Pints and Plates: Quick Nosh

Pints and Plates is a regular series highlighting the best food and craft beer experiences in Chicago. This week, two chef-brewer collaborations with roots in Chicago are coming on tap.

I’m sorry for what I’m about to do. The first half of this post is a terrible, terrible tease. But stick with it, clear your calendar Tuesday night, and all will be redeemed.

Jared Rouben and Stephanie Izard at GABF

Two of Chicago’s brightest beer-food stars are teaming up for a pairing dinner and demo in conjunction with a world-class beer festival. Unfortunately, it’s happening 1,000 miles away. Stephanie Izard, chef and owner of Girl and the Goat, and Jared Rouben, head pub brewer at Goose Island, first put their heads together to create Tingly Tongue, a black Belgian wit brewed with orange peel, Thai long peppercorns, toasted mustard seed, Thai chilies, and yuzu. Next week, they’re bringing a honey smoked porter made with local wildflower honey to Colorado for a dinner at Cholon Bistro during the Great American Beer Festival. The dinner features family-style food pairings with several craft beers, including Rouben’s transcendent Dulce, the best stout I’ve ever tasted and a likely–in my opinion–GABF medal winner. Proceeds from the dinner support Share Our Strength, a charity dedicated to ending child hunger in America by 2015. Rouben and Izard are also teaming up for a session at GABF. They’ll sample the honey smoked porter with both sweet and smoky dishes to highlight their collaborative process, attuned to brew beers that pair exceptionally with food. From there, Izard will return to Chicago for the October 5 release of her new book, Girl in the Kitchen, then embark on a nationwide tour to raise $500,000 for Share Our Strength.

Dinner: September 29, Cholon Bistro, 6 PM, $120 (includes a copy of the book), for tickets call 303-353-5223

GABF Demo: September 30, GABF Beer and Food Pavillion, 7:30 – 8 PM, SOLD OUT

City Provisions and Greenbush Brew Collaboration

Credit: Amanda Sawyer

Cleetus Friedman put it bluntly the first time we spoke.

“If someone gave me a million dollars, I would open a brewery.”

Instead, he built up City Provisions, the city’s best locally sourced, sustainably focused caterer and deli. Now he gets to brew wherever the hell he wants. In the second installment in his collaboration series with local brewers, Friedman is tapping Terminator X, an American strong ale brewed with blackstrap molasses. He cooked this one up with Scott Sullivan of Greenbush Brewery in Sawyer, Michigan. The duo tried the beer out on the Chicago craft beer crowd at last Friday’s Festiv-Ale, and it was a hit. The pairing with Friedman’s brisket sliders “led the charge” of the beer-food pairings for Nik at Chicago Beer Geeks. Tomorrow night, Sullivan and Friedman are giving Terminator X a proper release party at City Provisions. No mention yet about what they’re serving up with it, but if you have any idea what Friedman can do with a pairing, you’re already drooling.

Next up on the City Provisions collaboration tap: a smoked honey wheat with Finch’s, a sarsaparilla stout with Dark Horse, and a Belgian strong ale with Pipeworks. Rumor has it a dunkel doppel rye brewed with Metropolitan is also going to sneak on soon. Sullivan has been all over the collaboration scene himself, with a beer on tap at the Elysian and more brews headed soon to Girl and the Goat and Small Bar.

Terminator X Release: September 20, 6-9 PM, City Provisions, 1820 W Wilson

I leave you with this.