The event: Allagash Brewing Company Victor Ale Tasting
The dilemma: No one to go with...
The solution: Told myself to suck it up, stop being a baby, and just go.
The result: Happy, full, challenged and did I mention satiated?
For the many months which have followed the plantar fasciitis "diagnosis," I have moved away from Pub Run with my girlfriends and towards other ways to keep me occupied on Thursday nights. This week there happened to be an event with Allagash and Coffee By Design to support St Lawrence Arts. I knew and loved the first two, had never heard of the third and was hooked at the mention of unlimited food and beer for $22.
After working with kids outside all day, I ran home, scrubbed off the three layers of sunscreen I had accumulated and threw on a dress and mascara. Biking down to Coffee By Design on Diamond Street (their roasting location/headquarters) was heavenly with the breeze and lowering sun.
Upon arriving, I dallied outside for a short time, nervous to go at it alone and wondering if I should actually go in to experience all there was to offer. Finally, my curiosity and lust for good food drove me inside. I was greeted with upbeat music, tables of overflowing platters of cheeses, meats, vegetables, Greek specialties and mini desserts. Um, yes please! Oh, and this being a beer event, there was the Victor Ale on tap, a 9% red grape tinged ale with a medium body and a tart/spicy finish. It was pretty good but, not being a red wine lover, I went for the second beer on tap, Allagash White. This is a 5% Belgian style wheat, spiced with coriander and Curacao orange peel. It's fruity-ish, light and refreshing! Especially after the heat of today. One more day that I'm happy to have chosen Maine as home over Texas...
After finding a drink, I surveyed the food scene. Have you ever heard of The Bread and Butter Catering Co? If not, you might be doing something wrong. Here's their website: http://breadandbuttercompany.com/ I may have texted my mom that I wished that I could get married in the very near future, JUST so I could use them as caterers. She suggested a Fourth of July party instead...Touche mom, touche...
But back to the point: this catering company put out simple but very high-quality food. There were three types of half sandwiches on fresh brioche buns. 1) Curried chicken salad bun with celery, onion, apricot and almond. 2) The Maine Italian with Molinari (salami), Capicola (dry cured pork shoulder), Provolone, mixed olive, red onion, tomato, pickles, oil and salt + pepper. Not loving olives, I avoided this one but an acquaintance said it was good. 3) Caprese with fresh mozzarella and basil, tomato, garlic aioli and salt + pepper. Ding ding ding, #3 was the winner.
One table was piled high with fresh-cut giant carrots, colorful radishes, huge/halved cherry tomatoes and slightly-boiled-to-a-perfect-consistency fingerling potatoes, served with house-made ranch dressing on one side and a Greek platter with fresh feta, spanakopita, stuffed grape leaves, kalamata olives, tzatzikis sauce, baba ganoush, and flatbread on the other.
Yet another table was my favorite, with a charcuterie and cheese spread to stuff myself with: sopressata, speck, spicy molinari, cornichon, whole grain mustard and house-baked crostini for the former section and Hahn's End blue velvet cheese, Double Gloucester cheddar and chive, D'Affanois Brie, strawberry rhubarb, jam, sweet and spicy pecans and served with house-made crackers for the latter display. I may have had close to four servings of everything, plus a pocket snack, squirreled away for tomorrow.
As I walked around, listened to music and ducked out to the patio to enjoy the closing of the afternoon/evening, I somehow found room for dessert. This was provided by The Frisky Whisk, a Portland cupcake company: http://www.thefriskywhisk.com/. I found myself smiling like a goon as I ate the first of many cupcakes...There were two types of mini cupcakes, (Victor and chocolate with blackberrry buttercream, White and vanilla buttercream) and a Black fudge-tastic brownie. All three had beer ingredients though I'm not sure how (Victor Ale, Allagash White and Allagash Black, respectively). The beer taste was absent but the all three were rich, killer and food-gasmic, especially since I don't love white cake! Their flavors were so straight-forward and delicious that I may have brought a few home...for tomorrow?
I stayed for about two hours, milling around, people-watching and grazing on the variety of love (in the form of food, of course) available. There was a speech at one point and a check was handed over to St Lawrence Arts in the impressive amount of $10,200. It seems that each bottle and pint of Victor Ale supported this 1800's created former church-turned-entertainment venue. I just researched it a bit and I will now be atteneding a burlesque show on June 27th, after the Cape Elizabeth Strawberry Festival and Allagash 20th Anniversary Street Fair that is. I love Portland...
The dilemma: No one to go with...
The solution: Told myself to suck it up, stop being a baby, and just go.
The result: Happy, full, challenged and did I mention satiated?
For the many months which have followed the plantar fasciitis "diagnosis," I have moved away from Pub Run with my girlfriends and towards other ways to keep me occupied on Thursday nights. This week there happened to be an event with Allagash and Coffee By Design to support St Lawrence Arts. I knew and loved the first two, had never heard of the third and was hooked at the mention of unlimited food and beer for $22.
After working with kids outside all day, I ran home, scrubbed off the three layers of sunscreen I had accumulated and threw on a dress and mascara. Biking down to Coffee By Design on Diamond Street (their roasting location/headquarters) was heavenly with the breeze and lowering sun.
Upon arriving, I dallied outside for a short time, nervous to go at it alone and wondering if I should actually go in to experience all there was to offer. Finally, my curiosity and lust for good food drove me inside. I was greeted with upbeat music, tables of overflowing platters of cheeses, meats, vegetables, Greek specialties and mini desserts. Um, yes please! Oh, and this being a beer event, there was the Victor Ale on tap, a 9% red grape tinged ale with a medium body and a tart/spicy finish. It was pretty good but, not being a red wine lover, I went for the second beer on tap, Allagash White. This is a 5% Belgian style wheat, spiced with coriander and Curacao orange peel. It's fruity-ish, light and refreshing! Especially after the heat of today. One more day that I'm happy to have chosen Maine as home over Texas...
After finding a drink, I surveyed the food scene. Have you ever heard of The Bread and Butter Catering Co? If not, you might be doing something wrong. Here's their website: http://breadandbuttercompany.com/ I may have texted my mom that I wished that I could get married in the very near future, JUST so I could use them as caterers. She suggested a Fourth of July party instead...Touche mom, touche...
But back to the point: this catering company put out simple but very high-quality food. There were three types of half sandwiches on fresh brioche buns. 1) Curried chicken salad bun with celery, onion, apricot and almond. 2) The Maine Italian with Molinari (salami), Capicola (dry cured pork shoulder), Provolone, mixed olive, red onion, tomato, pickles, oil and salt + pepper. Not loving olives, I avoided this one but an acquaintance said it was good. 3) Caprese with fresh mozzarella and basil, tomato, garlic aioli and salt + pepper. Ding ding ding, #3 was the winner.
One table was piled high with fresh-cut giant carrots, colorful radishes, huge/halved cherry tomatoes and slightly-boiled-to-a-perfect-consistency fingerling potatoes, served with house-made ranch dressing on one side and a Greek platter with fresh feta, spanakopita, stuffed grape leaves, kalamata olives, tzatzikis sauce, baba ganoush, and flatbread on the other.
Yet another table was my favorite, with a charcuterie and cheese spread to stuff myself with: sopressata, speck, spicy molinari, cornichon, whole grain mustard and house-baked crostini for the former section and Hahn's End blue velvet cheese, Double Gloucester cheddar and chive, D'Affanois Brie, strawberry rhubarb, jam, sweet and spicy pecans and served with house-made crackers for the latter display. I may have had close to four servings of everything, plus a pocket snack, squirreled away for tomorrow.
As I walked around, listened to music and ducked out to the patio to enjoy the closing of the afternoon/evening, I somehow found room for dessert. This was provided by The Frisky Whisk, a Portland cupcake company: http://www.thefriskywhisk.com/. I found myself smiling like a goon as I ate the first of many cupcakes...There were two types of mini cupcakes, (Victor and chocolate with blackberrry buttercream, White and vanilla buttercream) and a Black fudge-tastic brownie. All three had beer ingredients though I'm not sure how (Victor Ale, Allagash White and Allagash Black, respectively). The beer taste was absent but the all three were rich, killer and food-gasmic, especially since I don't love white cake! Their flavors were so straight-forward and delicious that I may have brought a few home...for tomorrow?
I stayed for about two hours, milling around, people-watching and grazing on the variety of love (in the form of food, of course) available. There was a speech at one point and a check was handed over to St Lawrence Arts in the impressive amount of $10,200. It seems that each bottle and pint of Victor Ale supported this 1800's created former church-turned-entertainment venue. I just researched it a bit and I will now be atteneding a burlesque show on June 27th, after the Cape Elizabeth Strawberry Festival and Allagash 20th Anniversary Street Fair that is. I love Portland...