The McCormick & Schmick’s downtown location on 1st Ave has been hosting monthly Brewmasters dinners for some time now. I have still yet to make it in (soon, hopefully), but I have heard good things. I have had several good meals at this location in the past, but it sounds like they really step it up and put together some great menus for these Brewmasters dinners. Your next chance to catch a dinner there is tomorrow night when Iron Horse Brewery, located in Ellensburg, WA, comes to town to pair five of their beers with a special menu. Priced at $45 for the meal with beers (plus tax/tip), this is a certified bargain. If you go, let us know how it went!
Here are the full details on the dinner:
McCorminck & Schmick’s hosts a Brewmaster Dinner the 2nd Wednesday every month. Each dinner features a five course meal carefully paired with five beers from a local brewery. February’s featured brewery is Iron Horse Brewery. $45 per person.
1st course
Peppery beef kebab with braised pearl onions served with toast
Paired with Loco Imperial Red2nd course
Beer cheese soup with garlic crouton
Paired with Iron Horse IPA3rd course
Mini lobster pot pie topped with puff pastry
Paired with Brass Ass Brown Ale4th course
Fennel rubbed pork loin with leek bread pudding and sauteed winter greens
Paired with Quilter’s Irish Death5th course
Bourbon apricot beignets with chocolate dipping sauce
Paired with Mocha Death
A friend used to be the sous chef there and we went to a couple of these (Elysian, Maritime). It was an older crowd — a couple of guys we talked to had already been going to these for years, and this was oh, maybe 3-4 years ago. We had a good time though. The food was really good that night — our friend’s always is — and the room is small and intimate so you really feel like you’re having dinner with the brewer (or the sales rep).
Keep in mind that M&S is now a national chain, and a publicly traded restaurant corporation. They ultimately answer to the stockholders, not the customer, and it’s starting to show. That being said, I’ve had a couple decent meals at the 4th Ave. location.
Full disclosure: I worked for their catering division for years (and don’t regret most of it).
I called M&S this afternoon to get a reservation, and they had no idea what I was talking about. I finally got a manager to email me, and this was their response:
“Thank you for your interest in our Brewmaster Dinner Series. Due to the Valentine’s Holiday, we will not be holding a dinner event this month. However, we are proud to combine efforts with the Manny’s Brewery for a dinner on Monday, March 8, 2010. Thank you, again, for your inquiry and please let us know if we can assist in making reservations for this or any other dining experience at the restaurant. We look forward to seeing you!”
🙁
Huh, that seems really odd. Sorry to hear it was canceled or never existed in the first place. Wonder where that very detailed menu came came from then…