Beer and Chocolate Pairing August 2016

Back again at Larder & Cupboard for more Beer and Chocolate - together!

We started off the night with my favorites, so I guess that makes it my favorite pairing? The very refreshing "Float Trip Ale" along with a melt-in-your-mouth Apricot Grappa chocolate.

Apricot Grappa chocolate with Piney River Float Trip Ale

The Piney River Missouri Mule IPA is too hoppy for me as it is made with four types of hops, but another top chocolate was the Apple Caramel...it really has an apple flavor!

Apple Caramel and Kickstart Granola with Piney River Missouri Mule IPA

Patience loves the Piney River Hobby Farm Ale, which is a seasonal beer that has a lot of floral notes to it. That paired well with the Tomato Bark and Seed Geeks Chocolate Creamed Honey.

Tomato Bark and Seed Geeks Chocolate Creamed Honey with Piney River Hobby Farm Ale

The Piney River Masked Bandit IPA is made with two different malts and two types of hops. This was paired with a Pecan Caramel, which tasted just like pecan pie.

Pecan Caramel and American Spoon Fudge Sauce with Piney River Masked Bandit IPA

For dessert, a Tropical Pale Ale, tasting much like passion fruit, was appropriately paired with a Coco-Cashew Caramel. You can see the bits of coconut on top!

Coco-Cashew Caramel with Tropical Pale Ale

You'll probably be seeing a lot more classes like these as the seasons change, which means new flavors of beer and chocolate.

Resources:

Larder & Cupboard = http://www.larderandcupboard.com/

Kakao Chocolate = http://www.kakaochocolate.com/

Demun Oyster Bar 2016

Unfortunately, this restaurant has closed.

I knew I had been to Demun Oyster Bar before, but looking back, it was 2012 since I last posted about it and this time I got to order off the menu.

Since it was the start of my vacation, we went with cocktails! I ordered a refreshing sangria.

Sangria

Patience selected a sophisticated gin drink...

Gin cocktail with a slice of cucumber

Then we just hit up all our favorites... you can probably guess what I'm going to post next!

We ended up with four oysters of each kind...whoops! They were meaty fellas!

Oysters

The scallops were really pretty.

Scallops

And plenty of mussels to go around...

Mussels

Gotta have dessert! Beignets! Plenty of chocolate sauce for dipping too...

Beignets with three dipping sauces

I love that it's not too far from where we live now.

Resources:

Demun Oyster Bar = http://www.demunoysterbar.com/

Photos by Patience Scanlon

Vista Ramen

Vista sign over the kitchen

We have a goal to hit up all the ramen places around town so we had been planning on hitting up Vista Ramen as soon as we heard it had open. We were slowed down by some unforeseen obstacles, but we made it down to Cherokee Street around 8pm.

I was hoping that we had missed the dinner rush, but I was surprised to find out they still had a 30-45 minute wait, which turned in to an hour. Vista Ramen is a very small place and the heat from the kitchen easily filled the room, especially when it was full of customers.

Open kitchen

Luckily, we had quite a few choices as far as how to kill that time and we walked down to the Fortune Teller Bar for drinks and a small snack. By the time we got back to Vista, we were ready for some ramen!

We started with a special appetizer, a steamed bun with tofu.

Tofu Bun

I was surprised to see so many small plates options on the menu, but we really just wanted ramen.

Patience ordered the classic Vista, with pork, egg, ginger, scallion, nori, and sesame.

Vista Ramen

I ordered the Pozole, the chicken ramen with hominy, egg, chili paste, scallion, and cilantro.

Pozole Ramen

Turns out the 4 Hands Lemon Gose goes perfectly with ramen!

4 Hands Lemon Gose

With the heat, it was hard to make a dent in the huge bowls of ramen so we took home leftovers. I really do prefer ramen on a chilly day.

Leftovers

This meant we had room for dessert! Apricot filled jelly donuts!

Donuts

A unique place to check out but be sure to use the NoWait app.

Resources:

Vista Ramen = http://www.vistaramen.com/

Photos by Patience Scanlon

Randolfi's Part 2

Unfortunately, Randolfi's has closed.

Now I have never done this before, but we were going to see a movie at the Tivoli, and it just made sense to go dinner in the Loop. And since we were dying to go back to Randolfi's, we went back and brought some friends!

Since we got completely new dishes, I just had to share. Another amazing meal.

We started with Beef Tartare, not something we usually order so we wanted to try something different. Love the presentation too.

Beef Tartare

I kept my promise and tried the highly recommended Pappardelle, a white bolognese with thick, luscious noodles!

Pappardelle

Another winner was the Risotto, perfect for spring with asparagus, parmesan, and lemon!

Risotto

Finally, we got to try the pizza. (You know I picked off the prosciutto.) Light and fluffly crust!

Pizza

Patience loved the #37 3/4 so she ordered it again, and this time you can see the smoke!

#37 3/4

Tony got his own gelato with expresso on top!

Gelato

Definitely a great date night destination and be sure to make a reservation.

Resources:

Randolfi's = http://www.randolfis.com/

Photos by Patience Scanlon

Randolfi's

Unfortunately, Randolfi's has closed.

I have been dying to go to this restaurant since it opened and shame on me for not demanding we go sooner. And yes, it's really that good. Although I'm not sure you can go too wrong with traditional Italian cooking.

We sat at the bar, where we saw plenty of Italian wine...

Italian wine

...and Italian liquor, and more!

Plenty to drink!

Spacious kitchen in the back with a large pizza oven!

Bar, kitchen, and blue pizza oven!

Since we live so close, we arrived right around 5pm and at the start of happy hour!

Happy Hour Menu

Off this menu, Patience ordered the Negroni and we split the D.O.P. Gorgonzola Arancini!

Negroni

D.O.P. Gorgonzola Arancini

Cheesy goodness in the middle of those and we dipped them in a marinara sauce!

I always pick the "Big O" drink. This is the #37 3/4 (Spring), which is Four Roses Single Barrel Bourbon Whiskey, Big O Ginger Liqueur, Sibona Camomilla, Rhubarb (tea) liqueur, house-made BBQ bitters, chervil tincture applewood smoked.

#37 3/4 (SPRING)

Patience used to drink out of glasses just like these tall water glasses.

Classic water glasses

We had a really hard time choosing our entrees for the evening, so we decided to narrow it down to the Primi section of the menu even though there were scallops calling our name.

Still too many choices, we played it safe by getting our favorites.

I ordered the Gnocchi, which included braised chicken thigh, lemon, capers, olives and tomatoes.

Gnocchi

Patience's Meatball Con Spaghetti Alla Chitara included pork and lamb, garlic, chili, and chive. Check out the size of the meatball! Homemade pasta underneath...

Meatball Con Spaghetti Alla Chitara

Don't worry, this definitely means we'll be back to try...hopefully, EVERYTHING else!

Last, but definitely not least, two amazing desserts!

You know I picked the Chocolate Tarta! And since Patience was feeling full, she settled for a unique gelato flavor of cherry chocolate chip.

Cherry Chocolate Chip Gelato and Chocolate Torta

Turns out they were even better together!

Dessert together!

Be sure to put this restaurant on your list to visit soon.

Resources:

Randolfi's = http://www.randolfis.com/

Photos by Patience Scanlon