Monday's are typically our least favorite day of the week, for obvious reasons...that is, until last Monday, when we had the Two Stones Pub Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory Beer Dinner to look forward to!
As you can imagine, Stigz and Gumbo didn't just create a pairing menu, they created a pairing menu based on the children's characters featured in the movie! And if you're a fan of the movie, we think you'll totally get the references and the correlation between the characters and each course of the beer dinner!
"Little surprises around every corner, but nothing dangerous. So don't be alarmed. As soon as your outer vestments are at hand, we'll begin."
Course 1: Charlie Bucket
"Mm, this stuff is terrific."
Farmhouse cheddar, 5-year Gouda, crusty baguette, wild berry chutney, pickled cucumbers, paired with Victory Helios
What can we say? Vintage Gouda is a favorite of ours, and anytime it's anywhere, life is just good. Oh, and that berry chutney? Stigz couldn't tell a lie, it was good ol' lingonberries from IKEA! Can't beat it! Talk about a great start to the night!
Course 2: Veruca Salt
"Hey Daddy, I want an Oompa Loompa. I want you to get me an Ooompa Loompa right away!"
Grilled filet mignon medallions, elbow poached egg, Shropshire blue, foie gras-buttered brioche, and tarragon beer blanc, paired with Goose Island Pepe Nero.
"Hey Daddy, I want an Oompa Loompa. I want you to get me an Ooompa Loompa right away!"Grilled filet mignon medallions, elbow poached egg, Shropshire blue, foie gras-buttered brioche, and tarragon beer blanc, paired with Goose Island Pepe Nero.
I'm not sure what to say about this course other than, oh. my. goodness! It was decadent, amazing and I think we all could have easily eaten at least 6 more of these! And the pairing? I can't begin to tell you how well the flavors of Pepe Nero worked with the creaminess of the poached egg, the richness of the beer blanc and the tangy-ness of the Shropshire! (Can you tell we liked it?!) Course 3: Violet Beauregard
"It happens every time, they all become blueberries..."
Seared maple leaf duck breast, wilted elbow farm rainbow Swiss chard, blueberry maple gastrique, paired with Dogfish Head Black & Blue.
Simply put, I would pour the blueberry maple gastrique on everything I possibly could. It was awesome, and paired amazingly with the duck, without overpowering it. I have to admit, Swiss Chard isn't something I would normally dive into, but of course 2SP prepared it in a way that I made it so good that I couldn't stop eating it...something tells me it wasn't a healthy preparation. But who cares, it was so good!
(If we're lucky, we may see something very similar to this course on the new fall menu at 2SP!)
(If we're lucky, we may see something very similar to this course on the new fall menu at 2SP!)
Course 4: Augustus Gloop
"Let me in. I'm starving!"Breaded pork cutlet, shaved brussel sprouts, bacon-horseradish boiled potatoes, lemon-herb brown butter paired with Troegs Troegenator.
This German girls was loving 2SP's take on this traditional German dish. The pork was fork tender. And the bacon-horseradish boiled potatoes? They were pretty much saturated in bacon fat...for hours...so, as you can imagine, they were pretty much awesome. We don't know that there would have been a better pairing with this dish than Troegenator, Troegs' Double Bock. The spiciness and the deep, rich lager really stood up to the flavors in this dish.
Course 5: Mike Teeve
"It's a TV dinner!"
Veal & wild mushroom meatloaf, Oregon whipped Yukon gold potatoes, peas, carrots & cippolini onions, green peppercorn demi, paired with Sixpoint 3Beans
You have to LOVE the 2SP's quirky take on how they served this course. Just like Mike Teeve said in the movie, "it's a TV dinner," so this was 2SP's super fancy take on a TV dinner. To take it one step further, the talented and awesome Chef Blair served this course on sectioned plastic plates - and it so worked! If TV dinners were as creative and delicious as Chef Blair's creation, I would never cook!
How can you have a Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Beer Dinner without some serious chocolate?! Well, this dessert was about as chocolately as you can get, and the Organic Chocolate it was paired with? Ditto. We have a serious sweet tooth between the two of us, and this couldn't have been any more delightful in ending the meal! The crispy rice in this cake gave a little texture to the creaminess of the chocolate, which couldn't have paired any more amazingly than it did with the beer. I think this may be one of the most perfect endings to a meal.But wait, there's more!
What Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory Beer Dinner would be complete without a Golden Ticket? As if it wasn't an already awesome night, 2SP was giving away a bottle of each of the paired beers from dinner.
Guess who had the Golden Ticket for Charlie Bucket? Yup, that's right...me! So not only did we have 5 amazing courses, we were going home with a bottle of Helios to boot!
So now that your mouth is watering, you'll probably be happy to know that Two Stones hosts a beer dinner every month - check out their Facebook page for updates on the themes for each one!
Now signing off...
"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men..." ~Willy Wonka
Time to pop that movie in and relive a great childhood memories...