Sheltered Girl Meets World

Eaten: Uyghur Cuisine @ Café Kashkar (New York City, NY)

The colourful Langsai Salad with heavily cumin spiced Samsa in the background.

I've said before that I like to travel by the seat of my pants, tossing the guide book in the back seat and visiting whichever roadside attraction has the brightest lights but I've changed.  Since the mishaps of last years American Road Trip I've learned that a flexible itinerary with details like addresses, hours of operation and alternatives can be useful and can avoid the dreadful vacation argument.  I still find making an itinerary painful but it's not the planning that gives me anxiety it's seeing the attractions, hotels and restaurants written down that reminds me of the expense of the vacation and how ill prepared my wallet is.

Drank: Growlers and Growlers and Growlers of Beer

Beer and Bar-B-Que, natural pairing!

Growlers date back to the early 1900s when fresh beer was carried home from the local pub using a galvanized pail.  The term 'growler' was coined because of the rumbling noise of the escaping carbon dioxide through the lid.  Pails were switched with waxed cardboard containers in the 50s when it was illegal for liquor stores to be open on Sunday, so bars would sell growlers of beer to drink at home.  The modern day glass growler was born in 1989 as a way for the Otto Brothers Brewery to offer beer to go for their local customers without setting up a bottling line.  Now growlers are not only sold at breweries but in gas stations, supermarkets, restaurants and specialty stores.

I was introduced to growlers six years ago on my first visit to Beau's All Natural Brewing Co.  I bought a few filled with their seasonal offerings and loved it so much I made the trek back to Vankleek Hill to exchange my empties for more seasonal delights.  Thanks to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario growlers are regulated and only offered at breweries and brewpubs.  On a recent trip to New York City I explored some of the other places growlers are filled and marvelled at the amount of craft beer available.

Line up of growlers at The Filling Station.

 My first stop was in the Chelsea Market.  Hidden around stalls filled with fresh cheese and vegan juice bars was The Filling Station.  Though mostly specializing in oils, vinegars and salts they have an impressive craft beer menu filled with interesting brews local to New York.  Choose the traditional 1.89l growler or go smaller and enjoy your brew in a refillable 473ml mason jar.  I paid the $2 mason jar deposit, filled it with Captain Lawrence Freshchester Pale Ale and enjoyed the aromatic brew while watching Storage Wars in the hotel room.

The Growler Station is cool because the filling stations have lights.

My next stop was to 8th Street where employees of The Growler Station were busy filling growlers from their impressive 30 + tap list.  A typical growler stays fresh for a few days depending on the seal, The Growler Station has developed a system that purges oxygen from the bottle and replaces it with carbon dioxide before filling creating a fresher, longer lasting beer.  They even fill 2 litre plastic bottles using this method (no need for deposit or cleaning!).  I filled two 950ml jugs with Genesis Ale and Messiah Bold from Schmaltz Brewing Company.  They are resting in my fridge; I'm conducting an experiment to see how fresh it actually is (update: fresh but beer not so tasty).

I'll skip the ass kickin' paddle..

Any road trip through New York isn't complete without a stop to Dinosaur Bar-B-Que.  Mostly known for their amazing ribs and brisket they also have an incredible craft beer menu that includes over 20 beers on tap and many more in bottle.  If you're picking up take away (a popular option when the wait is 2 hours long) grabbing a growler of your favourite craft beer to take with you is a great way not to miss out.  After a plate of wings and a Tres Hombres sampler I filled a jug with 8.2% ABV hoppy sweet Southern Tier 2XIPA to take back to Ottawa.

I will continue to buy and guzzle enjoy local brews by the growler full but when I want to try something different I'll clean out a growler and visit New York for a refill of something unique.

Do you buy growlers?  Would you buy more growlers if The Beer Store or LCBO offered growler fill stations?

Wordless Wednesday: The Flatiron Building (New York City, NY)

Eaten: Freshly Steamed Lobster @ The Lobster Place (New York City, NY)

Order a live lobster or buy one that's been cooked earlier in the day.

My first time eating whole lobster was on a family trip to Nova Scotia.  We stopped at a family run restaurant overlooking the water and I ordered a whole lobster.  I was outfitted with a white bib, given tools and I did my best, with the occasional tip from our server, to get as much meat from the shell as I could.  I didn't expect to find lobster that fresh anywhere but in the Maritimes so it came as a surprise when we saw people hard at work deshelling lobster meat, dipping the white meat into a plastic cup of clarified butter on the concourse of the Chelsea Market in New York City.  We stopped window shopping and went on a search for the source and it didn't take us long to find it, the store is named after lobsters after all - The Lobster Place.

Yeah, he looks like a good size for two people to share.

The Lobster Place has been serving New York fresh Maine coast Lobsters since 1974 when they started making runs to Portland from its original location in the Upper West side.  Their approach was simple, deliver a high quality, hard-to-find product and do it with integrity.  Over the years they've moved from their original location to Chelsea and increased their product line to include not only lobsters but everything under the sea and quite the menu of prepared seafood.

In addition to steamed lobsters there are many different types of sandwiches, salads, sushi and a collection of chowders available for take away.  We walked past cases of whole fish, fillets, shell fish, oysters and the prepared food section to get to the back of the store where customers had cued to buy live or precooked lobsters.  We chose to steam a live lobster instead of buying one that had been precooked earlier in the day.  The cost is the same (market price) but there is a 20 minute wait for the lobster to be cooked which is easily spent browsing one of the many specialty shops at the market.

 

Don't look at me like that, you know you're tasty.

When we returned to the back of the shop our lobster was ready, sitting on a cardboard plate with a lemon wedge and small container of clarified butter.  We spent the next 15 minutes in silence, prying and coaxing meat out with the occasional 'ow' when a hand got too close to the spiky shell.  It was simple steamed lobster meat but it was deliciously luxurious and sweet without needing to open the container of butter.  Eating on a cardboard plate on a dirty table on the concourse of the market may not have been as beautiful as a small restaurant on the coast but the flavour and smell of the lobster made you believe you were there, for 15 minutes anyway.