Restaurant Review: Colicchio & Sons / Brooklyn Brewery Beer Dinner

I am a big Tom Colicchio fan and a big beer fan, so a couple weeks ago when I heard about the Colicchio & Sons / Brooklyn Brewery 7-course tasting menu I jumped at the opportunity. When I found out it was only $95 my jump became a leap, and I was on that reservation list like white on rice.

   

On Monday night I was very happy that I took the leap. The whole experience was “on another level,” as I tweeted this afternoon (and Tom Colicchio retweeted!). The event, which took place in the C&S private dining room, was only meant to take 2 hours according to the listing. In fact it took twice that time, and I’m glad it did, for this type of experience is never meant to be rushed. The pairing menu was as follows:

My favorite dishes were the lobster, the partridge and the passion fruit tart. I know, passion fruit tart, you wonder. How could that have been better than venison with black trompettes, Brussels sprouts and black grapes? I remind you, everything was absolutely delicious. The tart stood out to me because never, ever do I order a “fruity” dessert, but somewhere between the perfectly baked shell, the meringue-like filling and the coconut sorbet, I was won.

Something else very special about the dessert course was the beer pairing. I tweeted this evening that “of course my favorite beers are the rarest beers,” and this one is no exception. The Cuvee de la Crochet Rouge was otherworldly, almost wine-like. The only frustrating thing about this course was that the girl two seats down from me didn’t even take a sip of her beer helping before leaving the event, thus a full glass of a beer with only 20 known cases brewed was tossed out. Sinful. Just sinful.

Anyway, of course lobster made it to the top of my list because lobster is my favorite thing to eat. The way the tail and claw worked with the grapefruit was exceptional – not two flavors you would normally expect together. If nothing else, you always know a dish is amazing if you consume every last drop of broth, and in this case I did just that.

My final favorite was definitely the partridge. It was gamey, but the flavor combination of the partridge, sauerkraut and bacon (a very generous portion, I might add) was unparalleled. And that caramelized chestnut. Can I just have a bowl of those for my afternoon snack every day? What a delight.

Also a delight was the beer pairing served with the partridge, Local 2. Trying this beer is proof that you should never judge a book by the cover. It looked like a Guinness, but it was so light and delicious. Rumor has it it’s served at Citi Field, so guess who’s suddenly a Mets fan. This gal.

Finally, I must recognize my favorite beer of the evening, Wild One. It was served with the Turbot and is also extremely rare (only 100 cases brewed). This beer was so delicious and crisp, and was very champagne-like. All I can say is that if the Brewmaster wants to send me a case for Valentine’s Day or my birthday, I wouldn’t hate it.

On that note, I have to give Brewmaster Garrett Oliver props. He struck the perfect balance of educating the group while allowing us to really enjoy the food and discuss among ourselves. I definitely learned a lot from him and plan to visit Brooklyn Brewery soon so I can learn even more.

So as you can see I definitely feel good about the $95 spent last night. I overheard the restaurant staff discussing similar events taking place once each month at C&S, so I highly recommend you check them out, as they are a great value considering the amazing food and beverage pairings. Brooklyn Brewery also does events on a regular basis, so you never have to worry about being short your favorite brew (unless you’re like me and the ones you love are VIP).

**Thank you Brooklyn Brewery for providing some of the images in this post.**