Love Good Beer

Feierabend is good German times

Monday, March 30th, 2009 | Beer | No Comments

Erik and I, as well as Peter and our wives, went down to Seattle this past weekend for the Washington Cask Beer Festival (another post to follow).  For obvious reasons, we thought it a good idea to get something to eat before the festival.  After scouring the internet for the most appropriate place we stumbled onto Feierabend, a German restaurant with an excellent German beer selection.  Google Translate informs me that Feierabend means “closing time” or “end of work”, but we were just getting started.

We were put off by the sketchy website and the disconnected phone line, but decided to try our luck anyway.  My anxiety was not assuaged after it appeared we were heading for the middle of nowhere, but were pleased to find an open Feierabend tucked away in a Yaletown like alley.  We were not the least bit disappointed with our restaurant selection after we walked in.  It was a well put together pub and they did indeed have many lovely taps of rare (at least for us Canadians) German beer.  I was delighted with both the Spaten Helles Bock and Hacker-Pschorr Alt Munich beers I chose.  Everyone else was happy with their beer also (except for Darci, who dutifully abstained).  The food was merely good, attempting German authenticity.  I had a bratwust sandwich with sauerkraut and spaetzle, which wasn’t overly impressive, but we couldn’t complain at such reasonable prices.  I would definitely go back.

It was also at Feierabend that my wife let me know how embarrassing the photos I put on this blog are.  Apparently my iPhone doesn’t cut it, not that I really minded.  It is true, neither Erik nor I are much into photography, assuming we remember to take pictures in the first place. The solution?  Get the wife to take the pictures, her handiwork is below.

In retrospect, consuming copious amounts of German beer before the festival may have been a mistake and surely contributed to the fiasco that followed.  Stay tuned.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: alt munich, dunkelweizen, feierabend, hacker-pschorr, Helles Bock, pilsener, seattle, spaetzle, spaten, washington cask beer festival

Food & Beer: Braised Cabbage with Jicama

Monday, January 12th, 2009 | Beer, Food and Recipes | No Comments

I made fish tacos for dinner tonight. Instead of using sliced cabbage as most recipes call for, I decided to try something a bit different and use jicama. For those who are unfamiliar with jicama, as I was three hours ago, it is a tuber commonly grown in Mexico – it is the strange looking bulb beneath the onion pictured on the left. The only way I can describe jicama is a cross between an asian pear and a potato. As I discovered tonight, it tastes great raw and cooked.

I only needed half of the jicama for fish tacos and was left with this big chunk of jicama sitting on my cutting board, just staring at me. Assuming that half a piece of peeled jicama will not last long, I began to panic. What was I to do with this strange new vegetable sitting on my counter just begging to be turned into something delicious. I knew that time was against me and that I had to think fast – what would go well with a sweet pear-like potato? Apple and braised cabbage is a classic German dish, pear is similar to apple, jicama has a great sweet flavour that might work with cabbage. Decision made – caramelized onions with cabbage and jicama braised in Hells Gate Pale Ale.

This is an interesting combination that I suspect would pair nicely with a Vienna Lager or a Helles-Bock. Pale ale wasn’t the best choice for a braising liquid, it doesn’t have a deep enough malt flavour to bring the ingredients together. I would think that a nice German Bratwurst would be great on top of this dish if you wanted to make it a complete meal.

If you are feeling adventurous and have a craving for hearty German style food, I recommend giving this a try. If you do, please let me what you think – I’m still undecided about this new dish, but I see a great deal of potential.

Erik

Tags: Beer and Food, Cabage, German Bratwurst, Helles Bock, Hells Gate Pale Ale, Jicama, Vienna Lager