BBB Beer of the Week: Mahr's Brau Christmas Bock

Before I visited Germany earlier this year, I dabbled in German beer but was never really fully taken by it. Compared to American Craft Beers there just isn't a whole ton of flavor. But during my time there I fell in love with their straight forward flavors and I don't think I'll ever be able to get enough. It's so simple. It's so clean. In my mind's eye, it's what beer really should be. Mahr's Brau Christmas Bock, the BBB Beer of the Week, is a great example of those clean flavors I've come to love so much.

 

Appearance: This beer is beautiful. Unfortunately, I can't find anything online that does it justice. In fact, I even tried taking a picture of it myself and I couldn't get it right. I'd rather leave it up to your imagination then post a picture that doesn't convey just how pretty this beer is. The beer is a golden straw color that pours perfectly clear. It's so clear it could give some of the top notch Pilsners of the world a run for their money in the clarity department. And on top of this beautiful liquid rests a head that is like a huge thick cloud combining for one of the most picturesque beers I've had stateside.

Nose: My bias for German beer is extreme. With that said, this beer smells amazing. It's not all old school batman with the BOOM POW WACK smells you get with a lot of American craft beers. If you're looking for that, you're sure to be let down. This is all about the Malt. It smells absolutely delicious and is typical of most of the beer I sniffed in Germany. I could literally sit around for hours taking in the aroma of a beer like this.

Taste: Mahr's Brau Christmas Bock drinks clean and crisp. Every time I drink a beer like this I think it tastes like the farm. It's all about the malt. I get a touch of citrus and a bit of some other sort of fruit. Nothing over the top. Just classic German flavors. Toasty.Sweet up front and finishes with a tiny bit of hop bitterness to bring it all together.

Style: Christmas Bock
ABV: 6.0%
IBU: Not sure, but I wouldn't imagine it's above 15

Final Verdict: Like you even had to ask. There is a chance you might still come across a bottle or two now, but be sure to note this one for next winter. When describing a German beer I like to say that it's awesome in its simplicity. This Christmas Bock lives up to that description. Don't sleep on this liquid perfection.

Acropolis

I've driven up and down Eastern Avenue approximately 840 times since I've lived in Baltimore. Most of those 840 trips were spent with me wishing that I was stopping for some Greek food in Greektown. On my 823 trip down the Ave, Deana and I finally stopped for dinner at  Acropolis. I wasn't sure what to expect going in, but post visit I realized two things. First, I now know that Acropolis serves up some excellent food. And two, I need to do my due diligence and try out a few of the other options in the area in hopes that they are just as good.

I don't know if it was the day or hour of our visit but we were one of only 3 tables in what was an average sized dining room. The fact that there were so few patrons had me a little concerned. Most times when there are so few people eating it's because the food sucks. And if it doesn't suck and you just happened in on a slow time of day you end up getting subpar service/food due to the fact that the employees aren't as focused.

Acropolis proved both of my assumptions wrong. Our server was super attentive without being annoying. She was right there every time we needed her, but she wasn't there so often that you felt like she was interrupting your dinner. And man, what a dinner it was! Deana's exposure to Greek food is somewhat limited so she went with what she knew and ordered Chicken Souvlaki. I decided to go with a dish I hadn't had in far too long and ordered Pastitsio. Both were excellent.

The souvlaki was served a little differently than we've had it before. Instead of coming "sandwich" style with everything already put together, they served the pita, and tzatsiki on the side. The chicken was served kabob style. This allowed you to build bite size sandwiches with as much or as little of the sauce as you'd like. It also made it very nice for sharing (and thank you for that). The chicken had great grill flavor with just enough flavor from the oregano it was seasoned with. The tzatziki sauce was the best Deana and I have ever had. It was thick, creamy, and a little more tangy than what we were used to. In fact, it may have been the highlight of the whole entire dinner. If you're a fan of souvlaki, I highly recommend a visit to Acropolis. On a side note, the Greek salad they served with this dish was very good. I'm not always a fan of feta cheese, but this was some high grade feta and I really enjoyed it.

For those that don't know, Pastitsio is kind of like Greek lasagna. Acropolis serves up a mean interpretation. The brown sauce you see in the picture is sweet and savory. There is flavor from the meat, cinnamon, and while I'm not sure it's an actual ingredient there is a raisin quality to it. The meat and sauce is mixed in with these super long ziti style noodles and topped with a creamy bechamel and cheese topping. I absolutely loved it. If you're semi-new to Greek food and looking to try something new, Pastitsio will not let you down.

Next weekend, if you're like me and you find yourself making your 684th trip down Eastern Ave, maybe you should make the effort to try this excellent restaurant out. The service was some of the best I've had since I started this blog and the food is up there with anyone around. I know I'll be back. Maybe I'll see you there on my next visit.

Price: A little on the pricey side
Recommendation: Definitely visit.
What to Order: Souvlaki or Pastitsio are both winners

The Great Baltimore Pizza Pursuit 2013: Pasta Mista

The rules of The Great Baltimore Pizza Pursuit are simple.  Each category is worth 2 points (allowing for half points). The only pizza I'm considering is the basic slice of cheese. At the end of the year, the highest score wins the coveted Baltimore Bistros and Beer's Great Baltimore Pizza Pursuit title. This week's entry is none other than Pasta Mista (Towson location). I've reviewed them in the past, but it was a review of the restaurant as a whole. Today, I'm only focusing on their slice of plain cheese pizza. Click here to see how last weeks entrant fared.

Droop Factor - The crust on this pizza defies gravity. As far as droop factor is concerned, Pasta Mista cannot be beat. The pizza is layered with the perfect amount of sauce and cheese to prevent the oh so annoying droopy crust.

Score = 2

Greaseifcation - I like made up words here at Baltimore Bistros and Beers. I also like when swimming classes aren't mandatory in order to avoid drowning in grease. Pasta Mista manages to keep the grease to a minimum thanks to the proper portioning of cheese I referenced up above.

Score = 2

Aroma - Just like the score indicates, the smell of Pasta Mista's pizza is ordinary. In other words, it smells great because it's pizza, but it's lacking the celestial pizza scent that Pizza Johns had to offer (and to which all shall be compared).

Score = 1

Cheese - I focused really hard on the flavor of the cheese trying to find something that would stick out, but I just couldn't come up with anything. It wasn't great, it wasn't bad, it was just cheese and because of that it's getting a middling rank of 1.

Score = 1

Sauce - Just as with the cheese I focused on the flavor of the sauce hoping that some specific feature would jump out at me. But again, the sauce was just "meh''. I like a bright, acidic pizza sauce and I just wasn't getting that last night. The flavors were all kind of muddled together.

Score = 1

Crust - The crust of Pasta Mista's pizza is by far the best feature of their pie. When you fold the slice it stays there without swaying back and forth. The crust is thin, light, and crunchy, falling just short of having the cracker like crunch I'm looking for.

Score = 1.5

Overall Score -  7.5 out of 12

This week's review of Pasta Mista made me laugh a bit. Almost everything good about last week's pizza (Pizza Johns) ended up being mediocre at Pasta Mista. And everything weak about last week's pizza was strong at Pasta Mista. Pizza Johns had an excellent sauce and cheese, but a crust that left a little to be desired. Pasta Mista offered sauce and cheese that was pretty forgetful, but their crust was excellent. Would I recommend a slice of Pasta Mista cheese pizza? You betcha. But do they have what it takes to called the Best Pizza in Baltimore? I'm not so sure. Only time will tell.

BBB Beer of the Week: Troegs Mad Elf

I'm not as well versed in winter beers as I am fall beers, but of the winter beers I've had Troegs Mad Elf definitely sticks out for me. On a cold night, this fairly high ABV beer will warm you up in no time. But we all know there is more to a beer than ABV, so let's break this one down.

Appearance: Mad Elf is such a pretty beer. One look at the cranberry red color and you're automatically intrigued and jonesing for a taste. Being that this is a winter beer with the name Mad Elf the red color just seems to fit. Again, my library of winter beers to refer to isn't huge, but as far as appearance is concerned Mad Elf takes the cake.

Nose: The aroma of Mad Elf might very well be it's best feature. It smells delicious. Right away you're hit with smells of cherry, raisins, cranberry, and a tiny bit of clove. If a beer were solely judged on appearance and aroma Troegs would be batting 1000 with this one.

Taste: The most prominent tastes that come across for me are cherry, honey, clove, and believe it or not a tiny bit of bubblegum. The Belgian yeast definitely makes it's presence felt. I've also noticed a heavy alcohol flavor on the first or second sip, but that seems to subside a bit the further along you get.

Style: Winter Ale
ABV: 11.0%
IBU: 15.

Final Verdict: In certain ways I love this beer. As I mentioned above, Mad Elf is awesome in the looks and aroma department. However, when it comes to the oh so important taste criteria I'm not totally in love with this one. The strong alcohol flavor can become a bit much on certain nights. I also wouldn't mind a bit more hop presence to counter balance some of the sweeter fruit flavors. With all that said, the 11.0% ABV has it's place and can be quite nice in helping you forget just how cold it is outside. But to answer the question should you buy it? If you come across Mad Elf in your travels, by all means pick it up. But is this something you want to go out of your way to sample? I don't think I'd advocate that especially when I take into account the semi-hefty price tag that comes along with it. I give Troegs Mad Elf  a good but not great rating.

Barrett's Grill

One of the drawbacks of having a food blog (and this might be the only one) is the fact that it's so difficult to visit restaurants a second or third time even if I really like them. In order to always have new content for the blog these are the sacrifices I make (poor me). Barrett's Grill, I promise you, will not fall victim to this drawback. Why? Because I have been fiending to go back there ever since I left their restaurant the first time.

The highlight of my visit, and the reason I haven't been able to get this place out of my head, was their otherwordly French Dip. I always have trouble passing a Dip up if I see it on the menu and this is one time I'm thankful for that affliction. This was the best French Dip I've come across in my 30 years. The meat was cooked perfectly. It was tender as can be, juicy, and had just enough red throughout. And it was served on a roll that was made for a French Dip. It was crusty enough to withstand dipping into their excellent au jus, but it was soft enough that it never got in the way of the super tender meat. Everything I've mentioned thus far made for a great sandwich but what set this apart from all others was the horseradish sauce they served alongside it. The creamy texture and slight spice it brought have had me dreaming about this French Dip ever since I left Barrett's Grill. Served with crispy homemade french fries this is a sandwich worth seeking out.

If the French Dip hasn't convinced you that you need to visit this place then let me introduce you to their bread pudding. Good god, this was tasty stuff. It was thick, warm, sticky.....it was everything bread pudding is supposed to be. The candied walnuts they serve on top of the bread pudding were delicious and the crunchy texture made for great contrast with the gooey bread.

Obviously, I loved my visit to Barrett's Grill and I will return one day soon. If anything, reliving my visit while writing this post has only made me want it that much more. And you, reader, should find your way there as soon as possible.

Price: Can be expensive depending on what you order.
Recommendation: Hide your kids. Hide your wife. And go get yourself a great sandwich.
What to Order: French Dip and Bread Pudding

Bahama Breeze

Last night, Deana and I had the privilege of attending a small event at Bahama Breeze in which they allowed us to try a couple of their new Island Cocktails before they are released to the public on February 4th. In addition to the drinks, they also fed us like kings and served nearly half of their appetizer menu to us.Needless to say, it was an exciting evening and definitely the highlight of running this blog so far. I hope many more events like this are in my future!

So, let's get into their new Island Cocktails. The first libation they served up is known as The Daisy de Santiago. Based on the visuals, I was expecting it to taste a bit like a Mojito, but I found that The Daisy de Santiago was more along the lines of a gin and tonic with a fair amount of herbal flavor. The addition of chartreuse liquor made this a really unique tasting beverage. It's a very clean drink and one I think
would go down well on a hot summer day (It should be noted that it also tasted great on a cold rainy winter night. ). I also think this is a great choice for any one who isn't a huge fan of overly sugary cocktails.

The next drink we had to sample was referred to as The Yaka Hula Hickey Dula. I think it's fair to say that this was the favorite of the two drinks amongst the "of age" drinkers at the table. It reminded me of a Mai Thai and I quite enjoyed the dark rum flavor that was prominent  throughout. The 151 they floated across the top and the rum soaked pineapple made this a very fun beverage. Obviously, if you're a fan of rum you're probably already a fan of this cocktail.

In the food department we were served a real smorgasbord. There were coconut shrimp, pulled pork sliders, cheeseburger sliders, onion rings, beef empanadas, goat cheese and flatbread crisps, spinach dip, and Jamaican wings. Everything was good, but since they served us so much I'm only going to go over a few of my favorites.

It was a tossup, but the beef empanadas were probably my favorite of all the appetizers. The dough had a great flaky texture. Inside was a mix of beef and potatos. Combined with the corn and black bean salsa and dipped in the aioli this reminded of a Caribbean egg roll. I highly recommend you try these.

Coming in a close second were the Jamaican wings. They were full wings covered with a blackened jerk spice mix. What made these wings particularly nice was the fact that they were grilled. Because of this I felt like they were a little juicier than the average wing. The jerk mix offered just enough heat to wake your taste buds up but they were served with a delicious BBQ sauce on the side to help combat some of the heat. The mix of the spicy wings and sweet BBQ sauce made for a great combination of flavors.

The last appetizer I'm going to give some love to are the pulled pork sliders. Deana loved these awesome little bites of tender pulled pork.  The pork was served sitting on top of a fried plantain and served with a little BBQ sauce drizzled over the top. The curveball that was the plantains made this a must try appetizer for anyone that is a fan of pulled pork (and who isn't?).

So, there you have the highlights of last nights event. The food was great, the new drinks were delicious, but most important of all  the people of Bahama Breeze really treated us well. The next time you find yourself in Towson wondering where you should head for a good sip and a great bite look these guys up. It's good stuff!

One other blogger in attendance last night was local blogging celebrity Eli of Adventures of a Koodie. Check his site out if you'd like to get a kids point of view of last night's event.

Charley's Grilled Subs

I'd say I buy my lunch almost 50% of the time Monday through Friday. Since, I eat out a fair amount I'm always looking for something nearby that is not only quick, but reasonably priced, and delicious. That's a tall order, but Charley's Subs meets all three criteria. 

Charley's Subs opened inside the White Marsh Mall cafeteria some time last spring/summer. They were opening inside a stand that has housed failed restaurant after failed restaurant the past 5 years. Because of this, I wasn't overly excited about what they had to offer. But, I'm a brave guy and since I'm always on the hunt for something good to eat I decided to give them a try one fateful day. Summary....stuff tastes good.

But you want details!

I went with a regular chicken cheese steak (to help maintain my girlish figure), buffalo fries (to maintain a bit of masculinity), and a blueberry lemonade (because I thought it sounded tasty).

My food came out hot, it came out fast, and it came out tasting good. The chicken cheese steak, while it won't have the kings of cheese steak trembling, has plenty of good flavor. Good bread, tender chicken, cheese, mayo, and a little crispy lettuce....I'm not complaining about any of that.

The buffalo fries were the best part of my lunch. I loved that they used real blue cheese crumbles. I'm very much a blue cheese snob and the thought of nasty liquid blue cheese dressing on my french fries had me a bit worried. But no fear, Charley's came through with the crumbles and the fries themselves were fried perfectly.

And what better to wash some spicy fries down with than some blueberry lemonade. You get a huge glass with some pretty good lemonade and a bit of real blueberry flavor. It's good, not great, but Charley's amounts (in my opinion) to a fast food establishment so if you're looking for some exquisite beverages, you're probably not eating at the right place. It definitely beats "Coke or Diet Coke" everywhere else in the food court.

Overall, this place is a winner in my book. If you work anywhere near White Marsh Mall, check out Charley's for a quick, affordable, and delicious meal.

Price: Cheap
Recommendation: Great Place to visit for a quick lunch.
What to Order: Buffalo Fries

 

The Great Baltimore Pizza Pursuit 2013: Pizza Johns

The rules of The Great Baltimore Pizza Pursuit are simple.  Each category is worth 2 points (allowing for half points). The only pizza I'm considering is the basic slice of cheese. At the end of the year, the highest score wins the coveted Baltimore Bistros and Beer's Great Baltimore Pizza Pursuit title. The first slice up is Pizza Johns located in Essex.

Droop Factor - This might not be the most important factor in a great piece of pizza, but it is the first thing I notice when grabbing a slice of pie. When you fold the slice does it stand at attention? Or, does it hang there like Peter North on his day off? I like one that stands there so that you aren't sitting there holding the slice above your head trying to get the first bite in your mouth. In this category, the entry from Pizza John's falls a bit short. The pizza is super droopy, even while folded.

Score = .5

Greaseifcation - Another basic category, but one that can make or break the experience. There is a very fine line between greasy lusciousness and greasy slopfest. Pizza Johns walks the line, but happily they end up on the greasy lusciousness side of things.

Score = 1.5

Aroma - I wasn't going to use this as a category, and while I agree that it's kind of a whatever type thing, after smelling this pie up close yesterday it smelled so good that I decided that smell need not be forgotten. This pizza smells delicious. If you go to eat hungry, you'll leave starving. Even after you annihilate the entire pie, the smell that hovers around you long after it's gone is intoxicating.

Score = 2

Cheese - Now we're getting into the, uh, meat and potatoes of pizza. If you're evaluating a slice of cheese pizza, cheese is probably pretty important. Pizza Johns tops their pie with plenty of creamy milky mozzarella that tastes great. However, no matter how long you wait to eat you end up running into some sort of annoying problem. If you try to eat it when it's at it's hottest you'll burn the ever living shit out of your mouth. So, why don't I just wait a little while? Because if you wait for it to cool down the cheese tends to all come off in one bite leaving you with nothing but sauce and crust.

Score = 1

Sauce - To put it simply, the sauce at Pizza John's is the highlight of the pizza. It's bright. It's acidic. And it has good tomato flavor. Best of all, they aren't shy about the portion they use. The only thing I would like to see is a bit more herb flavor present and maybe a few specks of red pepper flakes here and there to liven things up.

Score = 1.5

Crust - Pizza John's has a great tasting crust. With that said, I think it suffers a bit from the large of amount of cheese/sauce they use which leads to the drooping issues I mentioned earlier.

Score = 1

Overall Score -7.5 out of 12

And there you have my evaluation of Pizza Johns' cheese pizza. Flavor wise, this pizza tastes GREAT. Yes, taste is super important but there are a lot of things one must look for while on The Great Baltimore Pizza Pursuit. If you ever find yourself in Essex, don't be afraid to stop in for some damn good pizza.

 

BBB Beer of the Week: Konig Ludwig Weissbier

Welcome back to Beer of the Week. This week I'll be discussing Konig Ludwig Weissbier. While perusing the shelves yesterday at the liquor store I was VERY excited when I came across this beauty. Not that long ago I took a trip to Germany and was fortunate enough to try Konig Ludwig Hell while visiting the Mad King's castle Neuschwanstein. That beer was easily one of the top 3 beers I had over there and not knowing how frequently I'll come across beers like that here at home I'm very excited to be talking about Konig Ludwig Weissbier. So, without any further adieu, let's get into this German hefeweizen.

Appearance: Wow, what a beautiful beer this is! As soon as you finish the pour just sit back and take in the gorgeous cloudy head sitting on top of a perfectly hazy golden straw colored beer. If you're a homebrewer looking to mimic the prototypical hefeweizen this Weissbier is a great place to start.

Nose: As pretty as it looks, this beer smells just as inviting. Banana, bubblegum, and a touch of clove are the prominent smells coming across. That shouldn't come as much a surprise if you've been around a hefeweizen or two in your day.

Taste: Perfectly delicious in every way. The thing about German beer that I find most appealing is that with so few ingredients allowed, per Reinheitsgebot, you taste everything that is in the beer. And that's as true as ever with this Weissbier. There is a wonderful wheat flavor and a very well balanced banana/bubblegum flavor coming through via the yeast.

Style: German Hefeweizen
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: Not sure, but there is very little bitterness.

Final Verdict: If you come across this beer in your travels (and you can find a few 6 packs at Total Wine and Liquor off Loch Raven now) I highly recommend you pick it up. If there was a posterboy for hefeweizen, Konig Ludwig Weissbier would be a very good candidate for that. It's smooth. It's tasty. It's a beer that should not be passed on.

Spice and Dice Thai Restaurant

Spice and Dice Thai Restaurant is easily one of the best restaurants I've come across since starting this here blog. Groupon gave us our introduction, but their delicious food and eclectic atmosphere has brought us back time and again.

After you read this post and you're planning your visit (shortly after you visit their website to print out a $5 coupon) go there with the expectation that you'll be ordering an appetizer. I'm sure all of their appetizers are delicious, but the one we keep coming back to are the Spring Rolls. The rolls are super crunchy on the outside and filled with a delicious mix of veggies and what I believe to be some sort of super thin noodles. But the best part of all is the sweet chili dipping sauce they serve it with. It's sweet. It's spicy. It's delicious and I highly recommend trying it for yourself.

For dinner, we've tried a whole slew of menu items and they were all great, but for the purposes of this blog I'm going to stick what I have pictures of. On this visit in particular I had Udon Noodle Soup and Deana went with Yakisoba.

 

As you can probably already tell from the picture alone, the Udon Noodle Soup is totally rad.  You get a huge bowl filled with tender noodles, a protein of of your choice, and crunchy vegetables that appear like hidden gems throughout the bowl. The broth is clean and flavorful. Anytime I'm in the mood for a noodle dish the Udon Noodle Soup(or their Ramen!) is never very far from my mind. 

 

But if you're not in the mood for soup or brothy meals in general I come bearing good news. Deana LOVES, and I mean LOVES the Yakisoba at Spice and Dice. And I don't blame her, because this stuff is good. Delicious noodles, vegetables, a protein, and a lovely, slightly spicy sauce (kinda reminescent of thinner Szechuan sauce) makes for one hell of a dish. If you don't like their Yakisoba, you don't like life!

 

If you've never had Thai this is a very good place to start. All the dishes I mentioned above are great, but we've also had Ramen and Jungle Curry during other visits and we've never been anything less than thrilled with our meal. The food is great and the staff is very friendly. One of the cooler things they do at Spice is Dice is feature a jazz group on Thursday nights. Good food and free entertainment ?! I'll take it every time.

 

Price: Average

Recommendation: Oh, you didn't know? Your ass betta caaaallllllllllll somebodyyyyyyyyy!

What to Order: Spring Rolls and Yakisoba

 



The Great Baltimore Pizza Pursuit 2013

In yesterday's post I mentioned that there were going to be some slight changes to Baltimore Bistros and Beer this year. One of the bigger changes is what I'm going to refer to as The Great Baltimore Pizza Pursuit.

The concept is simple. I'll hunt down pizza across Baltimore City/County and tell you about my saucy journey as the year goes by. To give everyone a fair chance (and prevent myself from blobbing out) I'm going to limit the type of pizza I'm eating to a simple cheese pizza. Crust, sauce, and cheese is what it's all about and I don't want to be influenced by other delicious toppings.

With all that said, if you have any suggestions for places to try some pizza, please leave it in the comments. And if any owners or great pizzerias or restaurants would like to make sure that their pizza makes its way into my Pizza Pursuit please drop a line down below or contact me on Twitter @BmoreBistroBeer.

BBB Beer of the Week: Sam Adams Winter Lager

Happy New Year readers out there! With the new year comes a semi-new Baltimore Bistros and Beer. I'm going to try this thing out called organization. Instead of haphazardly posting whenever the blog spirit compels me, I'm going to stick to a schedule. Wednesday is going to be "Beer of the Week" day. I made a New Year's Resolution about this, so you know it's legit! The idea is straight forward. I'll drink a beer and then I'll tell you what I think about it. It'll be the same format as what I previously dubbed "Beer Tastings". So, with the boring introduction behind us, let's move on to our first Beer of the Week, Sam Adams Winter Lager.

I've had quite a few of since we moved from fall to winter so I feel like I have a pretty good feel for this one.

Appearance: Winter Lager is a very good looking beer. If I were a little younger I'd definitely make a move on this beauty. Basically, it looks like a slightly darker Irish Red with a very pretty amber brown that comes across as extremely inviting from the get go .

Nose: There isn't a whole lot going on here aromatically, but the sweet malty caramel smell that does come through smells delicious. It might be simple, but the smell is no less exciting.

Taste: In the land of Lagers, Winter Lager is one of the more flavorful I've come across. Up front I notice a bit of spice that makes the taste buds dance a bit. The initial spice hit is followed by very clean malt sweetness that moves on to a subtle citrus finish. Sam Adams Winter Lager is an easy drinking beer but one that has more than enough body to satisfy you on a cold night.

Style: Lager
ABV: 5.6
IBU: 22

Final Verdict: I can't find any reason to suggest you should pass this one up. It's simple but delicious, and since it's rather easy to come across in stores this is a great Winter Beer to get your hands on if you're looking to dabble into some colder weather beers.