Month: May 2015

A couple of weeks ago, my work week was hectic and not only mentally but physically demanding. By the time Friday rolled around I was exhausted and ready for the weekend. The phone signals don’t reach me in my office so when I left for the day my phone did it’s normal blow up of email, text messages and app notifications.

One app notification in particular caught my attention. According to Untappd, the Doctor had just toasted one of my check-ins of craft beer. If he was toasting, that means he was checking in as well. So I looked it up real quick and sure enough he was supping a craft beer. So I toasted it and waited for a response.

A minute later I got a text message inviting me to join him at BrassTap. I replied I would join him as soon as I got home and checked on the dog and changed clothes. Not long after that the Maestro sent out a text to the group suggesting happy hour at certain spot. The Doctor told him where he was and Maestro was all for it so the two of them were already seated and supping suds when I arrived.

The regular hand shaking and “Howdy-dos!” were exchanged while I sat at the bar with my friends. The bartender approached and we exchanged greetings as well. Luckily I’m there regularly enough that he knows me and my taste buds because when he asked what I wanted to drink I asked “What’s new?” He knows what I like and steered me toward Ballast Point Brewing’s “Victory at Sea”, an Imperial/Double Porter. It has really smooth coffee flavor with hints of chocolate.

The Doctor, Maestro and I philosophyed for a bit, then I had Bold City Brewery’s 1901 Amber Ale, which I thought was a well-balanced ale. I could taste some hops but they didn’t over shadow the slightly roasted malt flavor of a red ale.

The last beer I wanted to be lighter as I usually start light and work my way darker, but this time was reversed. The bartender recommended First Magnitude’s Cool Pond Belgian Blonde, which I had to agree with him was really good and finished well for the set.

The Maestro had another appointment and had to take his leave of us. After the Doctor and I finished our last beers we talked a bit then parted ways until we would meet again the next night at Rowdy’s Roller Derby Bout. Unfortunately he wound up not being able to make it the next day.

The next day I went to a fish fry at O’Leno State Park then headed back in time to get changed and head out to meet Rowdy at the Alachua Country Fairgrounds where the roller derby was held. If you have never been to Roller Derby you need to go at least once. Once you understand the rules and how points are scored it makes easier to understand and root for your team. While the teams were warming up I found Rowdy and said good luck to her then went and purchased a Swamp Head Brewery Stomp Knocker poured from a pitcher. That was the only craft beer they were selling there, though they had cans of your normal American lagers.

I spent the couple hours rooting for the Gainesville Roller Rebels, to no avail, as the Dub City Rollers were Amazons and kicked butt. Though I don’t think they made as many points as they wanted to.

After the bout I found Rowdy and asked if she wanted to go the after party they were having at Gainesville House of Beer. She said what she really needed was food so the nearest place that had good food and craft beer that I could think of was Satchel’s Pizza. Rowdy liked the sound of that so I went to get in line for a table while she helped her teammate’s clean up.

If you’ve read any of my previous posts you seen me mention that I don’t like lines and that I will usually not wait for any lengthy time to get a table. Well, there is an exception to every rule, and Satchel’s is it. If you have never been to Satchel’s then you must be new to Gainesville as it is one of the most well-known local restaurants and has almost a cult following. And not without reason.

Satchel’s is known for their pizzas, calzones and salads. They have other items too, but these three things they do very, very well. They also have one of the most unique atmosphere’s you will ever see. Right in front of the restaurant is an old VW bus parked that has sit in the same spot forever. In fact it is actually used for seating guests outdoors. They have indoor and outdoor seating with the whole building kind of decorated in a 60’s deck/patio theme. At the rear of the restaurant is Lightning Salvage, which sells paraphernalia from the 50s, 60s and 70s like the magnetic rolling yo-yo, superballs, flash travel card sets, etc. I could spend hours in that place just looking around. Check out their website at www.satchelspizza.com

In fact, while I was waiting for my table to open and Rowdy to arrive I went to Lightning Slavage and ordered a craft beer at the bar there, First Magnitude’s Drift Mild English Ale, then spent the next 20-30 minutes just looking at the junk they sell (When I say junk in this instance I don’t mean it in a negative connotation. After all one man’s junk…) and thought about the some of the items I remembered from my youth that they sold there.

After a bit Rowdy showed up and about five minutes later our table was ready. We both ordered a craft beer, (I ordered First Magnitude’s Ursa American IPA), and a salad. Then I ordered the Major Calzone and Rowdy ordered a custom calzone. Our beers and salad arrived not long after and we caught up and ate and supped some suds. After we were done with our dinner and got our to-go boxes, the waitress brought over complimentary deserts in the form of cookies. I think Rowdy snagged a chocolate chip, but I couldn’t swear to it because I was eyeballing the macadamia nut. And I ate that cookie with delight, it was one of the best I ever had.

If you haven’t been to Satchel’s Pizza before, one word of caution, they don’t accept credit cards there, but there is an ATM machine which will charge you a fee for using. Luckily my bank refunds those fees for me, because I forgot to bring enough cash with me. Rowdy and I said our goodbyes and were on our separate ways home. But it was a weekend well spent with friends and craft beer.

If you haven’t been to Satchel’s what in the hell are you waiting for?! GO… NOW!!

Papabear

 

A friend of mine invited me to a fish fry last weekend. He is an avid fisherman and didn’t have room left in his freezer from all of the fish he had caught so it was time to cook some of it up to make room for more. Whatever the reason for it, I love good fried fish so I was definitely going.

A pavilion at O’Leno State Park was rented and invites were sent. Since it was an outdoor event I decided to bring my dog Tucker with me. I knew he would enjoy not only the ride out but the change of scenery. Not mention there was an enite population of squirrels and lizrds that hadn’t met his wrath yet.

If you ever have the opportunity to visit O’Leno I would recommend going. It is a little bit of a trip from Gainesville (about an hour from my house) but not too far to make the trip bothersome. And the scenery is great. It located off of US 441 north of High Springs and is next to the Santa Fe River. In fact there is a swimming area and plenty of spots for fishing as well. And some very scenic spots that you may not see in other areas of Florida.

I mention the fish fry even though no craft beer was consumed there to get to the following point.

The friend mentioned above is the male half of the Loverbirds couple I have mentioned in a previous post. While there I noticed a sign indicating an impending marriage between him and his lady-love. After talking to his better half I was informed that their nuptuals were in fact happening very soon. So I decided that a proper send-off for my friend was in order.

I arranged a short notice bachelor party for him this week. Most of us in attendance have been to more than our share of these and in all honestly we’re a little old for the girl popping out of the cake routine. I figured just an opportunity for us to get together, BS, eat and drink a few beers was really all we needed. But seeing a pretty girl wouldn’t hurt any either. We may be older but we ain’t dead.

So I figured Winghouse would be a good place for us to go. They have enough variety of food that it should fit most peoples needs. They have about a dozen beers on tap and quite a few more in bottles. They also have a liquor license so shots are available as well as some mixed drinks. And there are plenty of flat screen tvs around so any sporting event we might have a particular interest in would be available for us to look at.

If you have never been to Winghouse, it is very similar in concept to the popular Hooters chain of restaurants. Winghouse is not as nationally known as Hooters and outside of Florida and Texas I am unaware of any locations, but that doesn’t mean they won’t expand in the future. The main draw (foodwise) are the wings, which explains the name, but they also have other foods (burgers, sandwiches, fries, salads and other delicious selections. The wing sauces are pretty good and they have enough variety to satisfy most palettes, and you can mix the sauces to your liking. And considering that the only two Hooters restaurants near Gainesville havve closed, it’s really nice to have Winghouse in town.

I mentioned beers on tap above and they do have a few craft beers in that mix. Though I have not seen any changes in their draft selection in a while, they do have at least one local (Swamp Head) as well as a couple of others (at the Gainesville location Sam Adams, Fat Tire, Magic Hat, Goose Island, and Blue Moon – please don’t pick up the Blue Moon controversy here).

And like Hooters, Winghouse employs young women as their wait staff, clad in garments that hug their figures very closely. But they also have a great attitude and a friendly disposition.

…….

Sorry… I spaced out there for a moment.

One of my friends was in the hospital a while back so I bought him one of the Winghouse calendars and asked one of the waitresses who worked there and made it into the calendar (Kendall pictured below) if I could take her picture for him. She not only posed for the pic but as I recall wrote a little get well note in the calendar for him.

When Swamp Head Brewery was at their original location, I used to stop by Winghouse almost on a weekly basis as they were on the way back. Since Swamp Head has moved I don’t make it by Winghouse as frequently, but that doesn’t lessen my opinion of their food or service.

This visit was another good example.

We sat around philosophying, drinking back cold drinks and eating. I motioned the waitress over and whispered that my friend was getting hitched and I wondered if there was anything they can do for the occasion. I know for birthdays they will usually gather the wait staff around the individual and sing and clap a little birthday ditty. She said she would see what she could do.

After a bit the waitress walked out with two large scoops of ice cream, each topped with a marachino cherry, and both with chocolate drizzled over them. She said this desert is called “The last strange pair of boobies you will ever see!”

That kind of fun humor is the atmosphere you usually find at Winghouse. The food is good, the service is good and the scenery is great.

I know that sounds like the beginning of a joke. And if I can think of one that fits while writing this review I will work it in. But trying to come up with attention grabbing tag lines can be harder than you think.

We started the weekend like normal with the texts going out midday Friday to figure out where we would meet for happy hour. The Maestro suggested First Magnitude around 4:30. Rowdy replied that she was in and I said I would meet them there though I probably wouldn’t make the 4:30 time. The Maestro came back and said that his Muse would be joining us, which was great. She doesn’t normally show up for happy hour because she is a wine drinker and doesn’t care for beer. But she will drink cider and we always enjoy her company.

I continued the rest of my workday, which was busy, and before long it was time to go home for the weekend. Shortly after I arrived home, a text came in from the Doctor stating that he had a table saved for us at the brewery, but that parking was a premium and that parking on Main Street was probably the best option. After I finished checking on the dog and changing clothes I headed out to meet my friends. Luckily I don’t live far away from First Magnitude so it didn’t take me long to get there. And the Doctor was right… parking was at a premium. But once I got inside I had no trouble getting up to the bar to get a pint. And there weren’t a lot of people inside. But there were a bunch out in the beer garden.

The Doctor, Rowdy, Maestro and Muse were already seated at a table near the bar. I ordered a limited release Session Amber from First Mag, and joined my friends. If an amber ale is done right I really like it and this one was. It had a good rich roasted malt flavor but was balanced well. While I supped that back we all began catching up with each other.

After a bit Muse decided to head home. Shortly after the lady half of the Newlyweds showed up. (Side note – Henceforth she will be known as the Deck-orator, inside joke, and her spouse will be known as the Chemist.) And another couple (referred to here as C&D) joined us as well.

During our outing at First Mag I decided to go with some guests taps after the Session Amber as I had had all of the in house taps. Nothing against them, in fact I like most of them a great deal, I just like to have a different beer as often as possible. My first guest tap was actually a mead, from Royal Manor Vineyard & Winery. I thought this was really good and could taste a distinctive honey flavor in it, when some meads taste more like sugar this retained that honey taste. My friends are not big mead fans so they didn’t care for it.

My second guest tap was The Company, a California Common from The Barley Mow Brewing Company. I like Common (or Steam) beers normally, but to be honest this one was not to my liking. Too bitter tasting and not balanced enough for me.

My third guest tap, and my last at First Mag, was Cigar City Brewing’s Hot Blooded Foreign Stout. I really like stouts and this was a good one. A red tinge to the dark color and a little different flavor but good tasting and a nice finish.

There was a general agreement from our group that sustenance in the form of solid food was needed. I threw out the name Dragonfly as we hadn’t been there as a group in a while. Then Rowdy pointed out that with the kids graduating from college the weekend before we should have no trouble getting in. So we closed out our tabs and moseyed on over, except for the Doctor as he had other things to do.

Rowdy was right and a table for six didn’t take too long to seat us. Our waitress was Tia (I hope I am remembering her name right) and was a very pleasant young woman. She took our drink orders, which consisted of the Maestro, Deck-orator and Rowdy sharing a bottle of wine, D has a glass of a particular wine and C and I both had Sake, though he ordered a kind of Sake Sampler and I had a bottle of Nigori Sake.

You may remember that I mentioned Sake at another Asian restaurant in a previous blog post. There are actually many different styles of Sake. When I was younger I was under the impression that Sake should be served heated to about body temperature. And generally I have only been served that type of Sake. I have since learned that heating Sake is usually done only on inferior Sakes. Other Sakes are served chilled, like the Nigori, which is a sweeter and cloudier Sake. It has fine rice sediments in it which is what sweetens the flavor.

So the meal commenced with an appetizer of Won Tons, followed by either Miso Soup or Salad with Ginger dressing depending on the preference, and for the main course we all decided to each order a Sushi roll and we would share, each person getting at least one sample of a particular roll. The only drawback to that for me was a problem I have with shellfish. I’m not exactly allergic to it, but it does wreak havoc with my digestive tract. So I made sure that my roll didn’t have any shellfish but couldn’t say that for the others.

Despite those concerns all of the Sushi rolls were delicious, which is what you would expect if you have ever been to Dragonfly. If you haven’t then you need to go. I must confess that some years back my only experience with Sushi was some dive place and it tasted awful, which put me off Sushi for a long time. Then after moving to Gainesville, I was invited to the home of a Chinese national whose wife made homemade sushi and it changed my mind. It opened my taste buds back up to trying others. Since then I have tried more than a few places and I have yet to find anyplace that does Sushi as well as Dragonfly. And if you are not a Sushi fan they have other excellent dishes there as well. If you are not a Sake fan they also have an excellent wine list and a good selection of beers, both bottled and draft featuring some local breweries.

After dinner, we all settled up our tabs and went separate ways, except for the Maestro and myself. We decided to wander across the street and visit Tall Paul’s for a craft beer or two. Tall Paul’s is really known for two things a big bar loaded with any drink you could want and live bands. I have been there several times with my friends and I have never been there in the evening without a live band playing. But Tall Paul’s is also home to Alligator Brewing, a micro-brewery. They usually have about thirty different taps with craft beers flowing and about ten of them are their own product.

Now over the last few years I have sampled many of their brews and to be honest when I first began trying theirs I wasn’t that impressed. Which was disappointing, as the bar and atmosphere of the place itself was a great place to hang out with friends and enjoy the evening. Luckily their guests taps had beers that were to my liking.

However, lately, their beers have been tasting much better. A sentiment the Maestro pointed out to me. I started out with a guest tap, Riverton Brewing Company’s Wit Beer, which was just okay. I recently brewed my own wheat beer and it tasted a little better than theirs. So I took the Maestro’s recommendation and tried one of Alligator’s that I haven’t had before, the Cellon Oaked DIPA. If you had read my blogs then you know IPAs in general are hit and miss with me. And a double IPA usually means an even hoppier flavor. And while this had the kick that a DIPA carries with the extra alcohol it wasn’t as bitter as I expected. In fact it was a pleasing surprise. I will definitely be trying more of their brews.

I’ve still got no joke for the tag line. If you have one then share it in the comments. As far as I am concerned if you haven’t been to either Dragonfly Restaurant or Tall Paul’s Brew House then what the hell are you waiting for? Go! Eat, drink and enjoy!

Papabear