Usually I go into a beer pairing dinner expecting to come out more than satisfied. Especially in San Diego, there are exceptional chefs and brewmasters who will surprise and impress your palette. This dinner, though, completely blew me out of the water.
Enter Sea Rocket Bistro in North Park – where rustic design meets dim orange light that will warm you up even before your first beer. Curious three-dimensional newspaper fish hang from the ceiling. The owners, whose kind greeting makes me feel as if I’ve known them for years, tell me that these fish are even anatomically correct. These folks know their fish- Sea Rocket specialized in wild, sustainable seafood.
There’s no seafood on the menu tonight, though. Chef Chad White from Washington has the challenge of creating a completely vegan meal, inspired by the founders of Love Like Beer, a local organization that puts on craft beer-paired vegan dinners to support local charities. A percentage of tonight’s proceeds will go to San Diego’s Engineers Without Borders chapter.
We dive into pear salad with aged cashew cheese and clove agave nectar. It’s paired with Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales fall seasonal, Fuego Del Otono. All of the courses tonight are paired with Jolly Pumpkin vegan beers (brewed by vegan Ron Jeffries); in fact, this is the greatest number of Jolly Pumpkin Ales on tap in one place on the West Coast.
Next up is pumpkin gnocchi with cured black olive puree, fennel confit and nutmeg-roasted pepitas, and paired with La Percela. The third course is smoked seitan sausage with spiced apple chai tea and saurkraut with Bam Biere -I’m still craving that one.
We finish with coffee-malted chocolate cake with ganache, beer-macerated cherries, and curry gastric, paired with Bam Noire. We are so impressed, satiated, even galvanized by tonight’s unique menu items. The craftiness that went into making this food parallels the thoughtfulness that goes into making great beers, we conclude. The table is buzzing, and not just because we’re four beers deep. We participated in something out of the ordinary, and we supported a good cause. AND no animals were harmed in the process. Not a bad way to eat every now and again.
Inspired? Check out Chickpea Magazine‘s article about Love Like Beer.
Photos courtesy of Ryan Lamb of West Coaster.
