I've lived in Pike Creek for the last 6 years, and love it. There are only a handful of pretty concrete places to grab a great bite to eat and beer to go along with it. Six Paupers has always been one of those places. When we heard the team behind Six Paupers was going to be opening a tap heavy gastropub in North Wilmington, we were immediately intrigued. As more and more buzz grew about the opening of Ulysses American Gastropub, we couldn't wait for it to open. The menu was posted online and we couldn't help but drool. The beer list started to get posted, we were giddy.
(Bonus, we were in a few days later and the German beers were still rocking and rolling on tap, so Eric enjoyed another Salvator - or two!)
Since the opening, Ulysses has been putting out great food, serving up awesome brews, and hosting tons of fun, craft beer events! From the moment we walked in the door, we were impressed. The visual aspect of Ulysses is awesome!
Located in the Shoppes of Graylyn, on the corner of Marsh Road and Silverside Road, in North Wilmington, Ulysses is always giving us a reason to stop in - they have special events a few times a month and we've had a chance to attend a few of them. They've hosted everything from a night featuring Dogfish Head "Heavy Hitters," to a halfway to Oktoberfest celebration and a beer dinner, leaving all ends of the craft beer loving spectrum covered!
We've tried to stop in to a few of these events since they've opened. We went in for the Dogfish Head Heavy Hitters - Nothing Under 8%. That was a fun night! Between the two of us, we made a pretty good dent in the list. Ok, that was partially because Ulysses was offering a smaller and a larger pour that night. Otherwise we may have had to sleep in our car that night!
Here's a list of what they tapped the night of the Heavy Hitters event...
Located in the Shoppes of Graylyn, on the corner of Marsh Road and Silverside Road, in North Wilmington, Ulysses is always giving us a reason to stop in - they have special events a few times a month and we've had a chance to attend a few of them. They've hosted everything from a night featuring Dogfish Head "Heavy Hitters," to a halfway to Oktoberfest celebration and a beer dinner, leaving all ends of the craft beer loving spectrum covered!
We've tried to stop in to a few of these events since they've opened. We went in for the Dogfish Head Heavy Hitters - Nothing Under 8%. That was a fun night! Between the two of us, we made a pretty good dent in the list. Ok, that was partially because Ulysses was offering a smaller and a larger pour that night. Otherwise we may have had to sleep in our car that night!
Here's a list of what they tapped the night of the Heavy Hitters event...
- 120 Minute
- 90 Minute
- World Wide Stout - 2011 Vintage
- Immort Ale - 2011 Vintage
- Noble Rot
- Black & Red
- Red & White
- Black & Blue
- Burton Baton
- Midas Touch
- Sah'Tea
- Chateau Jiahu
- Urkontinent
Another awesome event Ulysses hosted was the "Halfway to Oktoberfest aka Das Boot Kicked My Arsch," celebrating with traditional German brews and traditional German pub grub. That night we went with a Paulaner Original Munchner Helles, and then we switched to Paulaner Salvator. Fantastic German beers, kicking off our night perfectly - and got us pumped for Oktoberfest, even if it was half a year away! Hopefully Ulysses will be doing another great night like this once Oktoberfest rolls around. Not to mention, they unveiled the Ulysses Das Boot that night. They need to have another excuse to break that bad boy out!
(Bonus, we were in a few days later and the German beers were still rocking and rolling on tap, so Eric enjoyed another Salvator - or two!)
Ulysses’ dance card is filled with some seriously great upcoming events – check them out!
- Fordham Brewing Co. / Old Dominion Brewing Co. Beer Dinner - July 17th
- Dogfish Head Beer Happy Hour with 2006 Vintage Immort Ale - July 19th
- Evolution Craft Brewing Company Beer Dinner - July 19th
- Feestag - aka Belgian Independence Day - July 21st
- First Annual Delaware Beer Brunch - July 22nd
- Christmas in July - July 26th
Now let's talk about how we kicked off our 4-day Memorial Day weekend this year - by attending Ulyssess' Yards Beer Dinner (their first beer dinner!) Here's the kicker - Tom Kehoe, Yards Co-Founder and seriously awesome guy – not only attended the dinner, he sat with us at our table! Having him at our table was a blast! Tom is exactly how you hope all craft brewers would be - super funny, super passionate, and super creative (which you learn more about in a sec!)
Here's what was on the menu for the beer dinner that night:
Seared Sea Scallop Baby Mustard Greens Salad, Strawberry Salsa
Cask Conditioned Saison
Baby Back Ribs, Coffee BBQ, Soy Bean Corn Succotash
Love Stout
Mini Foie Gras Stuffed Lamb Burger Topped with Aged Gouda, Sweet Potato Fries, Fiery Papaya Ketchup
Poor Richards Tavern Spruce
Mortadella Mousse, Toasted Pistachios, Balsamic Reduction, Fresh Pulled Mozzarella , Grilled Focaccia
Thomas Jeffersons Tavern Ale
Cup o’ Joe, Side o’ Dough! Chocolate Espresso Sabayon, Fresh Fried Beignets
George Washington’s Tavern Porter
Ulysses’ Executive Chef, Sean McNeice is something else in the kitchen. Each course got better and better! The best compliment I heard from one of the guests at our table was that he’s never been a fan of scallops before the night of the beer dinner. That all changed as he said the scallop was cooked perfectly. You have to love a statement like that. The strawberry salsa it was paired with was so perfect with the scallop.
Cask Conditioned Saison
Baby Back Ribs, Coffee BBQ, Soy Bean Corn Succotash
Love Stout
Mini Foie Gras Stuffed Lamb Burger Topped with Aged Gouda, Sweet Potato Fries, Fiery Papaya Ketchup
Poor Richards Tavern Spruce
Mortadella Mousse, Toasted Pistachios, Balsamic Reduction, Fresh Pulled Mozzarella , Grilled Focaccia
Thomas Jeffersons Tavern Ale
Cup o’ Joe, Side o’ Dough! Chocolate Espresso Sabayon, Fresh Fried Beignets
George Washington’s Tavern Porter
Ulysses’ Executive Chef, Sean McNeice is something else in the kitchen. Each course got better and better! The best compliment I heard from one of the guests at our table was that he’s never been a fan of scallops before the night of the beer dinner. That all changed as he said the scallop was cooked perfectly. You have to love a statement like that. The strawberry salsa it was paired with was so perfect with the scallop.
I’ve come to the conclusion that you just can’t go wrong with ribs and beer. Especially when they’re smoked in Ulysses’ big ass smoker, Bertha. The story behind Bertha is almost as good as the amazing things that are smoked in that sweet lady!
Patty Talorico’s Second Helpings story gives the best history of how Bertha, who’s name came from a Grateful Dead song, came to be! Sean spent about 50 hours building Bertha after he received “The Art of Living According to Joe Beef,” as a Christmas gift. Thank you to whoever gifted him this book! She can fit eight trays of food to smoke til perfection. The first thing Sean smoked in Bertha? A pan of ribs. Something else they tried in Bertha? A whole pig for April’s Evening with the Master’s!
When dining at Ulysses, you can sample the pork butt, wings, ribs and beef brisket that Bertha smokes. Smoked salmon may be added to that list.
Now back to the beer dinner! Eric loved the mini foie gras stuffed lamb burger. I loved the sweet potato fries and fiery papaya ketchup with was served with! I loved that Eric took my burger and I took his fries!
The mortadella mouse – or meat mousse as I so affectionately called it throughout this course – was awesome! The fresh pulled mozzarella was a-maz-ing. I could have chowed down on 5 pounds of it! The pistachios and balsamic reduction were the best compliments. I can’t imagine anything else pairing as well with Yards Thomas Jefferson Tavern Ale!
I think my favorite course, for so many reasons, was the dessert course! (Have you noticed a theme when it’s me and the dessert course?!) Everything about this course was SO good! Once we finished the beignets, there was still way too much of the yummy sabayon left, and we sat there trying to figure out what to do with it. That was until Tom dumped his George Washington’s Tavern Porter into the sabayon and drank it! Perfection!!
Beer dinner #1 should definitely be considered a success for Ulysses!
Patty Talorico’s Second Helpings story gives the best history of how Bertha, who’s name came from a Grateful Dead song, came to be! Sean spent about 50 hours building Bertha after he received “The Art of Living According to Joe Beef,” as a Christmas gift. Thank you to whoever gifted him this book! She can fit eight trays of food to smoke til perfection. The first thing Sean smoked in Bertha? A pan of ribs. Something else they tried in Bertha? A whole pig for April’s Evening with the Master’s!
When dining at Ulysses, you can sample the pork butt, wings, ribs and beef brisket that Bertha smokes. Smoked salmon may be added to that list.
Now back to the beer dinner! Eric loved the mini foie gras stuffed lamb burger. I loved the sweet potato fries and fiery papaya ketchup with was served with! I loved that Eric took my burger and I took his fries!
The mortadella mouse – or meat mousse as I so affectionately called it throughout this course – was awesome! The fresh pulled mozzarella was a-maz-ing. I could have chowed down on 5 pounds of it! The pistachios and balsamic reduction were the best compliments. I can’t imagine anything else pairing as well with Yards Thomas Jefferson Tavern Ale!
I think my favorite course, for so many reasons, was the dessert course! (Have you noticed a theme when it’s me and the dessert course?!) Everything about this course was SO good! Once we finished the beignets, there was still way too much of the yummy sabayon left, and we sat there trying to figure out what to do with it. That was until Tom dumped his George Washington’s Tavern Porter into the sabayon and drank it! Perfection!!
Beer dinner #1 should definitely be considered a success for Ulysses!
Ulysses has a great happy hour Monday through Friday, from 3:30pm until 7pm. When we’ve stopped in for a little HH action, it usually gets pretty crowded. They offer $1 off all drafts, and a small plates menu at the bar, that is pretty awesome. Between the wings, and the fresh baked pretzels served with beer & smoked cheddar fondue or horseradish mustard (how do you choose?!), to the ‘Phils Game,” two soft pretzels stuffed with cheesesteak meat, caramelized onions and peppers and the same smoked cheddar fondue sauce. Holla.
We stopped in on Sunday to meet up with some friends, grabbing a few beers and some food. We checked out Leinenkugel Big Eddy Imperial IPA, Dogfish Head Positive Contact, and I got lucky enough to have their take on the Dark & Stormy! If they have Yards Love Stout on tap, do yourself a favor, and try this drink! I became obsessed with these drinks when we were in Bermuda over Labor Day weekend last year. I may never look at a D&S the same way after having Ulysses!
The servers are awesome, the managers rock (shout out to Chris who has kept us in the loop of what’s going on there all the time!) It makes our visits to Ulysses even better than they already are. We never have to ask for another of anything, we’re always asked first. And we love that!
We stopped in on Sunday to meet up with some friends, grabbing a few beers and some food. We checked out Leinenkugel Big Eddy Imperial IPA, Dogfish Head Positive Contact, and I got lucky enough to have their take on the Dark & Stormy! If they have Yards Love Stout on tap, do yourself a favor, and try this drink! I became obsessed with these drinks when we were in Bermuda over Labor Day weekend last year. I may never look at a D&S the same way after having Ulysses!
The servers are awesome, the managers rock (shout out to Chris who has kept us in the loop of what’s going on there all the time!) It makes our visits to Ulysses even better than they already are. We never have to ask for another of anything, we’re always asked first. And we love that!