Sauced

Duly Noted: Bambino’s Pizzeria Has a Killer Beer List

Use National Pizza Week as an excuse to investigate some pizza and beer pairings.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Jan 11, 2012 at 09:05AM 0 Comments

A recent beer lineup at Bambino’s. Impressed yet? Photo via Facebook.

Plenty of pizza places are advertising/tweeting/Facebooking the fact that it’s National Pizza Week (honestly, who comes up with these faux food holidays?). Washington Beer Blog’s Kendall Jones uses the occasion as an excuse to investigate the surprisingly excellent beer selections at Bambino’s Pizzeria. He proclaims it “the best beer list you’ve never seen.” If that’s not superlative enough for you, he also deems the Gaius Plenius pizza, served with Russian River’s Pliny the Elder, “one of the best food-beer pairing experiences of my entire life.”

OK, Bambino’s. You have my attention.

If Jones, a major arbiter of Seattle’s beer scene, wasn’t aware of the Belltown restaurant’s beer cred, then I feel better that this stupendous lineup was news to me. It seems that owner Belle Coelho is quite the beer geek. So much so that she went ahead and selected a beer pairing to accompany seven of the Neapolitan pizzeria’s most popular menu items.

A Bambino’s rep says that Coelho actually met with some of the local beer reps to create these beer and pizza (and calzone) combos. The pairings also showcase some new arrivals on the draft list, including Hitachino Nest Ancient Nipponia out of Japan, Port Santa’s Little Helper an imperial stout out of San Diego, and Belgium’s St. Feuillien La Blanche.

Bambino’s has been in Belltown since 2005, quietly developing an impressive list that includes a staggering amount of off-the-beaten-path European beers, and lots of West Coast favorites including Russian River’s Redemption, Salvation, Consecration, and Supplication, as well as several from Portland’s excellent Hair of the Dog brewery. If you need another excuse to get in here, the pizzeria is also offering 15 percent off all pizza orders all week long in honor of National Pizza Week.

Here’s the full list of pairings (all beers are on draft):

Lost Abbey Avante Garde: Benedetto calzone (tomato sauce, mozzarella, spicy Calabrese, sausage, spicy pepper)
Russian River Pliny the Elder: Gaius Plenius pizza (tomato sauce, mozzarella, spicy salami, castelvetrano olive, pecorino pepato)
Hitachino Nest Ancient Nipponia: Cheese plate (manchego cheese served with house crostini)
The Bruery Autumn Maple: Primavera pizza (tomato sauce, mozzarella, olive, onion, tomato, mushroom, pepper)
Port Santa’s Little Helper: Tropicale pizza (tomato sauce, mozzarella, ham, pineapple)
St. Fuellien La Blance: Tre Gusti pizza (truffle oil, fontal, potatoes, onion)
Lost Abbey Judgement Day: Mole pizza (tomato sauce, mozzarella, Salumi mole salami)

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Tags: Beer, Pizza, Beer and Food Pairing, Bambinos Pizzeria

Drinking Events This Week: Dry Fly at Meet Your Maker, Earth Day Tastings, Eggs N Ovaries

Booze-focused to-dos for the week of April 18.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Apr 19, 2011 at 10:13AM 0 Comments

Bring your reusable vessel to the 7 Seas tasting at Full Throttle Bottles in Georgetown.

On Tuesday, April 19, Palace Kitchen begins the Meet Your Maker series, “an opportunity to meet some of our favorite specialty liquor, beer and wine producers.”

Kent Fleischmann of Dry Fly Distilling in Spokane will be there from 6 to 9pm. Pay $25 to meet him and try Dry Fly’s gin, vodka, and whiskey paired with bites from the chef: scallop crudo, smoked salmon, and glazed pork belly. Details here.

Gig Harbor’s 7 Seas Brewing will be tasted at Georgetown’s Full Throttle Bottles on Wednesday, April 20 from 5 to 7pm. It’s $3, or $2 if you bring your own earth friendly vessel.

Attention organic hair-product junkies (I know you’re out there, stand up and be counted): the Local Vine on Capitol Hill is inviting Aveda over for Earth Day on Thursday, April 21 from 6 to 9pm. Admission is free and you can enter to win products. The bar will be serving organic and biodynamic wines for the occasion.

Molbak’s Garden and Home in Woodinville is hosting a wine tasting in honor of Earth Day this Friday, April 22. A $25 entrance fee buys you six “generous” pours from Brian Carter Cellars, Castillo de Feliciana, DeLille Cellars, Dusted Valley and Elsom Cellars (good wineries!), plus appetizers.

This Saturday, April 23 it’s Eggs N Ovaries in Ballard: you donate, you get a wristband, and you run around Ballard bars looking for hidden Easter eggs. The event benefits ovarian cancer research, all the info you need is here.

Sunday, April 24—some people call it Easter—Bottleworks welcomes Full Sail Brewing to the store. It’s a chance to try 10 beverages (year-rounds, seasonals, and barley wine) from the fine Hood River, Oregon brewery for the bargain price of $1.

Bottleworks opens at 11am on Sundays.

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Tags: Tastings and Classes, Beer and Food Pairing, Earth Day, Georgetown, Washington Wines, Ballard, Woodinville, Wine Tastings, Beer, Capitol Hill, Seattle Beer

Goose Island Beers Arrive in Seattle

The Chicago brewery brings its Belgian beers to the PNW.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jun 18, 2010 at 11:00AM 3 Comments

Chicago brewery Goose Island—it of the very classy labels—is nudging its way into the increasingly wider world of microbrews available in the Northwest.

Yesterday I attended a tasting hosted by brewer Greg Hall, who told us he would be bringing only the brewery’s Belgian-style beers to our region. He said something about his IPA stacking up against any other, but that he didn’t see the point in bringing yet another hopped up IPA here. Smart brewer.

I tried three of Goose Island’s Belgians last night: Sofie, Matilda, and Pere Jacques. The Sofie ale, with its citrus notes and lovely creamy finish, was my favorite of the trio—fresh and food friendly—but the oft-lauded Matilda pale and the malty Pere Jacques intrigued me as well.

I would sign up in a heartbeat for a pairing dinner with these beers; I’m really curious to see what they could do with the right foods.

Madison Market stocks Goose Island brews, and the Matilda is currently on tap at Quinn’s. Quinn’s also has Sofie available in large-format bottle. Or “Imax bottle,” as I like to call it.

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Tags: Beer, Beer and Food Pairing

The Rest of Beer Week

Beer week ends on May 23. Here are my recs for remaining events.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on May 19, 2010 at 02:45PM 0 Comments

Photo: Jim Henkens

The Corson Building

Microsoftees and Eastsiders: On Thursday, May 20 beginning at 5:30pm, Malt and Vine will host a Unibroue tasting with rep Rick Tamer. This Belg-style brewery from Quebec is probably best known for its Maudite and La Fin du Monde brews, but I am personally a huge fan of the witbier. Delicious.

On the same night, Beveridge Place Pub is pairing New Belgium beers with snacks both savory and sweet, beginning at 7pm.

On Friday, May 21, the Corson Building is hosting a five-course pairing dinner with beers from New Belgium’s Lips Of Faith line. That costs $90, call the restaurant to reserve.

And that is the best of what’s left, in my humble opinion. Make sure to get in on beer week before it shuts down for the year.

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Tags: Seattle Beer Week, Beer and Food Pairing

Seattle Beer Week Begins on Thursday

Once again, there is way too much to do. Plan well.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on May 10, 2010 at 02:09PM 1 Comments

Seattle Beer Week begins this Thursday, May 13 with the inaugural keg tapping. This year it’s at Hale’s, brewer of the official 2010 Seattle Beer Week beer.

That starts at 5:30pm. From then on, the week is jam-packed with beer events—so many, in fact, that it can be a little overwhelming.

Here are a few of my recommendations.

On Saturday, May 15 from 11am-8pm, local brewer Schooner Exact is hosting a public preview of its new digs at 3901 1st Avenue South. There will be barbecued ribs and pulled pork sandwiches along with the beer. On the same day at 3pm at Bottleworks, sample Firestone Walker’s new Parabola stout. If you ask me, the California brewer is making some of the tastiest beers currently on the market.

On Sunday, May 16 I’ll be on my way to Whisky Bar, where Rob Tod, head brewer at my beloved Allagash, will be tapping rare kegs.

Starting at 3pm on Monday the 17th, Beveridge Place Pub is offering 24 varieties of Washington-brewed pints for $3. No brainer.

Later in the day, however, a difficult choice must be made. Crow is hosting a beer pairing dinner with Pike Brewing. It’s $55, call restaurant for reservations. But Brouwer’s has invited Firestone Walker for a pairing dinner that starts at 6pm. There will be eight courses paired with 12 beers; the dinner costs $100. (Email IanR@Brouwer’sCafe.com to reserve.)

But then—holy crap—on the very same evening Elysian head brewer Dick Cantwell is hosting brewing luminary Sam Calagione of Delaware’s Dogfish Head at Elysian Tangletown. That starts at 6:30 and costs $95, you can buy tickets at Tangletown or Elysian Brewing on Capitol Hill.

What to do? You’ll get the best food at Crow, probably, and while I love all these breweries I’m most excited about Firestone Walker right now. But dinner with Cantwell and Calagione? That would be such a fine Beer Week thing to do. Best of luck deciding.

I’ll be back later in the week with more SBW picks.

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Tags: Beer, Seattle Beer Week, Beer and Food Pairing