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