Beer + Food = Epic Awesomeness!

My wonderful wife, Fran Shayotovich of the food blog "For the Love of Fran's Food," is one helluva cook. I have a helluva love for eating her food and drinking beer.  Fortunately for me she has also cultivated a love for the liquid gold (so my master plan of converting her from a Wino to a Beero has worked maaaaaaaahvelously) and often combines the best of these two worlds to create dishes that could be included on the menu of any fine gastropub establishment.


As the craft beer revolution continues to pick up speed this food and beer pairing phenom does as well. For instance, two new gastropub's recently opened in Denver - Freshcraft and Euclid Hall. Both need to be visited the next time you come to the Napa Valley of the Beer World.  Suggestions: order the Pretzel Bites or the Potatoes Two Ways appetizers at Freshcraft, and any of the Poutines at Euclid Hall.  Trust me on this.

But this article isn't about Denver... it's about a new culinary travel planning website that Travel Oregon just launched. Oregon is a Beer Mecca as well, so they know a thing or two when it comes to the brew, and they want to help visitors who come to their neck of the woods create their own Oregon Bounty Wanderfeast. Each week the site features a different Oregon culinary product at its peak... and this week it's Beer Week! Visit the website for recipes, secret spots to taste beery goodness, and while you're there enter a contest to win a four-night, three-day culinary getaway of your own.

Oh, and be sure to check out the recipe from Alan Sprints of Hair of the Dog Brewery in Portland for his Beer Braised Short Ribs. You can bet I'm going to have Fran make these sometime very soon!

Until next time... Zivjeli!