Hot As Hell Hefeweizen by the Little Red Chevette Brewery

Padre warned me about the banana on the nose but, I didn't believe it.  He was right. The first thing that hits you after you pour a glass of Hot as Hell Hefeweizen from the Little Red Chevette Brewing Company is the distinctive smell of bananas.  Padre explained that no bananas were actually hurt in the production of this brew.  The smell is entirely attributable to the yeast in action.

Before I get to the actual "un-capping," a bit about Padre, a long time friend and the brewmaster at LRCB.  LRCB and Padre actually hail from part New Jersey that earned it the Garden State title.  Padre enjoys his days canoeing the picturesque, cool country Kittatinny Valley lakes in search of perfect fishing spots.  He spends hours paddling the waters in an aquatic hunt for his finned prey.  But, when he is not busy giving the fish population of northern NJ heck then he is busy in his shop brewing beer from the same local pure, deep glacial lake waters, testing his chemistry and fermentation.  It's a bit of science and sorcery.  If Santa Clause is "Father Christmas" then Padre is "Father Beer."

Padre takes his beer very seriously and gave me specific instructions on how to best enjoy his brew and what to look for.  You get the sense right away that this is a heartfelt brew worthy of respect.  I couldn't think of a more worthy subject for Bill's Triple-D review in breaking with the restaurant only review tradition.

Padre's inspiration for LRCB's Hotter Than Hell Hefeweizen was the pity he took on those of us in the southern states who suffered through one of the most brutally hot summers on record in 2011.  The label on HTHH is a drawing of Texas being baked by flames in the background.  Needless to say, Padre decision to send some of the goodness to me was very welcome.

One of Padre's first instructions to me was to drink the beer from a clean glass.  The breweries in Europe usually have their own glasses or steins that they suggest you drink their beer from.  LRCB did not yet have glasses for HTHH, so I decided to use a hefewiezen glass from the Alpirsbacher Klosterbräu direct from Kinzigtal in Germany's Black Forrest. 

The worst thing about HTHH is that the whole glass disappeared much too quickly.  YUM!  It was that good.  There is nothing about this beer that you "have to get used to."  It just slides down as smooth as can be.  There was a concert of tastes and yeasty smells that only could have come from high-quality ingredients, including great water.  I can't really describe all of them.  That might say more about me as a first-time beer reviewer than anything else.  The beer was light in taste but, weighty in consistency.

I enjoyed a lot of really great beers when I lived in Germany.  The Germans are not afraid of cloudy beer if it helps the taste.  The mass produced hefeweizens in the US tend to be kind of tastless because they do filter out the sediment.  Padre's HTHH reminded me a lot of the great German beers because it had the bold yeast smell and taste.  The best German hefeweizens have that banana smell, too.

Padre doesn't publish the alcohol content of his brew.  I'm no lightweight but, after just one I was feeling just fine with the world.  I honestly don't know enough about beer chemistry to say whether the alcohol content adds or subtracts to the taste and enjoyment.  Whatever it is, Padre got it right on the money.

There was one bit of advice that Padre gave me that I wasn't too sure about.  He suggested leaving the last 1/4 inch of beer with the sediment on the bottom of the bottle.  In Germany they will roll the bottle on the table in order to stir up all of the sediment into the beer.  So, that was what I was used to.  I went half way and first sampled the beer using Padre's recommendation then I poured the gunk in the bottom of the bottle into the glass and tried it.  The sediment was actually pretty good.

I'm giving Padre's Hotter Than Hell Hefeweizen a 10 out of 10 on the Triple-D scale.  If I find a better beer then I'll bust the 1 - 10 scale.  But, I have a hard time imagining that right now.

Little Red Chevette Brewing
Andover, New Jersey
http://sites.google.com/site/littleredchevettebrew/home





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La Calle - Mexico City

Guy Fiere has never been to La Calle but, he should visit there.  This review marks a new chapter in Bill's Triple-D restaurant review.  This was the first non-diners, drive-inns and dives restaurant review and the first international review.  DD&D is still my inspiration in terms of exploring no-star restaurants with great food and drink in sometimes unusual places, but I'm not going to limit my reviews to just restaurants that have been on tv anymore.  In fact, I'm not going to limit the blog just to restaurants anymore.  Stay tuned.

La Calle is in the Santa Fe section of Mexico City. Most of what I saw of Mexico City would qualify as a super dive but, Santa Fe was not.  It is the shiny upscale area; a phoenix of a development built on what was a landfill several years earlier.  There are high-end department stores and expensive high-rise apartment buildings. 

The atmosphere was pretty cool. It was trying to be an old Mexican restaurant.  As a Gringo, to me it seemed like a Mexican restaurant trying to be a Mexican restaurant.   There were only Mexicans here besides my mixed-nationality group, so I don't think that they were trying to impress anyone by hamming-up their Mexican-ness like you sometimes find in the states.


The first thing that they served us was  soup in a little shot glass.  I had never seen soup presented that way.  It was dark brown in color and someone joked that it was a water glass.  It was actually shrimp soup.  It was really tasty but, rather salty which probably helps with beer sales.   The Pacifico Cerveza went down exceptionally smoothly as a chaser.

I ordered the avocado fish. I couldn't tell exactly what kind of dish it was from the Spanish description on the menu but, it was a white fish.  It could have maybe been sea bass.  The fish itself was okay but, the avocado sauce was the star of this show.

The fish was served hidden under a blanket of vegetables.  The fish and veggies were really only there as a vehicle to pick the sauce up with, in my opinion.  I'm kind of a recent convert to avocado.  I used to be turned off by the green color that caused me to never try it.

I'm glad that I got over it in time to sample La Calle's avocado sauce.  It was good enough for me to break with Triple-D tradition.   It was creamy and savory if a little heavy on the salt as well.  La Calle had their own bakery (panadería) which kept us supplied with lots of fresh bread.  That was a good thing because I just wanted to sop up every drop of the green goodness.

One of my compadres at my table ordered something that basically consisted of a caldron of meat, vegetables and potatoes. I didn't try it but, it looked pretty darned good.

I'd give La Calle a 9.6.  It might not have been unique for a Mexican but, it was for me.  The food was really good and the atmosphere unique for me.



La Calle
Av. Vasco de Quiroga #3800
Centro Comercial Santa fe
Colonia Santa fe
Mexico District federal
05109

tel. 5257 0885
http://www.restaurantelacalle.com.mx

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Baby Blues B B Q - Venice, CA

The atmosphere at Baby Blues BBQ is kind of hippie cowboy. There are steer horns on the wall, lots of squirter bottles of pepper-sauce everywhere, guitars and pictures of Bob Marley on the wall.

It is my kind of place but, it is a dive for sure.  I could see how the LA Board of Health might have a field day in here. There were hot peppers floating around in old whiskey bottles.  I didn't quite understand that.  I don't know if they put those away when the health inspectors come by or what.

The barbecue food was really good, even by the Texas standards that I'm used to.  They have a whole smorgasbord of barbecue sauces on each table which were fun to experiment with.  I feared the really hot varieties but the milder ones were pretty good.

They advertise themselves as Memphis-style BBQ.  I had the "The Cherokee Spike" which was pulled pork, brisket and a hot link.  It came with a slab of cornbread.  This was a meat eater's delight.  We also ordered a Blues Cob.  The blues cob was roasted corn on the cob with some kind of spices and parmesian cheese on top. I don't think that there was any butter on the corn. The cheese took the place of the butter. The sharpness of the parmesan was a nice contrast withe the sweet corn.  The star of the show was easily the Blues Cob.

They are not light on the portions. This is not the skinny side of LA.
I'd give baby blues a 9 out of 10 on the triple d scale of divey delight.

Baby Blues BBQ
444 Lincoln Blvd.
Venice California 90291
310-396-7675
www.babybluesvenice.com

Prince Lebanese Grill - Arlington, TX

The blue collar section of Arlington, Texas seemed an unlikely location for a true middle eastern restaurant. This area of town is dominated by BBQ, burger and fast food restaurants.

Prince Lebanese is in what looks like it might have been an old Sonic restaurant from the 1970's. So, it clearly qualified under the "dive" heading. I'm home.

The middle eastern food was as good or better than anything that I've had in Detroit, the US capital of middle eastern food.

The humus and high quality beef for me is what defines a middle eastern restaurant. Prince didn't disappoint.

I had the need shwarma which was like a beef wrap but in a thicker, softer bread.

My photos got lost somehow so, you'll just have to try it for yourself to see.  I rated Prince Lebanese Grill a very respectable 8.5.

Prince Lebanese Grill
502 W Randol Mill Road
Arlington, TX
(817) 469-1811
www.princelebanesegrill.com