Simpler Times Pilsner

Trader Joe’s, I applaud you for opening a new store in Chelsea. Not that it’s any closer to me, living on the Upper East Side, than the one off Union Square, but the new one feels more spacious, and I don’t mind (much) carrying so much home. I’d seen the Simpler Times beer before, but at the new store it just felt right. Also, it was 90 degrees out and a crisp pilsner seemed perfect to me.
A crisp pilsner? Yep. I know, I know, for $3.99 a six-pack — far cheaper than even mass-produced fizzy yellow lagers from the Big [...]

The Side Door @ Beacon

It’s a Wednesday in Midtown, and I’m bored with my usual rotation of lunch options. Time for a new place! Beacon, the restaurant, has been around a long time, of course. Its burger, while it’s $19 on the dinner menu, is rumored to be excellent, thanks to the wood fire used to grill everything. So when Beacon opened Side Door — literally a side door to the right of the main entrance — and offered a $10 lunch special featuring the burger? Yeah, I was there.
For your ten dollars, you can get either a burger — with or without cheddar [...]

Avery Seventeen

It’s hard to believe there are quite a few craft breweries still in business that started brewing seventeen years ago. Sam Adams (Boston Beer Co.), Sierra Nevada, Anchor, sure. But Avery Brewing, an outfit from Boulder, Colorado? Indeed they have, and over the years they’ve “given back” to their loyal fans with an anniversary beer, usually one that pushes their usual uber-hoppy ale recipes up yet another notch. I’ve long been a fan of several offerings from them, and Adam Avery is one of the “good guys” spearheading the craft beer movement.
For the seventeenth version? Of course – take a [...]

Unibroue Maudite

Canada is not known for its craft beer. Oh sure, lately a few notables have sprung up, which I hope to review here in the near future, but most of the country is mired in Labatt and Molson hell. And sorry folks, what you might have believed is not in fact true: Canadian fizzy yellow lager is all but exactly the same as American fizzy yellow lager. It’s not stronger, it’s not “better”, and for that matter, it’s mostly owned by international conglomerates, just like its US counterparts.
So we turn to the godfather of Belgian-style beer in North America. [...]

UnFancy Food Show 2010

This past Sunday I was dispatched, on short notice, to attend the UnFancy Food Show, a celebration of Brooklyn’s food scene. It moved this year to the Bell House, a spacious venue near the Gowanus Canal.

On this blisteringly hot day, dozens of vendors were set up inside and a few more, under tents, set up shop on the sidewalk in front. I headed into the air-conditioned space, paid my $5 entrance fee, and took stock of my surroundings. Most of the vendors were in a back room, in three cramped aisles, and I believe half of Brooklyn was there in [...]

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