Date Night

Since I am just starting to write for the masses some of my posts will not be new discoveries but things that I love and feel the need to share. Today is one such day. Last night after a very fruitful neighborhood meeting and a couple of Highland Mocha Stouts; Now, I will stop here and explain that ours is not your average neighborhood association meeting; we meet in a bar. I believe it is for this reason we have such an active neighborhood. Almost everything we do involves drinking. Anyway, so after this months meeting we walked the well worn path over to the Revolution Pizza and Ale House for some dinner. As we got in I quickly pulled up a seat next to the owner to get the skinny on the latest beers to come in. Yes, there were lots of changes coming and they finally got rid of Stella, but the lead was that the keg of Life and Limb was about gone. I quickly excused myself, found my party and ordered a glass. For those unfamiliar with the Life and Limb it is a collaboration between Dogfish and Sierra Nevada that combines rich burny, carmely flavors with hints of hop and a sweet backbone that comes from maple and birch syrups. It is delicious and a monster that clocks in at 10% ABV.

To accompany this lovely thing I needed some fire roasted animal. So an order was placed for the pork belly appetizer. If I had to eat one thing for the rest of my life this is definitely in the running. It starts with a layer of potato puree with truffel oil that is then topped with collards sautéed with a healthy mound of garlic and olive oil on top of that lies a slab of perfectly roasted pork belly from Grateful Growers, a local pork producer, and to top it all off some candied red onion.

Unfortunately, as you sit there in a pork and beer educed haze nothing else quite stacks up. We had a lovely white pizza with Peppadew peppers and GG guanciale accompanied by the latest offering from Old Mecklenberg Brewery, the Dunkel.

As I had blown my mouth up, with Life and Limb, there is no way to give this beer a fair shake so I will reserve judgement and report back another time on that.

To finish the evening we had a cup of cappuccino caramel gelato. I have to say this has always been a weakness at Revolution the taste is always fine but the consistency has been an issue. Last night however it was perfect. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the fact that it has been freezing cold and dry here in the south, allowing for purer preparation conditions.

Then we packed up and went home for a well deserved rest.