Taco Steve has beer now. Tacos and beer. America.

It's the best six-can beer list in New Albany. Taco Steve is located in the rear of Destinations Booksellers at 604 East Spring Street, opposite the very nearly completed Breakwater apartment development.

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AFTER THE FIRE: The devil made me drink it.

AFTER THE FIRE: The devil made me drink it.

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

One of my wife’s favorite Mexican dishes is Camarones a la Diabla, or Deviled Shrimp. Seeing as this delicious specialty tends to be among the higher priced entrees at local Mexican restaurants, we resolved last weekend to try cooking it at home.

The results were excellent, and it will get better as we dial in the recipe, which was chosen because it does not include ketchup.

Laugh at your own peril. This familiar condiment also is a key ingredient in the appetizer spare ribs served by your favorite Chinese carry-out shop.

Happily, having recently bought a few assorted six packs in anticipation of entertaining friends, there was a beer already in our fridge that was fully appropriate for pairing with our inaugural batch of Camarones a la Diabla.

And no, it wasn’t ice-cold, carbonated urine like Corona or Modelo Especiale. Can we retire the laziest of all foodie saws, the one holding that Mexican beer and food go together perfectly? So does ice water. We should be saving the corn for our tortillas, and drinking beers that bring character to the table.

Like German-style wheat ale (Hefeweizen), which during our meal was Hacker-Pschorr Weiss. Indeed, it's multinational-owned, and I’d have preferred Schneider Weiss or even Aventinus, but the important thing is shift, and nitpicking German-style wheat ales isn’t the point to this digression.

Rather, it is to make the case (yet again – I’ve made a career out of this) that Hefeweizen is a wonderful accompaniment to many Mexican and other Latin American cuisines, something you’d never know judging from restaurants alone, since most of them venture no further than the usual pale, limp, beer-flavored suspects.

It’s so enduringly tedious, but verily, this pairing problem disappears when you cook dinner at home.

To which I say: “Viva la revolución!”

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There was a time when I eschewed Hefeweizen, primarily because whenever I was unable to persuade timid pub customers to move beyond starter wheat ales to a wider range of options, it grated deeply within the cavernous void of my tortured, curmudgeonly soul.

This ideology began eroding when Diana decided that Hefeweizen was one of the few beer styles she genuinely liked. I grudgingly indulged her at first, then one fine day at the German Café in French Lick, she offered me a sip of her Weihenstephaner.

My chagrin was immediate and boundless. I’d simply forgotten how much I liked Hefeweizen, and now it is a beer we can enjoy together.

You’re here to learn from my mistakes, and there’s no denying that German-style wheat ale is a singular classic. Hefeweizen is half (or a bit more) wheat and half (or slightly less) barley, and is fermented with a special ale yeast that imparts fruity flavors and aromas more commonly associated with bananas, apples and cloves.

Significantly, neither fruit nor spice is used in brewing Hefeweizen. It’s all about the behavior of the yeast amid a warm fermentation temperature, and the tasty markers graciously left behind.

In fact, “Hefe” is the German word for yeast, and “Weizen” means wheat. “Weisse,” or white, is often used somewhat interchangeably, as the cloudy appearance of wheat ale once prompted snap descriptions of it as “white.”

This same blurry phenomenon is to be found in Belgium, where “Wit” also denotes whiteness. While brewed with wheat, it bears no further resemblance to the German variety. The Belgians use orange peel and coriander to spice their wheat ale, and these ingredients traditionally have been forbidden by the beer purity laws in Germany, though these bastions may finally be crumbling.

Occasionally, German-style wheat ale can be found in its filtered incarnation (“Kristall”), but this is comparatively rare, and makes little sense in the first place.

Decades into the “craft” beer era, most American-style wheat ales remain resolutely flavorless unless they’re heavily spiced or intentionally hopped-up, as with Three Floyds Gumballhead. These usually are brewed as seasonal summertime thirst quenchers using house ale yeast strains, resulting in clean, competent and thoroughly uninteresting temporary lodgers.

Meanwhile, most authentic Hefeweizens come in shades of gold, although “Dunkel” indicates a variety brewed with darker malts. Schneider Weisse is as dark as Franziskaner’s Dunkel, but the brewery sees no need to tout this on the label, reminding us that beer style categories aren’t always exact.

Traditionally, Hefeweizen was a warm weather libation and generally unavailable year-round, even on its home turf in Bavaria. The style staged a remarkable comeback in the 1970s and 1980s after very nearly becoming extinct. Nowadays, German-style wheat ale can be consumed every day if so desired, throughout Germany and the world.

This brings us back to Mexico.

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Mexican restaurants invariably adorn watery lagers with slices of lime, and just as predictably, I toss them in the ashtray, so let’s be clear about the proper use of citrus fruit garnish in beer.

There is no proper use for citrus fruit garnish in beer.

Period.

If lemons were intended for use in Hefeweizen, then lemons would grow in Germany. They don’t. Do oranges grow in Belgium? No, and they don’t grow in Colorado, either, so they have no place in a glass of Coors’s mock Belgian Wit ale, Blue Moon.

(Blue Moon is a multinational shelf-space colonist, not indie “craft,” so get over yourself and move on to something better.)

When you place a slice of citrus fruit in a beer, whether it is a competently conceived and brewed German or Belgian wheat ale or the soapy lagers brewed in Mexico, you are mindlessly following the marketing dictates of someone at Great Satan Inc. who’ll you’ll never know, and who makes more money deceiving you than you will earn in your entire life.

This said, I’ve forged a shaky provisional peace with Dos Equis and Negra Modelo in the absence of better choices at most Mexican restaurants, but the fact remains that ethnic eateries in general, from taquerias to sushi bars, and from dim sum emporiums to Indian curry houses, would benefit from stocking just a handful of beer styles invariably capable of transforming the dining experience in a meaningful way that lager simply cannot achieve.

At the very least, bottles of American Pale Ale, German-style Hefeweizen and indigenous Robust Porter would transform ethnic dining in the metro Louisville area. Toss in an IPA, a Belgian Saison or Tripel and a German Gose, and we’re getting somewhere.

At the high end, that’s $300 wholesale for six cases of beer. Margins are solid. It isn’t nuclear physics.

Thinking back to Camarones a la Diabla, the “deviled” sauce had a mild acidic bite from the tomatoes, and plenty of pepper flavor. Overall, the dish was restrained in the Scoville context, which makes sense, because you wouldn’t want to overwhelm the shrimp.

My Hefeweizen’s medium-bodied fruit and esters coated the mouth and complimented the peppers. The effervescence acted as the curtain being raised on the flavor of the shrimp. It was hard to tell whether the clove was coming from the beer or the food, and it didn’t matter. It fit like a glove.

The earliest verified written instance of my disgruntlement with the beer status quo at local international restaurants appeared around 2003. Nothing ever seems to change, though I have a bit more time these days, and have found myself guided back into the home kitchen.

Perhaps at long last I can follow up on the imaginary pairings that haven’t always been possible to test. Most recently, it was Greek Moussaka with a Belgian Abbey Dubbel.

If I get around to doing it, I’ll let you know how this meal turns out.

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July 28 (at NA Confidential): ON THE AVENUES: An imaginary exercise tentatively called The Curmudgeon Free House.

July 25: AFTER THE FIRE: Before the deluge, or knowing how this whole beer business started.

July 18: AFTER THE FIRE: Moss the Boss, his dazzling beer café, and what they taught me about “craft.”

July 11: AFTER THE FIRE: We are dispirited in the post-factual world.

July 4: AFTER THE FIRE: Euro ’85, Part 34 … The final chapter, in which lessons are learned and bridges burned.

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Steve Coomes: In modern restaurant journalism, the details are 'softened.'

For my money, and on a daily basis, Steve Coomes is the finest local writer on food, dining and drink. I'm not sure his thoughts in this essay are directly applicable to writing about beer.

Then again, I'm not sure they aren't.

COMMENTARY: IN MODERN RESTAURANT JOURNALISM, THE DETAILS ARE ‘SOFTENED’, by Steve Coomes (Eat Drink Talk)

As a journalist, I’ve covered dozens of sporting events, yet at none of these was I asked to pay for my seat on press row. Far as I know, no other reporter has either. It’s assumed that if you work for a credible media outlet, you can “get credentialed” with a free pass that gives you some of the best seats in the house and walk-around access to places fans only dream of going.

No matter what happens at those events, reporters are expected to write it as they see it, even when things turn ugly. It even seems that part of a sports reporter’s job is to find fault so as to appear objective.

My career as a restaurant reporter is lived in a markedly different fashion. People in my trade used to follow the old saying, “Never accept more than a cup of coffee” so you’d never get too friendly with your subjects. If they were restaurant critics with any integrity, they couldn’t even accept that, and the publications they wrote for reimbursed all expenses.

But a paradigm shift is underway in restaurant reporting. Due to the continued paring back of staffs at all publications, more and more freelancers are employed to cover this industry. Those freelancers are not only paid low sums for their work, they’re rarely reimbursed for meals, drinks, tips or the miles rolled up driving to dinner and home.

And yet as reporters, they’re expected to be non-biased chroniclers of what they eat and what they learn about the people who serve those meals. They’re expected to become experts in their understanding and recollection of the subject matter, which requires a significant investment in time if they’re going to be good at that work.

In 2016, here’s where things get a little tricky ...

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"Next time we see 'deconstructed' on a menu, we’re walking out."

My top choice isn't even included.

It's menu items charred, whipped, baked, deconstructed, fried, broiled, flambéed, blackened or otherwise plated "to perfection."

Perfection doesn't exist, folks -- and I share the author's annoyance.

The 10 Most Annoying Words and Phrases on Menus, Ranked, by Josh Scherer (Los Angeles Magazine)

I was at a restaurant the other night and something about the menu seemed… off. It was so sparse. It was just a concise list of foods, most of which I wanted to eat, with no twee adjectives or obscure farm names in sight. Though I was happy about it at the time, it only made me realize that I have an advanced case of CMF (Chronic Menu Fatigue)—and you might too. It’s the general feeling you get when you go to a restaurant and realize every word or phrase on the menu is there to make you feel, in one way or another, unqualified to eat the food. Here is a list of the most annoying and/or pretentious words and phrases that trigger the symptoms.

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Middens attest to when oysters were peanuts, with beer.

Photo credit: East Falls Historical Society (below).

To Google the words "oyster beer history" is to uncover thousands of references to oyster stout, the vast majority of them from recent beer-centric times.

There's nothing wrong with that, but it isn't the point. I'm not thinking about pairing oysters with stout, or using them is a direct, vestigial or apocryphal manner to brew stout. Rather, I'm thinking about oysters as daily food, and how local beer drinking culture came to be built around this framework --especially on America's eastern seaboard.

The Voluminous Shell Heaps Hidden in Plain Sight All Over NYC, by Natalie Zarrelli (Atlas Obscura)

 ... These huge, ancient heaps of shells are called oyster middens, and they’ve fascinated people for centuries. If you didn’t know better, the word “midden” might sound homey and adorable, like a lush green burrow for some fuzzy, ground-dwelling animal, but you’d be mistaken. A midden is an archaeological term for a pile of trash left by humans long gone, and oyster middens are some of the oldest and largest piles of intact garbage dating from after the late ice age.

More specifically, here is the view from Philadelphia.

When oysters were peanuts, by Steve Fillmore (East Falls Historical Society)

They sure loved their oysters at the Hohenadel Brewery on Indian Queen Lane. We found hundreds of shells at the site this morning, unearthed by a construction crew digging up the site of the old brewery for condominiums.

That many fresh oysters would be worth thousands of dollars today at an upscale center city restaurant, but in 19th century bars, oysters were the peanuts of the day. They were the cheap eats that kept customers coming back for beer ...

... In Philadelphia and its suburbs, oyster consumption averaged approximately 6 million oysters a week throughout the 1870s. Cookbooks from the time list more than 40 oyster recipes and neighborhood oyster bars were more prevalent than pizza places or coffeehouses are today. In fact, over 2,400 Philadelphia establishments (hotels, oyster houses, restaurants, and beer saloons) served oysters, in addition to 158 peddlers and curb-side stands.

New York City remains the locale closely associated with oysters and beer. Tedesco's description of a project to reintroduce oysters to the area draws from a book by Mark Kurlansky, whose topics have included salt, cod and early 20th-century food in addition to oysters.

A Billion Oysters Tell the History of New York, by Karen Tedesco (The Village Voice)

Picture yourself on a boat on the Hudson River: taking in the view, eating copious piles of wood-fire-roasted oysters, and swigging generous drafts of locally brewed beer. It might remind you of last weekend's party aboard a schooner in Lower Manhattan. It's also an apt description of a typical feast in seventeenth-century New York ...

 ... The waters of New York Harbor, with their fluctuating balance of salt and fresh waters, allowed oysters to thrive. As natural, living filters, the mollusks not only kept the estuary healthy and clean, but were an abundant delicacy, eaten with gusto by the Native American Lenape and colonial settlers alike. For thousands of years, oysters were plentiful in the brackish waters all around the land that became New York City; some ancient piles of shells, known as middens, date to 6950 B.C.

Over the centuries, oysters continued to play a huge part in New York's economy. According to Kurlansky, nineteenth-century New Yorkers "consumed as many as a million oysters a day," and they were shipped to far-flung aficionados in Chicago, San Francisco, Paris, and London. The New York oyster industry survived, somewhat miraculously, into the early twentieth century. Hundreds of years of raw sewage, industrial pollution, and large-scale dredging in the harbor contributed to the decline of oyster habitats, little by little, until they disappeared completely. In 1927, Kurlansky writes, "the last of the Raritan Bay beds was closed, marking the end of oystering in New York City."

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America's restaurant workers and Saru Jayaraman's book, Forked.

It's only a matter of time until New Albanians are overheard saying, "Hey, did you know there's a bookstore at Taco Steve's?"

Ten years ago in downtown New Albany, there were three, maybe four, independent eateries, and another couple of bars serving simple meals. Today, the number is in the vicinity of 17 or 18 -- even I can't keep track, and more are in the planning stages. Perhaps a dozen among these have at least a few good beers on tap.

It's unlike anything this town has ever seen. One might delve into numerous topics of discussion pertaining to New Albany's food and drink boom, but there is one truly fundamental consideration. Who is doing the work and filling these jobs?

Following are two links about one book. First, from Destinations Booksellers.

“Forked” Examines Plight of Restaurant Workers

Downtown New Albany may have one of the highest concentrations of dining establishments anywhere and there’s no sign of the growth tapering off. Yet, if local news reports can be believed, it’s becoming harder and harder to find workers willing to take jobs in this corner of the hospitality industry.

Forked: A New Standard for American Dining critiques less-examined aspects of restaurant worker exploitation, considering such topics as food preparers who must work while sick because of benefit limits and sexual harassment endured by tip-dependent servers.

The workers and the entrepreneurs powering New Albany’s restaurant explosion may well want to add this book to their shelves.

To conclude, NPR's take.

'Forked' Rates Restaurants On How They Treat Their Workers, by Tracie McMillan (NPR)

Saru Jayaraman may be restaurant obsessed, but don't call her a foodie. She's the founding director of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, a national organization that advocates for better wages and working conditions for restaurant workers. She's also published several studies in legal and policy journals as director of the Food Labor Research Center at the University of California-Berkeley.

The combination of grassroots and ivory tower makes Jayaraman arguably one of the country's leading experts on what it's like to live as a restaurant worker in America.

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The PC: Beef Steak and Porter always made good belly mortar, but did America’s “top” steakhouses get the memo?

The PC: Beef Steak and Porter always made good belly mortar, but did America’s “top” steakhouses get the memo?

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

Once upon a time during a previous life, so long ago that Michael Jordan still played for Da Bulls, I had dinner at Louisville’s branch of Ruth’s Chris Steak House.

The restaurant was (and is) perched on the 16th floor of the Kaden Tower, with a spectacular view of the Watterson Expressway and adjoining suburbs, complete with a hazy filter of exhaust fumes as a soothing background for selfies, which of course didn’t even exist at the time.

It was a fine evening, and while I’ve long since forgotten what I ate and drank that night, there remains one serviceable memory of the occasion: Looking around the dining room and seeing lots of customers in the process of cheerfully dropping C-notes for an appetizer, entrée and dessert, then washing down these fruits of their expense accounts with $5 Miller Lites – often straight from the bottle.

In short, nauseating and revolting, although I’m prepared to concede something important, for the fact that I even noticed this scene probably says a lot more about me and the gnawing of my own resident demons than Ruth’s Chris Steak House or its habitués.

After all, I’m neither a frequent consumer of steaks nor a regular patron of those restaurants specializing in them. It alarms me that so far in 2016, I’ve eaten four hamburgers, which probably equals my total from all of last year.

For me, beef should be safe, legal … and rare.

Accordingly, earlier this month, for the first time in a year, we enjoyed an excellent night out with friends at Z’s Oyster Bar and Steakhouse in downtown Louisville.

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It should surprise no one to learn that such an evening constituted a major splurge, but even if we were wealthy, it isn’t something we’d do regularly.

If for no other reason, my gout medicine soon would be overwhelmed by the blood, shellfish and Port.

Z’s is pricey, and very good. A half-dozen tasty West Coast oysters at a place like Z’s cost more than the entrée at most of my usual haunts, and three hours later, after an entire bottle of Malbec, half of an unfortunate heifer and a glass or two of Graham’s Six Grapes for dessert, with various other nibbles scattered throughout, I was heavier around the waist and lighter in the wallet.

So, for comic relief, here is the Z’s beer list.

Amstel Light 5.95

Buckler 4.5

Bud Light 4.5

Budweiser 4.5

Coors Light 4.5

Corona Extra 5.95

Heineken 5.95

Hoegaarden 6.95

Goodwood American Pale Ale 6.95

Goodwood Bourbon Barrel Stout 8.75

Kentucky Ale 5.95

Kentucky Ale Bourbon Barrel 8.75

Michelob Ultra 5.95

Miller Lite 4.5

Sierra Nevada IPA 6.95 (presumably Torpedo)

Stella Artois 6.5

In truth, it’s a slightly better selection than I would have imagined. Nine golden lagers in varying shades of quantifiably insipid, but two barrel-aged beers and two hops-forward options. To be sure, congratulations are due them for featuring four local beers. All in all, the list could be worse.

It also could be far, far better.

(A disclaimer: In no way is any of this to be construed as a complaint about Z’s. Everything about my experiences there – food, service and atmosphere – have been uniformly excellent. My head-scratching extends beyond a single eatery, to the realm of universals.)

Why is it that the model of “steakhouse” in the context of Z’s, Ruth’s Chris and so many others invariably – inevitably, infuriatingly – shortchanges beer options, which nowadays are plentiful and stylistically varied, but also would immeasurably enhance the overall experience for those so inclined?

Perhaps it’s because there is no documentary evidence to suggest that the customer base of such a steakhouse desires beer choice. Moreover, the profit margin on wine and liquor surely dwarfs the return on beer, so only a few popular lagers are kept around for the die-hards, and that’s that.

I’ve long since learned to mournfully adapt. Precisely because my operating assumption is that steakhouses customarily downplay beer, I harbor absolutely no expectations once I’ve resolved to dine at one of them.

Instead, I generally drink wine, all the while imagining what certain styles of beers would taste like paired with interesting menu items.

Admittedly my sampling is small, and exceptions surely plentiful. Just last week, Brooklyn and The Butcher opened in New Albany, and while the “see cow, eat cow” cognoscenti can debate whether it should be compared with the preceding and other similar establishments, the short beer list at Brooklyn already is certifiably better than the one at Z’s.

Consequently, in the future when a splurge is merited, I know where I’ll be walking.

In the interim, I’m left to ponder examples of how it might be done better, and that’s easy. In my tortured, beer-forward universe, there already exists a model for how this might work.

It’s called Belgium – the country and its beers.

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Specifically, the Café de la Paix on the main square in Poperinge, which I cite here because only a year and a half ago, we ate there. The same is true of the dining room at the Hotel Palace, a scant 200 yards away, but we didn’t make it to the Palace in 2014. Needless to say, there is a corresponding example in every town of size in the country, at large.

Café de la Paix is a full service restaurant, offering an excellent wine list and a full bar in addition to a lengthy beer sheet. Is it the exact equal of Z’s or Ruth’s Chris? I doubt it, but to reiterate, the point is to illustrate how beer and steak go together.

Here is what I had for dinner.

Opener: Escargot with Rodenbach Grand Cru. The oyster-like texture of snails, slathered in garlic and butter, with a classically sour, wood-aged red ale to cut through the richness.

Main Course: Steak (medium rare) with Béarnaise sauce, green salad, frites and De Dolle Oerbier; the latter is malty, fruity and complex, and elegantly fills the slot red wine might otherwise occupy.

Closer: Rochfort 10, and a stolen bit of a fellow diner’s tart. Still one of the top Trappists on the planet, and a dark, rich dessert in a bottle.

Total cost: Somewhere around $50.

Fifty bucks, forty Euros; they’d buy plenty of groceries here or in Europe – and this is utterly irrelevant. It was a special occasion, and cause for celebration. Add my wife’s meal and drinks, recall that the gratuity is included, and know that this wonderful, beer-friendly meal was one-third the cost of our recent Z’s feast … and not only that, outside it was Belgium, not Louisville.

Priceless, wouldn’t you say?

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Last week: The PC: Swill in youthful times of penury and need.

When the Euro '85 series returns: Leningrad USSR. 

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Le Petit Chef: "The world's smallest chef turns your plate into a projected grill. Bon appétit!"

It has nothing to do with beer, but this is clever. Thanks to TH for linking me.

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Vic's Cafe is profiled in the Courier-Journal.

It's easy to forget Vic's Cafe is there at 1839 E. Market, between Spring Street and the river. These days, the vast majority of New Albany eateries and bars are located on or near major thoroughfares. Not Vic's, because it's a throwback.

It's a tavern located where the workers once congregated in large numbers during a more labor-intensive era, on a back street where neighborhood meets industrial zone. The pre-Prohibition brewery owned by Jacob Hornung operated no more than two hundred yards away.

Vic's Cafe is opposite a vacant lot where the box & basket factory once stood. One of the two Schwartzel brothers who founded the factory lived 40 years in the house we currently occupy, and we're within easy walking distance of the tavern.

Straight up: I haven't been inside Vic's since I was a minor looking to get served, but in recent years, the food keeps being mentioned by friends and acquaintances -- especially the burgers. Several times there has been talk among friends of stopping by Vic's for lunch, but it didn't happen.

Last fall during the campaign, I stopped into Donum Dei Brewery and struck up a conversation with Matthew, who told me he tended bar weekends at Vic's. I squirmed a bit, and then he mercifully set the hook: Thanks to his efforts, Vic's has $2.75 bottles of Bell's Oberon and Bell's Two Hearted Ale.

Welcome to the "no excuses" zone.

Soon, Matthew.

Very soon.

Vic's Cafe a decades-old New Albany staple, by Matt Stone (Courier-Journal)

 ... Harry Middleton, 83, has been coming to the same place nearly every day since he was 18. “You can’t put a new bark on an old tree,” he said as he tucked into a fried pork steak with a side of beans and cornbread. Another regular, Eddie Hancock, says he remembers coming to the same address as a 10-year-old boy when it was Burnett’s. “It’s had good food all those years,” he said. “And they do today.”

Lunch at Brownie's The Shed in New Albany.

Last week I had lunch at the New Albany location of Brownie's The Shed and met Jason Brown. It was a fine lunch, venue and chat.

The new location is at the former site of JR's and Fieldhaus, which is on Main Street to the west of State Street, perhaps better known as the route to Horseshoe Casino.

For those of a religious inclination, say a silent prayer for Jason, who's about to experience the surreal chaos of Harvest Homecoming for the first time.

Note: You may not be able to read the linked article. Paywalls -- such a First World problem.

Here’s the plan: First New Albany, then the world, by David A. Mann (Louisville Business First)

The owners of Brownie's The Shed have big plans for growth.

Local restaurants join to fight addiction by raising money for The Healing Place.

Wednesday, July 22 is the date:

Dine Out and Support THP!

Join us on July 22nd as dozens of Louisville restaurants join the fight against addiction and raise money for The Healing Place.

Thus far, the only Southern Indiana restaurant on this list is Bread and Breakfast (157 E. Main Street in New Albany). Thanks, Laura.

My friend David "Bistro New Albany" Clancy's life quite possibly was saved by this program, and when he contacted me earlier this year, I recommended NABC's participation in the event. Perhaps the memo got lost in the tall grass.

Sorry if it offends anyone, but bluntness is merited here: Substance abuse is an occupational hazard of the restaurant industry, period. If you've been part of this business, you know exactly what I mean. Please do what you can to support THP, either by dining out on the 22nd, donating directly, or just helping get the word out.

Restaurants tackle addiction among workers, by Jere Downs (Courier-Journal)

Rampant substance abuse in the restaurant industry has sparked the upcoming “86 Addiction” event, whereby dozens of local eateries will donate 10 percent of their proceeds Wednesday to help The Healing Place.

"I won’t miss the systemic food waste in the restaurant industry."

This doesn't really apply to brewing -- or does it?

There are homebrewers who'd surely agree that the only way to do it right (and creatively) is at home.

There's possibly a topic about sustainability and beer to be found herein, one that might possibly be tied to the reasons for California's drought-induced water shortage (hint: think agriculture).

However, in the main, what's being addressed by the soon-to-be former reviewer is burn-out, and a desire to strip away the extravagance and get back down to the heart of the matter. This is something I can relate to, quite vividly.

Restaurant Industry's Dirty Secret: Why I'm Mostly Going to Stop Eating Out, by Ari LeVaux (AlterNet)

In a few weeks I will write my final restaurant review for Weekly Alibi in Albuquerque and head home to Montana. I’ll miss restaurant criticism, but I will also feel some relief to leave it behind ...

 ... Because the bottom line is, if you’re going to be a high-maintenance food snob on a mediocre income, cooking at home is the only sustainable option. You can pay more for pastured meat; local, organic vegetables; eggs from pastured chickens; pesticide-free produce; and seafood harvested by non-slaves, and still pay less than you would even at a cheap restaurant, while sending positive ripples down the food chain.

I will miss the ethnic restaurants, the fancy restaurants and my favorite guilty pleasure, the sushi restaurants. But I won’t miss the systemic food waste in the restaurant industry.

I profile the Crescent Hill Craft House in the new issue of Food & Dining Magazine.

The current issue of Food & Dining Magazine (Louisville Edition) has hit the streets, and is available at hundreds of locations throughout metropolitan Louisville. It's the Summer 2015 issue (Vol. 48; May/June/July).

Food & Dining is a Louisville-based lifestyle publication focused on food & cooking, the enjoyment of wine & spirits, and the experience of dining out in one of the nation’s top restaurant cities.
We have all the sensibilities of a local magazine, but with the design and photography of a national magazine.

We pack the magazine and with gorgeous photography, engaging feature stories, entertaining articles, unique recipes and a restaurant guide that details over 1,000 restaurants.

Trends come and they go, and yet I've been writing a column about beer in Food & Dining almost since the magazine's inception. It's been a great opportunity, and I'm grateful. For the current edition, my "Hip Hops" column about the Crescent Hill Craft House was expanded with added text and photos.

You can read it here: A True Local Approach.

At the Crescent Hill Craft House, 40 taps pour locally brewed beers to the exclusion of all others, and as much kitchen fare as possible is sourced from regional farms and suppliers. For good measure, there is a list of 40-plus bourbons.

Co-owner Pat Hagan explains: “We’re going with all Kentucky beers, including Southern Indiana. That’s the way economies should be going, and are. Customers want to support the local area and they want local products, so offering them beer and food from the area makes sense.”

Below are additional links to the new issue of Food & Dining.

Entire issue

COMINGS & GOINGS

$10 CHALLENGE - El Taco Luchador

HUMOR

COPPER & KINGS

CHEF Q&A – Dustin Staggers

URBAN BOURBON TRAIL - Dish on Market

ANOOSH BISTRO

COOKING WITH RON – Tomatoes

RESTAURANT GUIDE

RESTAURANT MAPS

The PC: NABC joins forces with Taco Punk at Bank Street Brewhouse in downtown New Albany.

The PC: NABC joins forces with Taco Punk at Bank Street Brewhouse in downtown New Albany.

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

One morning in late September, having only just returned from an invigorating holiday in Germany and Belgium, I learned that the eatery known as Taco Punk would be closing its bricks ‘n’ mortar shop over in NuLu, the much-hyped, trend-setting neighborhood of Louisville.

The thought of it inspired me to compose an entry with a provocative title at my primary blog, NA Confidential.

Dear Taco Punk: Come on over to the West Bank. I have a kitchen, you know.

From it its inception in January, 2012 as a fast, casual and fun quasi-Mexican joint, Taco Punk displayed an uncanny ability to make diners happy while at the same time dividing local electronic media opinion. It never made sense to me how or why this disparity was the case.

Obviously, owner/operator Gabe Sowder, a Jeffersonville native and Wabash College graduate, was trying to do things the right way, with locally sourced food and living wages for his employees. On periodic visits, I found the tacos and ambience quite enjoyable, but those in disagreement were particularly and sometimes nastily persistent.

Taco Punk was somewhat famously savaged by Rae Hodge of the University of Louisville school newspaper for exemplifying all the real or imagined sins of NuLu’s ongoing gentrification, then came immediately under fire from the now deceased Eater Louisville web site when Gabe announced a Kickstarter project (it fell short) to complete the restaurant’s build-out.

Yes, the local independent Taco Punk was more expensive than Taco Bell, the latter an execrable chain outpost of Louisville’s own mediocre Yum! Brands empire, but really, have comparative reasoning skills been so thoroughly purged from the collective Indyucky mindset that no one could see the considerable differences between the two?

Was Taco Punk just a bad fit for the often pretentious aura of NuLu?

When Taco Punk’s forthcoming demise was revealed, it had been four months since NABC suspended food service at Bank Street Brewhouse. I immediately sensed a commonality of shared experience, even if the parameters of it were not entirely clear to me. After all, BSB’s “gastropub-cum-bistro” kitchen operated for five years; after a rocky start, consumer reaction was mostly favorable -- and balance sheets decidedly less so, eventually dooming the experiment. We were pioneers of sorts, and often there are more advantages to coming next in line, as opposed to being first.

And then there is my own uncanny ability to divide local opinion. As it pertains to me, folks have been choosing between “love him or hate him” for quite some time now – and I adore it.

Eventually Gabe and I began chatting, and the impromptu collaboration we devised on the fly began with two encouraging “pop-up” weekends in November. Now that the trial run has concluded, we’re ready to see if we can make this combination into something more of an expended engagement, so look for Taco Punk at Bank Street Brewhouse on Friday and Saturday evenings from now on (except Saturday, December 6, when a private party is booked), with the strong possibility that Thursdays will be added to the mix in January.

After that, we’ll see which way the wind is blowing. The idea is to remain loose and flexible.

For these recent weekend pop-ups, Gabe offered a slimmed-down Taco Punk menu ideally suited to the limited kitchen and storage space in our building, featuring salsas, guacamole and five different tacos with a selection of garnishes. They proved ideal as paired with NABC’s wide selection of house-brewed beers, of which we’ve been able to maintain 15 or more varieties on tap at BSB of late.

In short, Taco Punk at Bank Street Brewhouse will function not unlike a food truck parked inside. This is precisely what we’ve needed at BSB, and is of proven, popular quality. It accents the taproom concept in the absence of a mobile food truck culture in Floyd County. While I still believe that food trucks and non-traditional vending are coming to New Albany, right now Taco Punk is a far better fit for us both.

Note that during regular weekly Bank Street Brewhouse business hours (see below) when Taco Punk is not operational, customers still are encouraged to bring their own picnic baskets or carry-out food from downtown New Albany’s many fine eateries, some of which will deliver to BSB. We’re localists first and foremost, and continue to support our fellow independent businesses in downtown New Albany, which at present does not have a concept quite like this. Our nationally renowned Indiana Statutory Compliance Restaurant Menu also remains joyfully intact, to be wielded with pride during periodic inspections.

We regard the fit as complementary. Our business is beer, and Gabe's is food. The combination of Taco Punk and NABC is a good one, and it will evolve, so stay tuned for further details.

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NABC web site

NABC at Facebook

Bank Street Brewhouse at Facebook

Taco Punk at Facebook

Bank Street Brewhouse is the official downtown New Albany taproom of the New Albanian Brewing Company. Hours of operation are as follow:

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday
3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. (or later if merited)

Saturday & Sunday
Noon to 9:00 p.m. (or later)

We’re closed on Monday. On-premise pints and carry-out growlers/bombers are available every day, including Sunday.

Taco Punk food service hours on Friday & Saturday (Thursday beginning in January, 2015)
5:00 p.m. – close

Sun King borrows a page from NABC and mocks the Man.

I'm happy Sun King is selling pints. It's what I've wanted to drink when I'm there visiting.

I'm happy to be an expository trendsetter for statutory compliance menus, although we never chose to be viral with ours back in September.

I'm happy that there'll probably be a legislative initiative to dispense with this law, and I'll be even happier if it passes.

Sun King now serving pints ... and Hot Pockets?, by Amy Haneline (Indy Star)

 ... The brewery began selling pints and flights from its taproom at 135 N. College Ave. on Monday. The taproom was previously only used for tasting, growler fills and carry out. To meet the state requirements, Sun King developed a menu. Beth Belange, Sun King promotions, e-mailed me their standard "legally required food menu" that is available all day ...

 ... Sun King isn't the first to creatively meet the state's food requirement. New Albanian's Bank Street Brew House in New Albany launched a similar menu in September.

A photo a day while I was away: An evening at Cafe de la Paix.

These hop cones have nothing do to with my meal at the Cafe de la Paix, apart from our being in proximity to the cafe's kitchen during the hop fest in Poperinge.

That's because I had no camera with which to take photos, and would not have used one if it were present, because a religious experience should not be subject to crass selfies.

Opener: Succulent escargot with Rodenbach Grand Cru.

Main Course: Steak (medium rare) with Béarnaise sauce and frites, and De Dolle Oerbier.

Closer: Rochfort 10.

Boom.

Amen.

THE PC: Law-abiding by weenie was never this viral.

THE PC: Law-abiding by weenie was never this viral

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

This week's column is a reprint of last week's ON THE AVENUES at NA Confidential. Next week I'm taking a vacation day. 

Those of you who are reading locally, or are familiar with the recent history of the New Albanian Brewing Company, already know that in May we suspended the kitchen at Bank Street Brewhouse for purely financial reasons. We couldn't figure out a way to make money from a menu we all loved, and so we stopped to consider other possibilities.

It wasn't easy, but of course good things seldom are. We're trying to reboot BSB as a brewery taproom, freely borrowing ideas from other places near and far, and it will take time for the new concept to take shape. One of the central pillars of this evolving plan is to determine ways to encourage our customers to continue eating -- just not food we're preparing on site (with occasional exception, like the two pop-up dinners to date).

The possibilities are endless, and they reflect the multitude of options within minutes of our building:

Carry-in from nearby eateries
Takeout Taxi (see below)
Delivery from those who do so
Vendors cooking in the beer garden
Picnic baskets
Food trucks, at least as they begin arriving in New Albany

But here's the rub: Even with all of these options, it is impossible for us to continue serving alcoholic beverages by the glass without complying with an Indiana state law dating from the time before color television that defines bars as restaurants serving drinks.

From the moment the kitchen change at BSB was announced, I was well aware of this fact; after all, the law is 13 years older than me. I spoke with the regional Alcohol and Tobacco Commission and made sure we had the materials necessary to comply with the rule (note that this is not uncommon): Frozen weenies, buns, cans of soup, instant coffee, powdered milk and soft drinks enough to serve 25 persons.

To make a long and annoying story shorter, we failed our first test of this new "menu," and so I went back to the drawing board. In order to keep ourselves aware of the responsibility not just to store these foodstuffs, but to serve them, I decided to incorporate them in a real, tactile menu and to price them based on the surreal nature of the law itself, which does not stipulate mark-ups. Moreover, we needed to collate the carry-in and delivery information in one place. Perhaps one well aimed stone would do the trick.

Hence, the menu reprinted below. Much to my surprise, it landed on the front page of Reddit on Tuesday, generating more than 1,700 often amusing comments, and since then it has been picked up by a dozen other internet sites.

Uproxx

Knock me over with the proverbial feather.

There's an undeniable element of Chicken Little (nuggets?) to all this. For once, I've not sought the notoriety, and I have absolutely no beef (teriyaki, perhaps) with the ATC. They're the police, and the police enforce laws; end of story.

However, in perfect sincerity, I feel as though we're doing our level best to honor the obvious intent of the 1947 statute by offering ways for our customers to eat while they drink. Dragon King's Daughter keeps longer hours than BSB, and its kitchen is closer to the BSB front door than many service bars are to their patio seats.

Isn't the law somewhat archaic? It doesn't mention pizza, and both the sandwiches and the soup must be "hot," ruling out chicken salad on rye and gazpacho. Is a taco a sandwich? We now know that coffee plays no sobering role, and perhaps the Dairy Council inserted the milk provision as a sop to Indiana milk cows. Today's service industry realities are light years removed from a shots 'n' beer roadhouse in 1947, and the law does not take these realities into account.

The BSB kitchen remains licensed, and we continue to sift through ideas to restore a cost-effective food service to the limited space we have to utilize. The options are countless, and as they are considered, it is my hope that the following "compliance" menu suffices as proper statutory observance, as we've always prided ourselves on adhering to the rules defining our daily business.

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Yes, There Is Food at Bank Street Brewhouse, and Here Is the Menu.

Updated August 10, 2014

As of May, 2014, Bank Street Brewhouse is a brewery taproom dedicated to providing creative edible options to our patrons, ranging from carry-in to delivery every day, to periodic pop-up dinners, special catering and mobile “food truck” appearances as the latter become available. Menus for local eateries are kept at the bar. Please note: Outside alcoholic beverages cannot be brought into Bank Street Brewhouse.

Our Top Choices of Eateries … Close By for Carry Out or Delivery

WICK’S PIZZA

225 State Street

Pizza, Sandwiches, Pasta

Delivery:  812-945-9425

Wick’s takes 20% off deliveries to Bank Street Brewhouse

MANDARIN CAFÉ

 2602 Charlestown Road

Traditional Chinese

Delivery: 812-945-6789

DRAGON KING’S DAUGHTER

Japanese-Mexican Fusion

Bank Street

Carry-out: 812-725-8600

DKD is 75 yds from BSB

Pair the city's best food with the city's best beer. Multi-Restaurant Meal Delivery & Drop Off Catering Service Serving Southern Indiana

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TAKEOUT TAXI

Food from local restaurants, delivered

http://www.takeouttaxiindiana.com/

Call (502) 895-8808

Takeout Taxi brings restaurant meals directly to you at your office, home or More Variety and Choices than anyone while giving you more time to take care of family, friends or business.

Delivery is $5.99 plus 5% of the order.

ALADDIN'S CAFE

Mediterranean/Greek

111 W. MARKET STREET

BELLA ROMA

ITALIAN RESTAURANT

Italian

134 EAST MARKET STREET

HABANA BLUES

Cuban/Spanish

148 EAST MARKET STREET

LOUIS LE FRANCAIS

French

133 EAST MARKET STREET

MIMO'S

NEW YORK STYLE PIZZERIA

Italian, Pizza, Pasta, Subs

2708 PAOLI PIKE

MUSCLE MONKEY GRILL

Smoothies, Wraps & Coffee

147 EAST MARKET STREET

PRIMO’S DELICATESSEN

Sandwiches, Salads & Soups

155 EAST MAIN STREET

SHAWN'S SOUTHERN BBQ

Barbecue

822 STATE STREET

More local eateries - call them to order carry-out.

CAFÉ 27 (Modern American) … 149 E. Main … 812-948-9999

COMFY COW (Ice Cream Parlor) … 109 E. Market … 812-924-7197

EXCHANGE PUB + KITCHEN (Gastropub)  … 118 W. Main … 812-948-6501

FEAST BBQ (Barbecue) … 116 W. Main … 812-920-0454

JR’S PUB (Pub Grub/Fish Sandwiches) … 826 W. Main … 812-920-0030

RIVER CITY WINERY (Bistro/Pizza) … 321 Pearl Street … 812-945-9463

TUCKER’S (Sports Bar) … 2441 State Street … 812-944-9999

NABC’S Pizzeria & Public House is located 3.5 miles away from Bank Street Brewhouse at 3312 Plaza Drive, phone 812-944-2577

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Bank Street Brewhouse's Indiana Statutory Compliance Restaurant Menu.

Statutory Overview:

Permit premises where alcoholic beverages are consumed by the "drink" are required to have food service available, at all times, for at least 25 persons. Minimum food service required consists of hot soups, hot sandwiches, coffee, milk, and soft drinks (see attached rule). (IC 7.1-3-20-9 & 905 IAC 1-20-1) … see complete and unexpurgated statutory language on page 4 of this menu.

Our Famous Hotdog Sandwich

Microwaved to perfection, including both weenie and bun, sans condiments.

$10.00

Chef Campbell’s Soup of the Day

Served in a bowl. Your choice of whichever can is on top of the stack.

$10.00

Instant Coffee

Caffeinated only. Available black, or black.

$5.00

Powdered Milk

With or without water.

$5.00

Sprecher Craft Soft Drinks

Different flavors … market pricing

This menu is available all of the time.

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The Fine Print: Indiana State Law.

In order to possess an Indiana retail alcoholic beverage sales permit, Bank Street Brewhouse must comply with a 67-year-old state law that compels us to maintain a restaurant located on the premises. 

Rule 20. Food Requirements

905 IAC 1-20-1 Minimum menu requirements

Authority: IC 7.1-2-3-7; IC 7.1-3-24-1

Affected: IC 7.1-3-20-9

Sec. 1. Under the qualification requiring that a retail permittee to sell alcoholic beverages by the drink for consumption on the premises must be the proprietor of a restaurant located, and being operated, on the premises described in the application of the permittee; and under the definition of a "restaurant" as "any establishment provided with special space and accommodations where, in consideration of payment, food without lodging is habitually furnished to travelers,"–and "wherein at least twenty-five (25) persons may be served at one time;" the Commission will, hereafter, require that the retail permittee be prepared to serve a food menu to consist of not less than the following:

Hot soups.

Hot sandwiches.

Coffee and milk.

Soft drinks.

Hereafter, retail permittees will be equipped and prepared to serve the foregoing foods or more in a sanitary manner as required by law.

(Alcohol and Tobacco Commission; Reg 36; filed Jun 27, 1947, 3:00 pm: Rules and Regs. 1948, p. 58; readopted filed Oct 4, 2001, 3:15 p.m.: 25 IR 941; readopted filed Sep 18, 2007, 3:42 p.m.: 20071010-IR-905070191RFA; readopted filed Oct 29, 2013, 3:39 p.m.: 20131127-IR-905130360RFA)

Another forgivable loan, another new indie food & drink business in downtown Jeffersonville.

In New Albany, we indies use our own money so that municipal government can make mad, passionate love to the industrial park.

But make no mistake: I'm a big fan of Tom O'Shea, and I wish these guys the very best in Jeff. It means we don't have to cross any bridge -- even the Big Four pedway -- for fish and chips and a long, cool pint ... and there's nothing whatever wrong with that.

(7:30 a.m. update: Steve Coomes covers far more of the more interesting details here, including Tom's "fast casual" concept and a few thoughts on the adaptive evolution of Patrick O'Shea's into an events venue)

RAISE YOUR GLASS: O’Shea’s to open on Spring Street in downtown Jeffersonville; Louisville-based pub to open between November and March, by Matt Koesters (News and Tribune)

JEFFERSONVILLE — Downtown Jeffersonville’s trend of attracting new restaurants and drinking establishments continued Monday.

The Jeffersonville Redevelopment Commission voted unanimously Thursday to approve a $50,000 forgivable loan for a new O’Shea’s location in downtown Jeffersonville. Commission members Derek Spence and Jamie Lake were absent from the meeting.

The restaurant and bar will locate in a space between Schimpff’s Confectionery and Perkfection Cafe on Spring Street.

“It’s really exciting to have them come into our downtown,” said Redevelopment Director Rob Waiz. “It’s going to be a big boost for us. With all of the other restaurants and having O’Shea’s come in, things are really coming together. With the walking bridge, with the new restaurants, with the microbreweries, it’s just really making Jeffersonville thrive.”

The PC: Therapeutic ramblings as BSB Mach II trundles forward.

The PC: Therapeutic ramblings as BSB Mach II trundles forward.

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

On a rainy Monday afternoon in May, there was a mandatory front of the house (FOH) meeting for Bank Street Brewhouse’s employees. The Mother’s Day brunch had gone quite well, and capped the highest sales week of the year to date.

(For those readers interested in foreshadowing: "But all was not as it seemed")

At the FOH meeting, my business partners at New Albanian Brewing Company joined me in performing a solemn ritual, one we’d never before had to do. We threw in the towel, raised a white flag and punted. We shuttered the Bank Street Brewhouse kitchen, and began planning for altered existence as a brewery taproom only.

In keeping with the endearingly quirky history of our company, it was a hard transformation to explain. We were not closing a business, because we would remain open to the public, selling NABC house beers for immediate consumption and carryout. The brewery would continue to brew, and beer distribution to the outside world would be uninterrupted.

In fact, while any transition is a coin flip, the upside to being a taproom alone appeared boundless in terms of creativity. We already had customers, and all we had to do was sell a new concept to them.

For many, the closing of the BSB kitchen has proven a deal-breaker, and that’s understandable. To them, nothing seemed broken – so why fix it? However, our decision was all about the numbers. No matter the abacus, we just couldn’t make them come out right. It was clear for a very long time. We merely chose to ignore it, and to continue making tweaks when minor fixes couldn’t address larger issues.

It was frustrating and bittersweet, our perfectly rational act of analysis and reformatting. That’s probably because eating and drinking aren’t always numerical equations; they’re spiritual, sacramental acts, and any alterations to their cadence can be a decided jolt.

At the same time, the opportunity to renew the business by focusing on beer and placemaking continues to be positively invigorating. Moreover, my hope is that by plunging forward into a creative unknown, at least a few ghosts of decisions past will leave me alone.

---

If being in the restaurant business was easy, everyone would be doing it … and making money. NABC should know, right?

When Bank Street Brewhouse debuted in 2009, we’d operated a pizzeria in New Albany for more than 20 years, and we all thought we knew a thing or two about kitchens. How hard could it possibly be to have a brand new (well, for us) stand-alone culinary concept, one requiring completely different equipment, a well-trained, chef-driven staff, two dozen hitherto unknown suppliers, and a whole pot of rapidly diminishing money?

An overnight leap from conveyor pizza oven to French terminology couldn’t be that difficult, right? To the contrary. Looking back, it would seem that even when draft craft beer is consumed in copious quantities, it isn’t enough to cure one’s rampant naiveté.

Given the sheer complexity of the learning curve, it’s a wonder we lasted as long as we did. Having quality people helped. From start to finish, our employees were troupers. Letting them go was the hardest act I’ve been obliged to perform in 22 years as a business owner.

When we opened BSB’s doors in 2009, our talented young chef Josh Lehman hit the ground running with innovative small plates, multiple homemade sauces for hand-cut frites and a Croque Madame better than any I’ve ever consumed in Belgium.

Local eyes blinked – at the food, portions and prices. We referred to it as a “gastropub,” a term that worried me. For one, the prefix “gastro-“ was unknown in New Albany apart from customarily being attached to bouts of “intestinal flu.” Moreover, the word itself struck me as vaguely counter-egalitarian. Were we setting ourselves up for a fall?

We tried to use local farm-raised meats and produce whenever possible, and alongside our own beers, there were craft sodas, small-batch spirits from independent companies and Indiana-made wines. I suppose it really was a gastropub, albeit located in a city seemingly forever defined by steam tables and White Castle.

Off we went, opening in March of 2009, and what I’ll always remember about the first weeks comes in three broad groupings of consumer feedback (followed by my gentle, veiled whisper in reply):

Size matters: “C’mon, Rog -- these portions are way too small for the price! Ya, gotta feed people, you know?”

(but you see; local food and quality labor is a bit more expensive, in the kitchen as with the BREWERY we have here … )

Low-calorie soda rules: “Where’s my Diet Coke, and while you’re at it, how about a soda straw? What do you mean, no Diet Coke? We won’t be back, no sir.”

(but we’re trying to stay away from evil multi-nationals, and besides, we’re a BREWERY too … )

Wine whines: “I know you want to be local and all, except that local wine is so incredibly wretched, so can you just bring in something from Chile, California or France? You know, for the sake of the food!”

(if I believe that local wine can’t be any good, then how am I supposed to feel about local beer, seeing as though we’re a BREWERY and all … )

The gastropub concept evolved, then devolved. The menu became more fixed, and less experimental. Josh moved on, to be replaced by Matt Weirich, who managed to find a better overall balance. Somewhere along the way, we began using the phrase “bistro cuisine.”

A Sunday brunch was added to the build-your-own Bloody Mary Bar, and both became popular. As the kitchen stabilized, we developed a following. We even succeeded in convincing diners to drink local wine, and many of them approved.

When Bank Street Brewhouse was hitting on all cylinders, it was great, and when we weren’t, it still was fairly good. In fact, there was only one problem: The restaurant remained unprofitable.

Some times were better than others, but in five years, we never found a sweet spot when it came to the numbers, and the restaurant became a slow-bleeding, loss-leader of a vanity project. In some ways we were fortunate; there always was the pizzeria and brewing operations, and because of them, the noble experiment lasted longer than it would have otherwise, but early in 2014, it became obvious that the whole company was being starved of investment.

It had to change, and so it did. Not that it was easy …

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The jury’s still out, and BSB’s new phase is evolving.

One thing I didn’t clearly grasp until the kitchen stopped was the extent to which it had become a veritable 800-lb gorilla, albeit one existing on life support. In a business that had been imagined as balanced between FOH and brewery, with one supporting the other, we’d gotten to a point where even the smallest bright marketing idea (beer, events, opening hours, promotions) had to be vetted in the strict context of the food program’s needs, which became maddening.

Now, anything goes. An idea may be good or bad, but at least there is nothing to prevent it being tried. We can tout a burger wagon, another restaurant’s carry-out menu, delivery pizza and a pop-up dinner – all at the very same time, sans contradictions. We can host social gatherings, musical performances, flea markets, guerrilla theater, revolutionary cells … or just watch a game and drain pints.

It is liberating.

Gazing at those unrepentant numbers for almost eight weeks since the shift, I’ve noticed one very interesting trend. Of course, gone are the food sales, along with their high cost in both ingredients and labor. Still there, holding strong, are the house-brewed beer sales, which have accounted for only marginally less in the absence of food than they did when accompanying a gastropub’s meals. Beer alone may or may not be enough; only time will tell. But if the value of the food didn’t enhance the beer any more than that, what was its purpose in the first place?

I can live with these beer sales figures -- and live without being told that it simply cannot be expected of discerning diners to eat locally sourced cuisine of a certain quality without commensurate wine from somewhere else available alongside it. Perhaps we needed to be reminded that while food is good and liquor is quicker, we’re all about the beer.

Now we can proceed to sink or swim accordingly, and that sounds fair to me.

Thinking about the new world order at Bank Street Brewhouse.

We've suspended the food service at BSB and are in the process of rebooting a taproom

Necessity is the mother of something, and so the schedule at Bank Street Brewhouse may undergo alteration. For now, Wednesday and Thursday hours for beers (only) at BSB are 3:00 - 9:00 p.m., with weekend hours yet to be determined.

When we say the food's gone away, it's exactly what we mean. Of course, we'll adhere to the ATC rules for such, and the kitchen remains fully licensed by the health department, pending the latter's periodic policy coin tosses. No food means no brunch on Sunday, and no brunch means no Bloody Mary bar, at least for now.

We're aware of no laws prohibiting carry-in food from other downtown establishments, so bring a deli sandwich or a picnic basket, and have a beer. We've all been doing it for years at small farm wineries, and at beer venues like Capital Brewing in Madison, Wisconsin.

Thanks for all the wonderful comments so far. We achieved aesthetic success; if it just wasn't for those damned, pesky numbers. I understand and share the disappointment expressed by many as news of our change in direction at Bank Street Brewhouse gets around. But for us, it's an exciting opportunity to think outside the boundaries and re-format our beer brands with place and community.

The object in coming weeks will be to create a whole new BSB program from the ground up, organically, and inevitably with a degree of trial and error. It will be confusing, even to us, but it will evolve, and at some point, it will make sense. As it evolves, we'll do our best to keep people informed.

All of us want food to be a part of it, just not food like before, because what we were doing before, while good, was unsustainable. Now, the sky's the limit: Expanded carry-in, or themed catering, or eventually food trucks; maybe even snacks (only) again from our own kitchen, some day. Or meat and cheese trays.

I appreciate the many constructive comments. Keep 'em coming, and thanks. We're open, serving beers, and planning.