Brews & Shrooms

I love beer. Lucky for me, my brother has been working as a microbrewery in San Francisco (shout-out to Speakeasy!) and therefore has become obsessed with beer. I consider myself fairly knowedgable about wine (an idiot-savant, I suppose), but know little about beer. Encouraged by him, I have decided to learn a little bit more about it and try as much as I can other than the standard blond ale (which I have learned I don't really care for anyway).

Living in Northern California makes beer tasting easy. There are breweries everywhere! In an attempt to take advantage of the current trend of upscale beer-drinking and beer-brewing, many of these breweries accompany their breweries with rather nice and delicious restaurants. Yay! Beer and Food!! I'm not going to go into the cultural reasons why beer is becoming so popular (although certainly the economy has something to do with it), I'm just going to take advantage of the food and the brews.

One post doesn't allow me the space to go into all local breweries and their food, so I'll just tell you about 3 of my favorites, and one of my favorite sandwiches, the Portabella Sandwich. (I'll save the fish & chips for another post.)

As you will remember from my previous post, I am not eating meat. Hence, the portabella. There are so many reasons to love this mushroom (Unless you hate all mushrooms, then this post does not apply. You know who you are.) It's rich and meaty, so you don't even notice that you're eating veg. It goes nicely with lots of different marinades and sauces, as well as other vegetables. It's large, so it fits well between two pieces of bread and doesn't fall out into little bits all over your plate, consequently requiring a fork to eat. None of these reasons equal the main reason for eating it at a brewery: it goes well with the brew. Here are three that I have tried recently:

Hoppy Brewing (Sacramento, Folsom Blvd & 65th): Hoppy's been around for ages. They have great, original beer (try the Christmas Ale) and a fun, large dining room. Service is generally, um, happy, and the food is consistent. I usually get their version of the chopped salad which has just about everything in it minus the kitchen sink (note to self: remember to ask for no bacon bits) but decided to go for the portabella sandwich the last time I was there with a large group of coworkers (which kind of sucked, because it was lunchtime and the boss didn't let us drink beer). Perhaps it was the lack of my preferred beverage that made this sandwich seem rather lackluster, or maybe it was because they had 10 lunches to pass out at once and the wait time made my sandwich a little soggy. I wasn't impressed. In comparison to the other standout dishes at this restaurant, the sandwich was boring and soggy, even with the red pepper aioli and grilled ortega chili. The chili was the best part, actually. They need marinade. Or I needed beer. Or most likely, we needed both. I'm not sure what other veg options are available at Hoppy, but I'll be trying something else next time to better match my fabulous Red Ale.

Sierra Nevada Brewery (Chico, CA): I was in Chico once for Halloween when I was 19. Yesterday, my friends took me back to their youth and showed me around the town, including lunch and a brief tour of the brewery where my friend Emilie made her college money (and spent a good portion of it as well). In my quest for the best portabella, I chose their sandwich. The mushroom was delicious, thinly sliced instead of the whole piece, which made the texture a little more like a traditional meat sandwich. It had a delicious bun and some tasty sauce, but there was lettuce on the sandwich which promptly wilted with the heat of the cooked mushroom. I didn't care for the lettuce, and would have liked some other additions to the sandwich, but was overall pleased with the taste and texture of the mushroom and the bun. The pitcher of Best Bitter we shared was a delicious accompaniment (kind of wish I had some right now, actually).

Rubicon Brewery (Capital Ave & 20th St, Sacramento): If you know me, you know I'm partial to Rubicon. The only complaint I ever have about Rubicon is that the service can sometimes be a little, well, snotty. (Although in all fairness, it has really improved lately, and not just because the weekend afternoon bartender recognizes me.) The beer is great, the food is great, the vibe is great, and the brief 4 block walk home is awesome. Here is where my favorite portabella mushroom sandwich lives. Nestled between two thick slices of focaccia bread with a roasted red bell pepper and a lot of gooey provolone, the mushroom not only stands out, but pairs nicely with the other flavors. Also goes great with a pint of Monkey Knife Fight, and the conversation of great friends.

I kind of like my new mission: seeker of great mushrooms and fantastic brews. Send me your favorite breweries in the area, and I'll be sure to report back on my favorite fungi.