Event Review: Burger Bar and Rogue Ales Beer Dinner

This was a feature event during Chicago’s Craft Beer Week, and overall it was a well prepared and organized event.  One of the nice touches to the event was a placemat containing the food menu and beer pairings with background on each of the beers.  Additionally, a picture of the beer label was on the placemat which allowed people who really liked the beer to remember the logo and find the beer in their local store.  Seats were assigned which I felt was odd.  Typically I attend events  looking for familiar faces and sitting down with them.  For one reason or another, Burger Bar assigned seats.  Not the worse thing in the world as it seemed like most people made friends fast.  Like the dinner at Rock Bottom we had difficulty hearing the Chef’s explanation of the dinner.  They had a speaker at first then stopped using it and when speaking his back ended up towards us.  We commented on this to him and he stopped by our table after each announcement and repeated what he said so we could hear him.  I thought that was really nice.  He could have just said “I will try to speak up” and ignored the issue, but instead he focused on making his customers happy.  Rogue also gave away  t-shirts, hats and other items in a door prize raffle.  I did not win, but it seemed like about a quarter or more of the people in the room had a prize.

The dinner itself was well prepared, but a little bit late.  The dinner was scheduled for 7:00, but food didn’t start making it out until 7:45.  They had samples of beer flowing while we waited as well.

Course 1

Beer steamed curried mussels with fennel, orange, coriander and a red curry broth served with Somer Orange Honey Ale.  The broth actually had fine bits of orange peel and it really burst with flavor in your mouth.  The pairing was spot on and the beer really bumped up the orange of the dish.

Course 2

Halibut with English peas, bacon and braised spring onions paired with Brutal IPA.  I really liked the dish and the beer, but I did not like the pairing.  The fish was delicate, and the beer was well, brutal.  It was a deep contrast and I really wanted a complement in flavors.

Course 3

Mini Venison burgers with smoked gouda, wood roasted mushrooms and tomato chutney alongside Dry Hopped St. Rogue Ale. This burger was great.  There was the proper amount of texture and fat and the dry hopped beer was able to cut through that all the way to the tongue.  I know Rogue has been working with some cheeses and I was surprised they did not incorporate their cheese into this dish.

Course 4

Grilled short rib steak topped with red onion jam, with fingerling potatoes served with Chatoe Rogue Dirtoir Black Lager. Typically I like a porter or brown ale with things off the grill, but the black lager did the trick.

Course 5

Sea salt chocolate truffle cake with a hazelnut creme anglaise paired with XS Russian Imperial Stout. The chocolate melded perfectly with the beer and a very subtle sea salt brought just a bit of punch to the party.

Tags: Burger Bar, Event Review, Rogue