Oktoberfest Beer Dinner at Christopher’s

CHRISTOPHER’S WORLD GRILLE – OKTOBERFEST

Tuesday October 20, 2009

6:30pm – hors d’oeuvres   ~   7pm – Dinner

1st Course

Beer and Cheese Soup with Black Bread

Beer

Paulner Premium Pilsner

2nd Course

Mixed Sausage Platter with Saurkraut

Beer

Shinerbock Smokehause

3rd Course

Hunters Schnitzel with German Noodle with Onion Sauce

Beer

Hofbrau Oktoberfest

4th Course

Pork Roast with Red Carrbage and German Potato Salad

Beer

Franziskaner Hefenweizen

5th Course

Apple Strudle with Cream and Rum Sauce

Beer

Kostrizer Schwarzbier

*Every person that attends will receive a Christopher’s World Grille beer stein!

$65 per person

not including tax or gratuity

Kabobs, Sumac and Incredible Service

So, you are looking for a place to eat tonight? Consider Shiraz Shish Kabob. I took my family the other day and it was incredible on many levels.

This is a family owned and run restaurant specializing in home-style Eastern Mediterranean and Eastern European cooking. Our family is a wonderful mixture of Persian and Turkish origins and the food we prepare with love and only the freshest of ingredients is a blend of those delightful culinary influences.

First, the food was amazing. Chicken Kabobs, lamb chops, beef, on beds of rice. Oh, and the Hummus and flat bread…wow. The Hummus and artisian flatbread by by themselves are reason enough to check this place out.

My wife had the Lamb on green rice, which was a dill rice. Really tasty. In fact, surprisingly, my 4 year old loved the green rice. This is not a normal thing. All my kids enjoyed the food here.

So we’re enjoying our food, and I notice that there’s a container of some sort of purplish marroon spice. I decide to try it. It was sort of a mix between pepper and paprika and maybe a little salty and a little tart. Real interesting. I had to know what it was.

Well, to my surprise, it is Sumac. Yeah, Sumac…like the poison Sumac (except not the poisonous kind). I had never had Sumac before. Well, Andrei (the owner) told me about the spice and how it’s derived, as well as many other interesting things about the food in the restaurant.

He told me that the meats were organic, the animals were grass fed and the vegetables were all organic as well. He told me thay had many dishes that were gluten free and he was very interested in serving healthy food. This is so cool.

Andrei is an A&M Agriculture graduate, and he loves this town, and loves the people of the town. I could tell. He and his wife are so nice and hospitable.

He even gave us some tea to go with our Baklava, which he told us was also organic and “healthy”. It was so good, and I’m not necessarily a Baklava fan.

Check out their menu and daily specials. Looks like they are updating their specials on the site every day, so check it out.

We will definitely go there often. It’s a wonderful addition to the restaurants here in Bryan and College Station. I am glad this restaurant is here…you will be too.

Oh, it’s across the street from Gumby’s Pizza on Dominik Drive.

8 Course Event with Veritas at The Republic

I just found out about an 8 course event going on at The Republic on July 16th at The Republic. It’s an 8 course dinner at The Republic Steakhouse where Chef Wade Barkman from The Republic will prepare 6 courses and Chef Tai Lee of Veritas will prepare the remaining 2.

Join their Facebook group for more information.

Here is a list of the courses that will be presented:

Hors d’ Oeuvres
Madison Farms Lemon Boy Bisque
Roasted Heirloom Tomato Oil, Crème Fraiche,
Basil Chiffonade

Amuse Bouche
House Smoked Salmon
Texas Goat Cheese Blini, Fresh Dill Clotted Cream,
Lemon Zest

First Course
Pan Roasted Diver Scallops
Honey Crème Fraiche, White Truffle Oil, Sweet Carrot
Puree, English Pea Relish, Shaved Asparagus

Second Course
Smoked & Grilled Pork Tenderloin
Green Chile Bacon Grits, Sauteed Malabar Spinach,
Jack Daniels Red Eye Gravy

Intermezzo
Bourbon Soaked Bing Cherry Sorbet

Third Course
Coriander Crusted Sea Bass
Sauteed Baby Spinach, House Smoked Bacon,
Red Chile Bacon Buerre Blanc

Fourth Course
New Zealand Lamb Chops
Romesco, Herbed Demi Cloud of Shallot Butter,
Baby Carrots

Fifth Course
Dulce de Leche Pots de Crème
Pecan Shortbread, Grandma’s Cookies

Wade Barkman- Executive Chef/Owner- The Republic
Tai Lee- Executive Chef- Veritas Wine & Bistro

Here’s their phone number so you can call and reserve: 979-260-4120

Also, Thursday Nights has blown up at The Republic, you should check it out. Go have a drink and listen to some great musicians having a great time. Guitars, voices and a trombone…sounds pretty good.

Can’t Make It to the Texas Reds Festival?

The Texas Reds Festival is upon us…why they don’t do this in the Spring on the Fall is beyond me. It’s gonna be hot. I don’t think I can make it this year…too bad for me. There will be a bunch of bands,  yummy food, Candy 95 is doing the Grape Stomp…but it’s gonna be hot.

OK, so, if you can’t make it out there (or don’t want to) you have an option (well, a suggestion anyway)…The Republic Steakhouse. (on Tarrow and University across the street from the Hilton)

My wife and I recently had the privilege to eat at this fine dining restaurant, and we were very pleased.

Our server was Seth. He’s a student at A&M, and very knowlegable pertaining to the food we were being served, wine pairings, sauces, even the tastes of the different tomatoes in their new Caprisi Salad. Oh, I am getting ahead of myself.

The atmosphere of The Republic is really nice. Clean, tidy and very nicely decorated. Seth greeted us and took our drink orders, then went through the menu with us. He really made everything sound good, but was fully prepared to suggest what he thought was the best.

We shared a cocktail…a Lay Down Sally. It had a basil leaf sitting in it. Really tasty. No idea what it is…can’t find it with Google. It tasted like maybe grapefruit or something. It was pink. Seth suggested it because my wife wanted something sweet. Maybe if you are reading this and you know what’s in it, leave a comment below.

First was a slice of bread and butter with their “Citrus Smoked Kosher Sea Salt”. Seth explained how the citrus was cooked and the smoke let rise onto the salt. Apparently the same way they smoke their panceta. I don’t know if I could taste the citrus, but it was yummy. They don’t give out much bread, but we didn’t come for the bread.

We started with the cheese plate. This was amazing. Manchego, Brie, white cheddar, apple jelly, fresh honeycomb (yeah, it was awesome), fresh parmesean crackers, pecan toast (I think it was pecan), cranberries, blue cheese…oh, so good. We put all sorts of them together. The brie and the apple butter on the pecan toast, the blue cheese and the cranberries on the parmesean crackers, the Manchego and the honeycomb on the bread. Just wonderful.

We left most of the blue cheese…not a big fan.

So, next was the salad. My wife had a baby beet and goat cheese on field greens. She loved it. I had the Caprisi salad. In-season heirloom tomatoes…yum. Purple Cherokee was my favorite, although Mr. Stripey was pretty tasty too.

Next, the chef really went all out and prepared a “Entremez” (that’s what we called it in Spain). A palate cleanser of sorts. It was three freshly made sorbets. One was a blood orange sorbet with candied peel, another was a granny smith apple sorbet and the third was a cherry coke sorbet with a brandied Marachino. Apparently, the Cherry Coke one was debuted on us…we loved it. These were all in little demitas cups (I totally thought about snagging one of those they were just so cute).

OK, so, the main meal.

My wife went with the Lamb Chops. She said they were excellent. I went with the Filet Mignon. Really tasty. We are notversed on cooking temperatures of meat, so we don’t quite know how we like our meat cooked…or what it’s called when there is a little bit or red inside, but it’s not cold. Anyway, Seth had specific suggestions as to what temperature should not be exceeded. The chops will get dry if they are cooked too much, etc. We were both very pleased with the selections, and the suggestions.

We both chose sides: Asparagus (that was so crunchy and so good), Fingerling Potatoes Lyonnaise (with sauteed onions), Cauliflower gratin and surprisingly, Macaroni and Cheese. Funny, right? Actually, Seth suggested it as his favorite starch. He said it’s the kind that kids don’t like, but parents love. It’s had japanese breadcrumbs and parmesean cheese…very good. Yeah, I was surprised.

So, the meat came with four sauces. Seth explained them all in full detail. There was a Bernaise, a house steak sauce, a wine based sauce and a Chimichurri sauce. It was difficult to pick our favorites. They all added so much yumminess to the meat.

Oh, and my Filet Mignon was nice and thick. My wife felt strange about picking up and eating the rest of the meat off the bone, so she asked Seth about the correct etiquette and he let us know…totally ok. I’m telling you, these servers really know their stuff. We tried to stump our Seth with a couple of questions, but we couldn’t.

For dessert we had the Marie Antoinette, a chocolate/mousse/cake thing. Really really tasty. And not overly rich on the chocolate. Oh and this dessert came with The Republic’s own Almond Brittle. Wow, that was amazing stuff. They would have to hide these from me if I was working there. I would go back just for that stuff. They should sell it at the front.

All around, it was wonderful food, great service and my wife and I felt totally pampered. All the servers were very professional and respectful, and the hostess was totally sweet. She came to our table a couple of times to make sure everything was good.

Seemingly effortless, but definitely a four diamond establishment.

Four Diamond
These establishments are upscale in all areas. Accommodations are progressively more refined and stylish. The physical attributes reflect an obvious enhanced level of quality throughout. The fundamental hallmarks at this level include an extensive array of amenities combined with a high degree of hospitality, service, and attention to detail.

When one course was finished, new utensils were brought out. The attention to detail was impeccable.

Seth mentioned that everything we ate that night was local or made in house. The basil leaf in our drink was pulled fresh from their garden in front of the restaurant. The Heirloom Tomatoes were grown and harvested from the owner’s garden. Local meat, local veggies, house made sauces, sorbet, etc.

We were there about 2 hours and had to leave to relieve the babysitter, so we missed the musician that came on right as we were leaving. They have music at the bar a few nights a week.

So, if you are planning on NOT going to the Texas Reds Festival, but still want a steak and some fine wine, check out the Republic. We are glad we did. And I feel like I am educated about food, at least the food at The Republic. I know I didn’t mention everything our server told us, there was just so much…as you can tell by the length of this post.

Thank you Wade Barkman (owner), Seth (our server) and big props to the Chef, and everyone else who served us. I hope there’s another opportunity soon to go back.

Tasty Tacos from a Truck

You know wherePost Oak Mall is right? That’s Harvey Road. Go East (under HWY 6) and travel for 2 or 3 miles. You will pass Koppe Bridge and C&J’s BBQ on the right. Right after C&J’s, there’s a traffic light. Take a right (toward Carlos) and in less than a mile, across from Powersports Gym, you should see a Taco Truck.

Now, you have to go during the week between 7am and 1pm. They serve really tasty breakfast tacos and also lunch tacos. They make their own tortillas, and their own hot sauce.

Their breakfast tacos are $1.50, and they are not “skinny”.

The owners are real sweet too. They actually live right behind where they park the truck.

Totally worth the extra few minute drive to get tacos.

Enjoy

Here’s a map of the area.