Hofbrau Quickie

You guys want a quickie??

Every time I go to the Hofbrauhaus in Pittsburgh, I'm cool with it.  Its not amazing, but its good.  The bang for the buck is there (even though we didn't buy last night, thanks to a great friend). 

We went for a boat ride - a boat ride with grownups only.  There are plenty of spots to tie up, but then you've got to walk into the city to get where you want to be.  SouthSide Works was our go-to last night because of the new marina there.  We tied up, hopped out, and were sitting at a table at Hofbrauhaus within 5 minutes.  Chose to sit outside because the weather was phenomenal.

~ Use the No-Wait app
~ Sit outside if the weather is good, it gets so loud inside.  Pick inside if its winter and you want to be in the middle of the chaos (ie. you're there to drink beer)
~ Get the smaller beer, the big beer glass is wicked heavy
~ They have a Gluten Free & a Kid's menu

And do eat?  I'm a big fan of the Works Sampler to get started.  Its a little bit of everything that you probably want to try.  I like schnitzel, so I prefer the Bauern Schnitzel - put beer cheese & ham on it, all good.  IPA-hole went with Wurstplatte.  I was hoping someone would get the weiner art.  No one did.

I didn't take any pictures, so that's it.

~ CDO

Farm Dinner: Churchview Farm

One of my favorite things to do has rolled around again.  In the spring, Churchview Farm puts together a schedule of farm dinners.  

Its a working farm - think growing plants more than livestock - on 13 acres in the Baldwin section of Pittsburgh.  If you weren't looking for it, you'd never know the farm is there.  Its on a residential dead end street in typical Pittsburgh suburban neighborhood.  Park on the street and start your trek up the gravel driveway.



Churchview Farm supplies fruits, vegetables, herb, eggs, to some of our finest and coolest restaurants.  For their farm dinner series, the chefs come to Churchview to prepare a 5-8 course dinner in the outdoor kitchen for all of the guests. 

This is our second Churchview Farm dinner; we did one last year too.  Chef Keith Fuller (Root 174 , Pork & Beans) did a great vegetarian dinner in 2015.  This year, we chose Chef Kevin Costa, formerly of the Crested Duck Charcuterie and Root 174.  This truly is one of my favorite summer events. 

Chef Costa meets us at the top of that gravel driveway with a welcome cocktail - a very herby cucumber, melon, mint concoction.  Surprise: We were the FIRST ones to arrive!  For the first 45 minutes or so, you can check out the farm and there are some adorable seating areas to hang out.  We plopped down after a walk around, sipped our cocktails, and made some new friends.  Lucky for us, we start chatting with another fun couple, and she's a chef.  So now we have a professional opinion with us.


 We're called over to our seats, a long table with a rustic setup. All of the chairs, dishes, & glasses are mismatched and all come together so perfectly.  The kitchen is open and over to the side where we are encouraged to watch these guys work.

Chef Costa and Churchview's Tara Rockacy greet us, share some background and start pouring the wine for the first course:  Rabbit Pate.  Between each course, Chef gives an overview of what he prepared and is open for questions. 



1st:  Rabbit Pate - great texture, grilled sourdough was wonderful!

1st Course:  Rabbit Pate
Grilled sourdough, herb pistachio pesto, viennese pickles, pecorino

2nd: Tomato Soup - Peaches are perfect and unexpected in the tomato soup.  Adds some sweet acidity to the super smoky soup.

Second Course:  Chilled Smoky Tomato Soup
Toasted almonds, grilled Peaches

3rd: Summer Squash Tart - this might be my favorite of the night. Everything came together so well and ricotta is at the top of my list.

3rd Course:  Summer Squash Tart
Lemon-thyme ricotta, carrot cream

4th:  Duroc Pork Chop - Excellently prepared, juicy, great flavors.  Cabbage was spot on.

4th Course:  Duroc Pork Chop
Grilled cabbage, cauliflower puree, oregano mustard vinaigrette,
spiced walnuts, raspberry demi-glace

5th:  Salted  Butter Semi-freddo - this was so cool, literally.  If you've never had a semi-freddo before, do try. 

5th Course:  Salted Butter Semi-freddo
Candied elderberries, cocoa nibs

 Everything, and I mean everything, was wonderful.  If you're thinking about doing a farm dinner at Churchview or any other, do try it.  We met some great new people, experienced a new chef, had great food, and sat outside while the sun set.  Its one of the coolest things that we hope to continue doing.

 

~ CDO

 

 

Prairie: Where'd that cookie go?

Things have changed over in our world.  BabyG is no longer the baby - we have our newest addition and yes, we are already taking him out. He's been good so far, but IPA-Hole and I are not sure how we feel about being outnumbered.  And a table for 5 is a little harder to navigate than a table for 4. Let the fun begin...

This week is Pittsburgh Restaurant Week and I just can't help myself.  A friend and I snag tickets to the preview party.  There are 10 restaurants competing for your votes for the evening - Bangkok Balcony, Bill's Burgers, Chaz & Odette, Istanbul Sofra, Mansions on Fifth, Matteo's, Prairie, Senti, Silk Elephant, & Texas de Brazil - at the Pittsburgh Glass Center.  Sidenote, Pittsburgh Glass Center is a very cool place if you're looking for something different to do.  IPA-Hole blew his own glass ornament at a work event last year, and we forgot to hang it on the tree until after Christmas.

Prairie Fire

Anyway, cool evening - we ate quite a bit and the voted winner was Prairie with Istanbul Sofra as the runner up.  Prairie is passing around this chicken on a stick - fried with something sweet and spicy and perfectly followed up with a pecan chocolate chip cookie.  I'm so impressed with Prairie's showing at the preview party, that I immediately go home, tell IPA-Hole about it while being interrupted a couple times by a wailing newborn, and make a reservation for the two of us for a much-needed night out together 2 days later.  I'm so excited.

A few months ago, I followed up on my post about Verde - as they slid downhill and ended up closing their doors.  Prairie is the next incarnation of Verde - same place, some of the same decor, a long list of tequila that one can only assume is left from the previous venture, and some of the exact same positive and negative we got from Verde.  Dammit.  

For restaurant week, the participants are running prix fixe menus at special prices to encourage you to visit them.  We go for it and here are the selections:

Campfire Mac & Cheese

1st course:  Brussels Sprouts Gratin and Campfire Mac & Cheese
2nd course:  Great Lakes Whitefish and Chicken & a Biscuit
3rd course:  Prairie Cookie & Ice Cream and Bourbon Bread Pudding

Brussels Sprouts Gratin

As I sit, sipping my Short Skirt, Long Jacket - which is sweet and bubbly - I am telling IPA-Hole that I'm so optimistic for this after the glowing party performance and please, please, please don't let me down.  Please.

Campfire Mac & Cheese starts out strong.  The beer cheese, onions, and bacon make comfort food, well, comforting.  Sprouts are good, ever-so-slightly undercooked, but the bacon and parm pick up the slack.  We've started out on the right track.  And then we ever-so-slightly go off the rails.

Chicken & a Biscuit

Great Lakes Whitefish

Starting with the Chicken and a Biscuit - the skin has all the flavor, and its cooked perfectly.  The hash and the biscuit work well together with the chicken, but its all missing something.  Something that ties it together, that makes it outstanding...  And the whitefish?  The whitefish was beautiful and the wild rice, cauliflower and beet puree brought it all together visually. The fish itself was rubbery and undercooked.  Awesome.  The setup was all there and the letdown was HUGE.

 I need another cocktail.  Order up a prairie fire and a bourbon neat.

Bourbon Bread Pudding

Ok, dessert, here's your chance to shine - bread pudding is my fav and I've already had that cookie so I know its fantastic.  Bread pudding shows up first:  sweet, savory, texture is fluffy.  Here comes that cookie with ice cream; now we are back on track.  Yes?  No! No we are not.  The cookie that shows up is not the same cookie as 2 nights before.  Its cakey and fat, not chewy-gooey and flat.  Which is fine as long as you didn't have the first one.  Where'd that cookie go?


Prairie, I beg of you, WHERE WAS THAT COOKIE THAT I HAD THURSDAY AT THE PARTY?!?!?! How did we get mixed up from Thursday to Saturday??? The party was across the street - how did you lose it? I want to love it here, I really truly do.  You'd make a kick-ass local grown, slightly sophisticated, comfort food go-to with a fab cocktail list if you'd just focus on the food. But the cookie, the cookie sealed the deal.  Ugh.

Prairie Cookie

So now what?  Prairie, if you can hear me...  embrace that comfort food and let it be comfortable.  I know its only been a few weeks and I hope you can find your groove.  Your cocktails are great and your potential is high. You wowed me, you did, enough to run home and make a reservation, proving that you have it in you. I know you're new and finding your identity beyond the old Verde.  So go find that chicken and that cookie that you left across the street and put it on the menu! 

Please? 
For me? 
Lemme know when you find it.
Thanks.

~ CDO