smoked whitefish on my open face sandwiches; I enjoyed the fact that I got whole fillets rather than having the fish chopped up salad style. This was a noteworthy Jewish deli meal.
Location: D Z Aikins, 6930 Alvarado Road, San Diego, California. Date: May 29, 2021. These were my Christmas present from my sister. I had no idea that beer flavored jerky even existed. Among others, I got two Boozy Jerky and two Craft Beer Jerky. The Boozy ones are Peppered Stout and Spicy Citrus IPA. The Craft Beer ones are American Saison Ale and Pavers Porter. The peppered stout is peppery and very moist. The spicy citrus IPA is spicy and I taste both the citrus and the beer. The American saison ale is smoky, and the Pavers porter, the chewiest jerky, is also smoky but less so than the saison. All of these share some of the characteristics of the beer they're infused with, but it's the IPA flavor that really jumps out. The Boozy brand wants you to pair their meat with the appropriate beer, and I can see the jerky being an excellent accompaniment to beer. Thanks, Sis!
Location: My Home in Desert Hot Springs, California. Date: December 25, 2020. Remember Marie Callender's pies? The Callender family sold that chain, and they opened Babes, a brewery and BBQ joint in the desert, but they're still known for their pies. When I got there it was extremely hot, and outdoor eating is the only option currently; naturally, I ordered a refreshing beer, Blackfin Lager. This is a dark beer that's brewed in the style of German schwarzbier. Together with the beer, I ordered a slice of rhubarb pie. It was actually an individual pie (a small whole pie). Even though it was sprinkled with sugar, the crunchy and flaky pie crust wasn't too sweet. The rhubarb filling, loaded with nice chunks of rhubarb, was sweet but balanced by the sourness of the vegetable. The lattice crust allows you to see what filling is in the pie, and it's very appealing. Rhubarb brings back memories of my childhood in England where rhubarb is quite popular. After eating some sweet pie, my beer tasted slightly smokey. I went back a few months later for the blackberry pie, and when I cut into it the fruit bled all over the place. Excellent! This means that excess sugar wasn't used to congeal the fruit.
Location: Babes BBQ & Brewhouse, 71800 Hwy 111, Bldg A176, Rancho Mirage, California. Date: August 29, 2020 & November 21, 2020. In Europe, Black Forest ham must come from the Black Forest in Germany; however, in the United States it can be produced by anyone and the quality can vary. Having said this, I did really enjoy the version of this ham at the German deli I frequent in Calimesa. This mild smoked ham is sliced really thin, and I always have it on rye bread. It's served with cucumber pickles, and you can choose your combo of mustard, mayo, and cheese. This time I decided to go with mustard only. You can also have the sandwich hot or cold, and I chose hot. There was a pronounced caraway flavor from the bread, the sandwich was tangy from the mustard and the pickles, and the pickles also provided some crunch. This was some good German style meat in some good German style bread, and it made for a good lunch with a bottle of tasty and refreshing wheat beer from the holy mountain of Andechs outside of Munich.
Location: The Beer Garden at George's Market, 1023 Calimesa Blvd., Calimesa, California. Date: August 21, 2020. You have your choice of meat with this salad, and I chose pulled pork. The salad consisted of chopped hearts of romaine, avocado, sweet corn, black beans, thinly sliced red onion, halved grape tomatoes, diced red bell pepper, three small fried onion rings, and a corn muffin on the side along with my choice of dressing (BBQ ranch). The lettuce was crisp, there was some creaminess from the perfectly ripe avocado, and some tang from the dressing and tomato, but the pulled pork was the star of this salad: it was smoky with some sweet BBQ sauce on it, and the BBQ flavor was also enhanced by the BBQ ranch dressing. The cornbread was a bit too sweet for my liking, but I detected some ginger in it, and that had me going back for more. The onion rings, that they call onion straws, were crispy with good onion flavor; I'll call them some of the best onion rings I've had. Since this place is also a brewery, I accompanied my salad with a pint of Blackfin Lager, a German style beer that was a mild balance of malty, sweet, and bitter. I enjoyed my refreshing meal outside, and when I went inside to the bar, and met the owner, things got even more interesting. His name is Lucky Callender, and he's the son of the late Don Callender who founded Marie Callender's, the restaurant chain famous for pies that he named after his mother (Lucky's grandmother). Don's pies are featured on the menu at Babe's.
Location: Babe's Bar-B-Que & Brewery, 71800 Hwy 111, Bldg A176, Rancho Mirage, California. Date: June 20, 2020. Tlacoyos are little pan fried cornmeal cakes with a thin layer of stuffing: here it was your choice of bean, requeson (fresh cheese thinned with milk), or potato. My waiter said I could have a choice of two, and he brought me two bean and one requeson. My tlacoyos were topped with some nopal (prickly pear cactus) leaves, some nopalitos salad (diced nopal with onion and tomato), as well as crumbled queso fresco (fresh white cheese), sour cream, and tomatillo sauce. On the menu, this is a vegetarian dish, but my waiter asked if I'd like to add some meat, and he suggested chorizo (Mexican sausage). I took his suggestion, but I decided that it really isn't necessary to add meat. This dish has sourness from the nopal and tomatillo, freshness from the salad, and some creaminess from the sour cream and the fresh cheese, but nopal is the star of this dish. I ordered these tlacoyos from the “Street Food” section of the menu.
For my drink I ordered the Pineapple Michelada. A michelada is a beer mixed with lime or lemon juice, spices, and clam flavored tomato juice. This version had lots of fresh pineapple in it; I could definitely taste the fruit flavor in the beer. The straw and the rim of the glass were both covered in sweet and sour tamarind paste. This drink was sweet, sour, spicy, and refreshing. It was one of the more interesting micheladas that I've had. Location: Delicias Mexican Cuisine, 66121 Pierson Blvd, Desert Hot Springs, California. Date: June 19, 2020. |
AuthorChef Roland has been a legal resident of seven countries and has travelled in over thirty, documenting food along the way. He currently resides in the desert in Southern California. Categories
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