Three dark beers tasting

A recent buying splurge at Green's netted me three dark beers:
Gale's Prize Old Ale, Lagunitas Imperial Stout, and Gulden Draak. As I am paying more attention to the ins and outs of beer tasting, I am noticing the traits and qualities that others describe when they taste beer in an official capacity. So now that I know just enough jargon to sound pretentious, let the name dropping begin.

Gale's Prize Old Ale: Using a modified snifter/chalice type of glass, the Old Ale pours dark brown with red/caramel colors tints. With no head and a syrupy glaze left on the glass when I swirled it; the Gale's felt more like a port or liquor than a beer at first. The scent is dark and fruity, smelling like beer and something older, like out of a documentary on medieval cuisine. The first taste is thick and sweet, almost cloying. I could taste lots of fruits- berries and a slight hint of darker fruits like prunes/figs/dates- something that would go in a homemade fruitcake. The sweet taste mellows out quickly into a fuller-bodied caramel flavor. Then the calvados hits you. Having had calvados before (thank you Drew's grandfather), I knew the flavor right off. Calvados is to cider like Veuve Cliquot is to sparkling wine. This beer was a bit too sweet to drink alone for me even with the crisp calvados finish, but I would have loved it with dessert or cheese.

Lagunitas Russian Imperial Stout: A friend of mine justified trying this beer by saying since Imperial Stouts were traditonally made for export to Russia, this kind of beer was likely sent to troops during WWI, and as he studies WWI, therefore we must try the beer. Poured in a tall pint glass and in a regular pint glass, the color is very very dark brown with a medium head in the tall pint and a minimal head in the normal pint. The Lagunitas smells a little hoppy, smoky, and of vanilla. The color and smell alone kind of make this a different kind of RIS, most of them are practially black in color and smell more sweet/chocolate/berry. While it tastes more hoppy than an usual RIS (most Lagunitas in general are pretty hoppy), the malts and full-bodied taste keeps it from being too bitter. The secondary tastes for me were vanilla and smoky chocolate. I did detect an aftertaste of coffee. Overall its not a favorite RIS, a little too hoppy and not dark enough, but its a really drinkable beer and the alcohol by volume won't put you on the floor.

Gulden Draak: A dark triple high volume Belgium. Poured into the chalice/snifter glass I have, this beer kind of does look golden. The head is thick and puffy, and the dark brown beer is shot with gold. Given that this one smells pretty alcoholic, I gave it a minute to breathe. After a minute, the Draak smells like herbs/spices and some earthy fruits. Its very flavorful- peppers, spices/herbs, earth, malt, apricot or grapes, caramel. Very carbonated, slightly sweet but crisp. Extremely full-bodied, this is one of my favorite darker triples. The aftertaste is carbonated and very slightly citrusy- the spicy hops balance the malts/caramel. This will put you on the floor, but its a nice ride down.

Haru Ichiban

With some friends visiting recently, their wish was for us to find some good ramen in Atlanta. Scouring the web I looked on the Rameniac forums and local food blog Blissful Glutton for advice. Since I really do not know ramen from outside of the bag variety, we decided on Haru Ichiban based on the online menu and various comments on webpages.

My husband and one visitor had the Pork Yakisoba (fried pork, veg, and egg noodles) and sung its praises. The dish was literally steaming hot which brought to mind images of fajitas in Tex Mex places.

I had the Kake Soba (buckwheat noodles in broth with fish cake, seaweed, scallions) and 2 sushi rolls. The other visitor had her beef ramen and was very pleased. We all also split some crab shumai (steamed crab dumpling).

While the yakisoba and ramen seemed to satisfy their respective diners, but I was less than thrilled with my kake soba. The broth was boring, the bowl was huge but the seaweed/kake/veggies were the minimum requirements for the meal being slightly more than broth. I love the delicate flavors of Japanese food, and I by no means expect large portions or large amounts of stuff in the soup- but this was just sad. If I wanted boring broth, I am certainly capable of making it myself since my Japanese cooking skillz are lacking. I guess their strength is not in soups - or maybe I shouldn't order boring stuff and go all out.

On the other hand; I'd love to try the place again, the rest of the menu looked neat and the people next to us were all getting cool-looking chirashi juu boxes and gozen traditional dinners.

What I should have ordered:

Sorry Manuel's Tavern!

In my recent Pub Report I completely forgot Manuel's Tavern in the Virginia-Highlands neighborhood.

Manuel's will always be a recommended tavern spot. A great big tavern with a few different rooms that be be rented out, this is a great place to have a low-key event. We had our after-wedding pub party here and it was just what we wanted. The menu consists of the usual pub fare with burgers and sandwiches, but they also do entrees and semi-famous hot dogs. They also serve breakfast on the weekends. The veggie burger was better than average, but overall the food is average, filling, pub-fare. The medium-size beer selection is heavy on the American beers with something for everyone from Bud to Terrapin Ale. The local lager (602 N. Highland) is decent, and the usual beer imports are on tap like Guinness, Newcastle, Bass.

Dating back to the 50's. Manuel's also has some cool history- loads of local and national politicians and other famous personalities have graced this tavern. One of the few places in this neighborhood where you can see by the pictures and the clientele that the neighborhood and the city in general used to be quite different.

Manuel's: we salute this Atlanta institution!

The Pub Report

We've been to all of these pubs at least twice. And the list does not include Brickstore...that gets a whole post all of its own.

The pub round-up of Atlanta in no order:

Avondale:
(Recommended) James Joyce- Good food (Joycean named entries warm the cockles of my heart), Smithwicks on tap, large patio, smoking in bar, touch games machine (crack!), decent service, nice venue. There was some live trad music in the past, but of course drama ensued as it often does with musicians so no more Irish music. High up on the list, especially for families, groups, or people who do not want a scene.

Buckhead:
Fado (RIP- to be reopened January 2008)- The only reason to go to Buckhead; the great food, best Guinness pour, and the Monday night session all make for great reasons to go. The parking, the idiots who think they can dance, and the surly hot staff is a reason to be annoyed - but I'll take it if it means I can drink a pint with a very very good grilled salmon sandwich while trying to keep up with the super fast tunes.

Cabbagetown:
97 Estoria- Mediocre food, but the atmosphere is fun and low-key most nights even if I do feel I don't meet the tattoo requirement. The beer selection is so-so, and the cool neighborhood has not gotten too big for its britches. They also have a DJ some nights with good non-invasive music, a smoking room, and I have been present at a PBR tattoo contest. Nice neighborhood pub, if it was my neighborhood I'd be there.

Decatur:
(Recommended) Thinking Man- The food is mediocre to good: the rounds and veggie burgers are good, whereas the guacamole is horrible. The specials can sometimes be hit or miss, and they do have plenty of vegetarian options. The beer selection is good for its size, the 'starving artist' rotating tap may be the only time you can get crap beer the rest of the taps are filled with the usual snooty beer suspects: Guinness, a hefeweizen, local beers, a cider, popular microbrews like Flying Dog or Dogfish Head, with seasonal selections. The bottled/canned beers are an even greater variety with Old Chub and Chimay next to Miller and Becks. The real reason we recommend this pub is the voerall 'vibe'. We would pull our seats up to the bar, and at Thinking Man we just felt welcome. The crowd is diverse as far as Decatur goes (not just hipsters or young families), the staff is pretty cool with just the right amount of cynicism at the odd person who orders a JagerBomb/Cosmotini/Irish car bomb. We like the odd drunken old guy who talks at the bar to us just as much as we like watching the moped mafia mess around with their bikes and hip haircuts.

Corner Pub- Moved from its previous location due to arson a few years ago, the new location in the spiffy East Decatur Station is clean and pretty. At first the beer selection was iffy on the bad side, but they have expanded after those first couple of visits. The food is good, better than many in the area with wings as standouts. The veggie fare is good, the veggie Cuban making me crave the real thing; and who can beat PB&J? I never felt terribly comfortable here: maybe between the trivia night, darts, one pool table, theater and lofts next door; Corner Pub tries to be too much. The vibe was just kinda odd, and while everything is really above average we just never felt home here.

The Angel- Overpriced, less than good food, and generally useless service are the reasons I always try to steer people away. Yes, it looks all cute on the inside, and it has a patio, and its in downtown Decatur. The beer selection is not very English for an English pub, the entrees look good on paper but do not follow through, and I have sat at the bar for a good 15 min before someone even deigned to notice me in an empty pub. The music is also very hit or miss

Trackside- Cute, dingy, open crazy late, tables, smoky...Trackside is the closest thing to a dive bar in three zip codes. Do not ever eat the food unless your stomach is made of steel. The beer is your usual low to midbrow range, you can get Stella AND Bud. Sometimes the music can be crazy loud, but Trackside has cheap pool tables, karaoke, attitude, and late night drunk hospitality people. I think its awesome and I don't go nearly enough.

East Atlanta
The Earl- The Earl successfully manages to be a great indie music venue and a pub that you can feasibly hang out in when its not jam packed. The food is pretty good for a place that has one scary bathroom. The beer selection is fine, but not too high-brow. The scene can be anywhere from aging hipsters at the bar to hot young things showing off the newest retro-tee waiting for whatever side project of whomever related to some other local band to start playing. This place could easily be pretentious, and certainly many people are, but as a pub I'd totally haunt the bar stools if I lived near enough.

Gravity Pub- Peeling carpet, great jukebox, snarling staff, and decent beer. Apparently just now under new ownership, so I'm only talking about the handful of times I went in the past. I don't even think there was food before, so we'll have to see. I like the feel of this place, less showy than the Earl and you could actually sit down and talk most nights. I'll have to report back on the changes...

L5P:
Euclid Avenue Yacht Club- Dingy and small, this pub is still an institution with street cred that has withstood the gentrification onslaught thus far. I hypothesize that with L5Ps' cleaner image, it only has so much room for the 'unique' that used to be the standard. EAYC still fits the bill; not bad food for meat-eaters, decent beer, not much attitude from the scene; if I lived in the neighborhood I could definitely see this as my kind of place.

Brewhouse Cafe- This pub has three great things going for it: location is front of center for people watching in L5P, huge outdoor patio, and satellite TV for various games you may not be able to see with cable like the World Cup or rugby matches. The food is mediocre, the beer selection is slightly above average, and the crowd can be hit or miss: it may be full of drunken Emory students, soccer fans, or just gentrified yuppies from around the expensive block.

Oakhurst:
Universal Joint- When I lived in Oakhurst, I was here more often and it is a cool place but it just never really clicked. Very good veggie burger and good food overall, the beer selection is only ok, the scene is diverse and pretty chill with a good amount of dogs and kids due to the large patio.

Oysters: a thin line between love and hate

Growing up in Southwest Florida I remember using every trick in the book to wriggle one more away oyster from my dad, who also reduced himself to subterfuge in the never ending oyster war between us. These were the raw oysters; right off the boat, on a saltine or slurped, with the holy trinity of horseradish/hot sauce/cocktail sauce to accompany them. My mother, not fond of raw food or food that has the consistency of mucus, was amused by our endless game of oneupsmanship.

Nowadays, far from the ocean, I battle with my husband over who gets the 13th oyster or the "No honey, you must have eaten 4 already...not me..." argument. We do follow the "R month" old wives tale because we do know about Gulf coast oyster reproductive cycles and like the winter month flavors better.

Our picks for oysters in Atlanta?

How can you not love a fish place that has a skyline and cemetery view?
Six Feet Under serves some of the best cheap seafood in the area. The dishes can be as simple as po-boys with greens, to a more elaborate seared tuna with cucumber wasabi drizzle & fried jalapenos. I dream about the tacos: spicy fried calamari, blackened shrimp, and catfish all filled with unique and fresh toppings and of course- spicy. Six Feet Under also has good beer, a price above rubies, but the wait can sometimes be daunting especially on weekends.

Want to hit a neighborhood spot with literary pretensions? Tucked away in Oakhurst, Steinbeck's has some of the best oysters and a friendly vibe. Good beer on tap, a crazy hot sauce selection, and some pretty good New Orleans-ish food. This is a great place to just chill out, drink some beer and suck down those little gray devils. It's never crowded, and we easily are recognized even though we don't live at this particular bar.

Woodfire Grill - Taste of Spain

Recently Woodfire Grill, one of our favorite restaurants, celebrated its 5 year anniversary with 5 nights of special Prix Fixe menus. We went on the night highlighting the cuisine of Spain. We brought along one of our favorite partners in crime who we knew would appreciate the meal. Two of us elected to do the wine pairings with the meal and frankly, this was the only part of this meal I was unhappy with. The wines chosen, while highlighting the food, were boring on their own. I wouldn’t buy a bottle of any of these, except for the port which was exceptional. However, I don’t think this was a failure in wine selection, rather this was the intent to highlight the food as much as possible. Here is the menu:

Amuse Bouche – Jamon Serrano & Gala Apple
While waiting for the first course we were treated to a wafer thin slice of Serrano ham wrapped around a freshly sliced gala apple ‘toothpick’. The saltiness of the ham is paired perfectly with the sweetness of the apple and serves as a hint of the good food to come. This sort of simplicity is really the heart and soul of Woodfire Grill…Keep it Simple. Keep it Fresh. Keep it Good.

First – Late Season Gazpacho: Tomatoes, marcona almonds, and sourdough bread
The thick puree arrived and we could smell the smokiness from the tomatoes, roasted in house of course. Some roasted peppers added a hint of sweetness to the soup. Sourdough bread was apparently added to the soup to thicken it up but I missed it. More importantly were the finely chopped marcona almonds which provided a bit of crunch and nuttiness to the meal. This smoky, slightly sweet, nutty soup was made for the end of summer and was simply perfect.

Second – Wood grilled octopus with spiced chickpea and basque tuna salad
Overcooked octopus is an all too familiar problem and I was concerned when I saw it on the menu. I should know better. This was by far my favorite course of the evening.
Each of us were served a small roasted octopus (baby size) that was tender and delicious with a hint of olive oil. The chickpea salad was perfect for cleansing the palate so each bite of octopus was made brand new. The tuna salad was a nice accompaniment. But that octopus was just amazing.

Main- Paella: calaspara rice, saffron, shrimp, mussels, clams, chorizo, peppers
We discussed this quite a bit over dinner. Paella is not really a hard dish to make and there was no twist to this one, so was this just a phone-in course? I really don’t think so. When one thinks of dishes which define Spain, Paella is within the top 5 of almost everyone’s list. Here again we see Woodfire doing what it does best: simple foods prepared to perfection. The Georgia shrimp were plump and perfectly cooked as was the rest of the seafood. The star here was the chorizo of which I am not normally a fan. This chorizo was the best I have ever had, not too spicy, not too fatty…just right. This dish was really a no-brainer for a Spanish menu and I am almost surprised this hasn’t made it to the regular menu.

Cheese Course - Spanish cheese
The cheese course was nice. There was a blue cheese variant that was particularly strong and tasty. There was nothing in this course that I felt the need to run out and buy. It was a perfect way to start the wrap-up of the meal.


Dessert - Churros and Chocolate (port Hidalgo- La Triana-Viejo)
Mexican donuts. That is how churros have always been described to me. So I was a little dismayed when I saw this. So I must ask myself: When will I stop doubting this place? Light fritters dusted with sugar show up the table with a warm sauce of slightly bitter chocolate. The mixture was so good we almost asked for more churros to finish the chocolate. Most importantly, we end how we began with two contrasting flavors. I am certain this was not by accident… so little in this restaurant is.

Labor Day Weekend – Dragon*Con (D*Con)

The infamous 4-day “Mardi Gras for Nerds” floods the streets of Atlanta with Stormtroopers, Hogwart’s students, a million Jack Sparrows (excuse me: Captain Jack Sparrows), and a variety of additional fictional characters some ridiculously esoteric while others are easily recognizable. D*con typically means copious amounts of alcohol, long waits for elevators, and nasty food. The latter of these coming from either the adjacent mall’s food court or any of the crappy chains (Hard Rock, Hooters, etc…) that surround the hotels that comprise the convention. Our friends, who come for the convention, are often reluctant, and understandably so, to get into their cars and leave downtown for a single meal. To their credit for 4 years now they have trekked out to Decatur for pizza, Indian, or sushi and have been rewarded for their adventurous spirit. However, with the on-going revitalization of downtown we attempted to stick to local restaurants within walking distance of D*Con. As a result we got to share more meals with friends and ate a whole lot better than we would have at the food court. Nor were we alone! Many of the convention goers have tired of the same nasty food and were exploring smaller local venues. What follows is a condensed summary of our dining adventures.

Thursday night we started out at Ted’s Montana Grill. A chain started by local crazy billionaire Ted Turner we had never gotten around to eating at one before. I opted for one of their buffalo meat burgers and some thick cut onion rings. The onion rings were just how I like them thick cut and not over battered. I eat onion rings about once a year so it is nice to have good ones on that rare occasion. The burger was tasty but I’ve had equal of better burgers at The Vortex or Houston’s. The servers were friendly and fairly efficient but the bar appeared out of half the beers we wanted to try. If someone wanted to go again I would not say no but it certainly is not the first place I would recommend.

Thursday night I checked into the room and proceeded to do what most people come to D*con for… drink. I’ll spare you the gory details and move into Friday’s culinary excursions. A trio of ‘Tallahasseans’ and I made the pilgrimage to the brew pub within eye sight of the hotel: Max Lager’s. This has become our D*Con lunch spot on Friday over the past few years but it would be worth the trek to downtown to support local brew pubs. Typically, they have about 6 to 7 homebrews ready to go. While stouts and porters are good I’d recommend sticking to lighter summer beers which they do really well. Unfortunately, Max Lager suffers from the all too common schizophrenic pub menu syndrome trying to serve burgers, pizzas, steaks, and pseudo-asian dishes with the result that half the menu is a wasteland. The burgers are pretty good but the chicken is dry. If one wants to diverge from standard pub fare I recommend the duck quesadilla which manages to not be overly greasy nor are all the flavors overpowered by the duck as one might expect.


Friday night we supported foreign oil and headed out to Little 5 Points for dinner at Ru San’s. This local chain appears to have a branch in almost every ‘cool’ neighborhood in town (except Decatur notably) and is notorious for the blaring techno and elaborate sushi confections. I don’t really want to get into a sushi article here so I’ll just say that the best sushi is simple and highlights the protein (fish, eel, etc.) rather than masking it’s lower quality. I’ve made similar comments regarding Hummus so I think my thoughts on such things are already clear. What Ru San’s lacks in Sushi they make up for in Soup. They are easily the best source of Japanese inspired soups. A vegetable soup I had was warm and satisfying filled with bean sprouts, onion, carrot, cabbage, and more. The salty broth was great fortification for the night of drinking ahead. Thick avocado slices adorned the soup providing the necessary fat to keep you sated for several hours. The Five Points Location is a party on Friday night, filled with a good cross section of Atlanta nightlife.

Saturday was so busy my lunch was a bagel and cream cheese from Atlanta Bread Company. That night vegetarians and carnivores united and headed out into the streets of downtown for Indian food at Haveli Indian Cuisine. I’ll start by saying that this place does not make my Top 5 of Indian restaurants in town, a list we’ll discuss some other time, that said this place is okay. Tandoori and curry chicken dishes were a little overdone but the spiced shrimp were surprisingly high quality and well received by the table. Like most Indian places in Atlanta these folks excel in vegetarian dishes with excellent Saag Paneer (Spinach and cheese). My one criticism of this place would be in the lack of spices. While most Indian places are guilty of dumping a bunch of spices in at the end the kitchen here don’t add enough. The Saag had a hint of coriander but a few shredded leaves might have helped bring out some earthiness in this dish.

Sunday night we headed out to Slice, a new branch of a local ‘hipster’ pizza joint. Before we get into food I have to say that the service was simply abysmal. For the entire restaurant (over 15 tables) there was one waiter. Based on how long it took for the food to come out (over 1hr) I can only imagine there was only one chef also. That said, the antipasto appetizer was big enough for two with a standard assortment of meats, cheeses and olives. The meat and cheese were all of decent to better than average quality but the real stars were the olives. The olives had only the faint hint of brine, a flavor which is normally overpowering on antipasto plates, and were just spectacular. Pizzas have a nice thin crackly crust and are neither overly greasy nor soggy with sauce. To the staff’s credit as short handed as they were everyone’s food still came out at the same time and was warm without feeling like it had sat under a heat lamp. With food this good I am certainly willing to see if Slice’s staffing problem was a one time thing.

So there you have it. No longer do D*con attendees need be contented with the dreaded Food Court of Peachtree Center, McDonald’s, Hooters, Hard Rock Café, or any of the other chains that have populated downtown for so long. Cuisine has finally begun to catch up with the spirit of revitalization throughout the downtown area. Thanks to all my friends, both the locals and out of towners, who hit the pavement with me to make this review possible. We’ll see you next year!