Row 14 Late Night Happy Hour

Don’t get me wrong… I’m a good, loyal Boulderite.  I love this town and I love the dining scene, but when it comes to late night food, there aren’t many options.  I wish we had kitchens open til midnight or later, and that food trucks could park downtown at night.  But no.  One must venture down to Denver to have such benefits.  So venture to Denver I did…
 to Row 14 Bistro and Wine Bar.
Row 14 is right downtown in The Spire building across from my favorite blue bear at the convention center.  Big bonus right there.  They also have a late night happy hour from 10pm-midnight, so walking in at 11:30 pm I sampled…
The Pickled Seasonal Vegetables.  I order this dish now at every single restaurant I visit that has pickles on the menu.  I’m a big seasonal pickler myself, so I am always interested in comparing professionally made pickles to my homemade pickles.  The beets, turnips, and onions were great. Crisp, balanced, delicious.

Hummus and Grilled Flatbread.  Yes, Please.  This is an ideal late night dish for me because it’s filling and healthy (remember I’m a Boulderite, so, health starts here…), and Row 14 makes a perfectly creamy chickpea hummus.  

Crispy Calamari… let’s just ignore the fact that I only had my handy iPhone with me, so we’re obviously not looking at the most amazing photo here.  But, yum. I scarfed it all down, and washed it down with a unique libation made by up-and-coming mixologist Tyler French.

I told Tyler I like Rye and he crafted something for me that was spirit forward.  I like it strong sometimes.
If Denver weren’t so far away from Boulder, and if I didn’t have to stop at a hotel over night to break up the drive, I’d go more often.  But seriously. Boulder needs to step it up with the late night food offerings.  In the meantime, I’ll enjoy what Denver has to offer.

Beer Cocktails

Well, I did predict it was going to be the summer of beer cocktails… (insert big smile here).

SALT has a new summer menu out for the Cocktail Element and a new cocktail style is the boilermaker- a beer based cocktail. Go check it out.

This might look like your average beer, but there’s something extra special in there.

Honey Pepper Rascal, a Beer Cocktale

Now, before anyone accuses me of only writing about cocktails anymore, let me just say that a lot of thought goes into these cocktails that I enjoy. Flavor profiles are considered, of course. What’s a flavor profile? Let’s save that for another day.

First, I have a story. Last spring I caught an Alton Brown show on making a black pepper infused vodka. I am a big fan of the Bloody Mary, so I was super excited to make black pepper vodka for my summer libations. I followed his instructions, but not exactly. I added too many peppercorns and let them infuse way too long. The result was more like a black pepper extract than a black pepper vodka. It was disgusting.

But, lucky me… I happen to have the esteemed Evan Faber, formerly of SALT the Bistro, as a spirits and cocktails advisor. He took on that role some time this past winter (unbeknownst to him:), so after months of letting my unpalatable pepper vodka sit in the freezer, I reached out for help. Turns out there is a traditional Russian drink of vodka flavored with honey and pepper. To make a long story short, I cut my vodka with more vodka and added some dehydrated honey powder I picked up at Savory Spice Shop. After a little more waiting I wound up with a really delicious honey pepper vodka.

And now it’s time to play! So, taking some inspiration from Dan Mirsky, the man formerly in charge of beverages at The Pinyon, I made a beer cocktail. Dan suggested a ratio of 1 oz liquor to 6 oz beer, and that’s what I made here.

  • 1 oz honey pepper vodka
  • 6 oz Avery White Rascal Belgian-Style White Ale
  • juice of 1/2 lemon

I used a Avery’s White Rascal for two reasons: 1) Avery is the best local brewery in Boulder and 2) white ales have a lighter flavor profile that goes well with citrus (the lemon) and would compliment the spice from black pepper and the sweet from honey. White beer allows these added flavors to come through and create a cocktail rather than be hidden in a darker beer.

So, let’s start talking about beer cocktales. (Get it? cockt-ALES. Did I need to point that out?) They’re the new frontier of cocktails for me. I think 2011 is going to be the summer of beer cocktales!

Chipotle Tequila

I am finding a lot of inspiration in cocktails lately. What does that mean? It doesn’t necessarily mean I’m guzzling down cocktail after cocktail while sorting through the mess that is sometimes called life. It means that I’m inspired to try new things, re-create some classics, and explore……. wait for it…… the flavor profiles of different spirits.

I can’t seem to escape the words “flavor profiles” as they are so frequently (and sometimes eloquently) spit out of the mouths of every chef, food blogger, and beverage director I know. I’ve said this before, but for me, it all started with The Cocktail Element. I’ll never forget the first time it’s creator, Evan Faber from SALT the Bistro, explained to my food tour guests how he explored the flavor profiles of spirits (vodka, gin, rum, tequila, bourbon, and scotch) and matched them with flavors that go well with each spirit’s flavor profile. Pick your spirit, a flavor, and a classic cocktail style and you can mix and match and make yourself merry.

So, I’ve been inspired. I’m going to explore some of the flavor profiles from the latest Cocktail Element menu and create some infused spirits at home. Got nothing else to do, right?

My first Cocktail Element inspired creation is chipotle tequila. It’s super easy. Just go to Savory Spice Shop and buy some dried chipotle peppers and add one (or 2) to a bottle of reposado tequila. I chose reposado because it has some caramel notes that would pair well with spice. Also, it’s a lot easier if you pour the tequila into a wide-mouth ball jar to make your infusion, just so you know. Thought I’d mention that…

Let the pepper infuse for a day and then taste it. It might be done to your liking. If not, give it another day and taste again. I would warn you against going more than 3 days with chipotle peppers soaking in your tequila. You can always add more spice, but you can’t always take it away!

Cheers!

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A Bolder Table is a place where I bookmark my favorite recipes for later along with some occasional musings. It's my personal digital recipe compilation... Let's say it's my cookbook. Thanks for stopping by! -Megan
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