Entries Tagged as 'belgian'

Food From Jen’s 40 Years

June 16th, 2011 · No Comments

Bucking the Reid family tradition of having elaborate games at 40th birthday parties (see Brian, Jill, Chad), Jen opted for a food and drink extravaganza in the backyard. Chad and Jen chose 4 different periods of Jen’s life and prepared food and drinks from each of those phases. What an awesome idea! Luckily the weather cooperated, because there were probably 30+ people there to celebrate with Jen. It was a little chilly, but overall good. I had so much fun stuffing my face on all of Jen’s favorite food and drinks! Plus, so many of our good friends were there. And it was sunny. Sunny! What a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon/night.

Here’s what we had:

First course: Belgium, where Jen was born
Food: Cheese plate
Drinks: Leffe & Jupiler beer, white wine, or gimlets

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Second course: Newport, where Jen grew up
Food: Grilled shrimp, steamed clams & mussels
Drinks: Sam Adams Summer Ale, white wine, or more gimlets

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Third course: Virginia, where Jen went to college
Food: Assorted chips. Premade guacamole, salsa and taco dip.
Drinks: Cheap beer – Bud Light, MGD, cheap red wine, or more gimlets

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Fourth Course: Chicago, where Jen lives now
Food: Grilled sausages (assorted from Paulina Meat Market), baked beans
Drinks: Goose Island Summertime, red wine, or more gimlets

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Fifth Course: Kristin’s Homemade Cake

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Surprise Sixth Course, courtesy of beer. .. much beer.

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Hopleaf Beer

May 21st, 2007 · 3 Comments

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Hopleaf Beer Menu, Andersonville, Chicago

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Leffe Blonde :: Hopleaf, Andersonville, Chicago

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Delirium Tremens :: Hopleaf, Andersonville, Chicago

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Wostyntje Torhouts Mustaard Bier :: Hopleaf, Andersonville, Chicago

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Kwak :: Hopleaf, Andersonville, Chicago

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Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout :: Hopleaf, Andersonville, Chicago

If there’s one thing I learned from our night out at Hopleaf it’s that mussels do not make a good drinking base. Combined with the fact that we were drinking premium beers with high alcohol contents, like starting at 5% and going all the way up to 12%. We all wanted to try all different beers on the menu, but I knew that as I went, I’d never remember what I had, so I took a photo of each beer. I only had 5 beers, but that was enough to call it quits for me! Too bad we didn’t go home after Hopleaf, because that would have been the really smart thing to do. I guess we’re not smart people when we’re drunk. More on that coming up…

These are the beers I had:

The beer list at Hopleaf is so astoundingly extensive. There are two menu pages of draft beers and about 10 pages of bottle beers. And it changes, so I think you could go there 1,000 times and never try all of the beer at Hopleaf.

* I thought this is the beer I ordered and I remember the glass had a few different beer names on it and I took a photo of the side of the glass that had the name of the beer I ordered, but when I looked online all accounts say this beer is literally made from mustard seed and it has a golden color.. which the beer I drank really did not. So, I don’t know what it really was!
** I thought I ordered Kwak because I just wanted to say “kwak,” but online it says this beer is served in this unique glass. And I did see people drinking out of that kind of glass, so I know they had it. . .. unless they ran out and used a regular glass for me, I don’t know. Maybe I didn’t have Kwak. Lesson #2, it’s hard to keep track of what you’re drinking during a long, fun, night out.

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Hopleaf Food

May 21st, 2007 · No Comments

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Mussels for Two :: Hopleaf, Andersonville, Chicago

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Frites :: Hopleaf, Andersonville, Chicago

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Duck Confit Crepes :: Hopleaf, Andersonville, Chicago

On Friday I had all sorts of plans up in the air and in the end we decided to head on up to Hopleaf, a place we’d been really wanting to go for a very long time. I’d heard so much about the food there and also about their extensive beer list.

Hopleaf has a Belgian menu but is known for their frites and mussels, so that’s what we got. Twice. Dallas, Allison and I split mussels for two. When Ed came we split it again, but with Ed and Dallas eating the most and Allison and I just stealing their frites. Allison and I also tried the duck confit crepes (pulled duck leg confit with savory crepes, house-made pickles, scallions, butter lettuce, and rice wine vinaigrette).

The crepes were good, but the mussels were delicious. Really good. We opted for the version that is steamed in white wine with garlic, wild mushrooms, tomatoes, lemon zest, thyme, bay leaves & chives. There’s also a version that’s steamed in Wittekerke white ale with sliced shallots, celery, thyme & bay leaf. At the end we were all dipping our bread into the sauce to sop it up.. we wanted to ask for more bread to finish the job, it was so delicious. And don’t get me started on the frites. They’re served with a sidecar of garlic aioli, which is basically garlic mayonnaise. Loved them. They reminded me of the pomme frites places in New York that we used to go to… where all they serve is frites and about 20 different kinds of aioli.

Later on Chris, Mario and Greg joined us. Chris had the sausage plate (a variety of sausages with bourbon pancetta white beans) and Mario had the brisket sandwich (Montreal rub, slow roasted, briefly smoked; with house-made dill pickle & frites). They also split the macaroni and Stilton cheese. Greg had the toasted Nueske ham sandwich (on pumpernickel with Gruyere cheese & apple tarragon coleslaw, served with frites). I think everyone liked what they got. I know everyone enjoyed trying all the Belgian beers…. more on that soon!

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