I hope that you all had a fantastic Holiday! Here at the Brewery, the Chefs and I have been cooking up a storm and coming up with the new weekly specials. We’d like to think that we have created a wide variety of dishes to tantalize your palate.

Monday we will be continuing our ‘Meatless Monday’ tradition with a Warm Lentil Salad tossed with winter squash, arugula, grated tofu, shitake mushrooms, balsamic and olive oil. The grated tofu in the dish adds another texture (and extra protein) element to the dish. Joanne, one of our owners, opened our eyes to this technique of grating tofu. I enjoyed it very much and think it adds another layer to this dish! It’s an incredibly flavorful salad and we are extremely happy with the way it came out.

Tuesday we will be serving something incredible close to my soul, The Croque-Monsieur. When I was in Paris on my honeymoon, I made sure to have one of these at least once a day. It is the best grilled cheese sandwich you will ever have. It has house cured and smoked ham with gruyere cheese on Brioche bread made from our friends down at La Maison Navarre French Pastries on Islington. If you haven’t had a chance to get down there please do. It’s some of the best French style pastries I’ve had since I was in Paris! The sandwich is then topped with a luscious Mornay sauce and served with truffled-parmesan fries! We do have a meatless option for the sandwich where you can substitute tomato for the ham. To make the sandwich even better, you can top it with a fried egg and make it a Croque-Madame!

When brainstorming the special for Wednesday, we stuck with the French theme and decided to do a French Dip our way. We are putting our house ‘Hoppy Cheese Spread’ on a sandwich with the roast beef and caramelized onions. Of course we will be serving the sandwich with a side of Au Jus. The meatless option for this sandwich is roasted and sliced portabella mushrooms with a goat cheese spread. Both sandwiches are flavorful and delicious.

Dez is the creative mind behind the Chicken Vindaloo. I am not a huge fan of Indian food, but Dez is, so we relied on him for this dish. He has some background in cooking food from the Eastern part of the world. During the tasting, this was the most popular dish that the group tasted. It was extremely flavorful with just the right amount of heat. Of course we are making our own Naan, which adds that final touch to the dish. I’m convinced this is going to be a fan favorite.

“Les Trois Petits Cochons” translates into The Three Little Pigs! The story behind this dish begins when I saw it on someone else’s menu when I was off for a few days. I was completely intrigued by the dish and excited to order it. When it was put in front of me, it was a complete let down. It was nothing what I expected and I was disappointed. As I ate my dinner that night though, I couldn’t help thinking to about how I could make this dish better…and here it is! The three little pigs in the dish consist of braised pork shanks with Smuttynose Old Brown Dog, house cured bacon and finally a house cured pancetta chip. The shank meat is mixed together with a mushroom ragout and house bacon, all tossed with house papperdelle pasta in a garlic cream sauce. To top off the dish, we stick the pancetta chip right in the top. It’s a very rich and hearty dish and it lacks nothing in the flavor department. I’m extremely proud of the way this dish came out.

Saturday’s new special is something that the Chef’s and I came up with a while ago and ran as a catch of the day. It sold so well and got such great feedback that we decided to put it back on the menu. Using Atlantic salmon, we grind it up with ginger, lemon grass, sesame oil and sesame seeds, and then grill the salmon burger. It will be served it on a toasted ciabatta roll with baby spinach, sliced cucumber, sweet chili sauce and topped with a tamari and rice wine vinegar slaw. This is going to be a great sandwich to pair with a wide variety of our beers. There are just so many flavor profiles here to compliment; there is sweet, spicy, umami and salty all on the same sandwich.

Lastly, there is Sunday’s comfort food. Steve is very fond of the South, being a Georgia boy, and this dish hits close to his heart! There is nothing better than a plate of Biscuits and Gravy after a Saturday night of drinking. Of course we will be using homemade buttermilk biscuits with two poached eggs and topped with an amazing sausage gravy. We will be serving this with a side of home fries and creamy grits. I’m pretty sure this will cure any hangover, especially if you get it with a Bloody Mary (which we have). We will be offering a meatless option for our vegetarian friends; mushroom gravy will replace the sausage gravy on the dish in order to make it meatless.

In closing, the Chefs and I are extremely happy with this round of Weekly Specials. We feel like we have something for everyone. We really hope that you will make it in this winter to visit us and try some of our tasty creations. There is nothing we love more than cooking for you! Hope to see you at 56 Market!

-Chef Jon