I encountered a few interesting sales pitches involving craft beer over the last week that have made me curious. On Sunday, Bruce and I went out for our usual brunch run in Adams Morgan and landed at the bar at Asylum. A bloody mary and two mimosas in, we asked to see a beer menu. Based on my request for a Rogue Dead Guy on draft, which they were out of, the bartender suggested a bottle of Kasteel Tripel (likely because these were two of the more highfalutin beers on the menu, not because they taste alike).

As I hemmed and hawed a bit, the bartender took the opportunity to employ a few...tactics. He said Kasteel Tripel was "like Budwesier times ten," "not so sweet like other Belgian beers," and "just like a lager." I giggled and said Kasteel was one of my favorite breweries and that I had never heard their tripel described that way before. The Belgian brew is an 11%-ABV medium-bodied beer with biscuit and fruit flavors, which is about as different from a Budweiser, math aside, as a bowl of chili is from a single lima bean.

Then a similar thing happened on Tuesday at happy hour at BarCode downtown. (First, the happy hour is a darn good one: Half price on their decent but modest selection of draft and bottle beers from 4 to 7pm Monday through Friday. $4 for a bottle of Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA? Unheard of!) My friend asked our server what Goose Island Sofie was like. His response, which I should divulge was preceded with "I'm not much of a beer drinker," was that it was just like Yuengling and that she would like it. Again, the tart, citrusy, sparkling wine-like Sofie is worlds away from Yuengling (Bleh).

Comparing complex Belgian-style beers to, let's just say, "mild-flavored" lagers like Yuengling and Budweiser offended the craft beer champion in me at first. But I quickly realized that while Bruce and I are less likely to order a new beer that is compared to Yuengling, most bartenders almost always have the opposite problem. They have to work pretty hard to get new drinkers to try the array of more flavorful beers that are poured along side the big American macro-brews these days.

Whether these bartenders were trying to help expand palates or pad their wallets, this kind of sales pitch is now an established pattern. Have you had a similar encounter? What modes of persuasion have bartenders tried on you?

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Good first blog topic: definition of "bar food".... :-/

I ignored her.

To be honest, I chose bar food as my niche because it was so versatile. In my head, I argued that anything could be construed as bar food, so as long as I ate it on a bar stool and it could be ordered with a beer. This weekend, while looking at all the pictures I've taken, I began to see a trend. I also became worried about my health.

Almost four months in, I still don't have a formal definition for bar food, and I'm starting to wonder what the hell I can eat while sitting at a bar when I'm not in the mood for a night of indigestion.

Many readers recommended Deli City for a Reuben sandwich, but I prefer mine with with a side of beer. So far, my favorite is at Tunnicliff's Tavern on Capitol Hill.

Craving seafood, I went to Surfside in Glover Park for some fish tacos.

I ate one of the best pizzas I've had in some time at Seventh Hill on Capitol Hill. Eggs are wonderful on pizza. They also have cholesterol.

Remember Duffy's wings? It seems so long ago. I've fallen in love with a few others since then, but there's something about Duffy's sauce that makes me come back to the Vermont Avenue joint often.

Hard Times let me sneak behind the line to get up close and personal with the wings they finish on the grill.

I had a crush and her name was pho dog. And then I went home alone.

Trusty's is one of the best bars in D.C. Their cheese steak looks like a train wreck. I pounded it.

Sometimes, I work in Prince George's County and my only lunch option ends up being Ruby Tuesday in Largo. This is their Triple Prime burger. The menu say it's been called the world's best burger. I cried a little while eating it. They were not tears of joy.

Have you checked out ChiDogO's yet? I went for lunch. The food is not pretty. It is, however, pretty good.

Proving my mental disorder, I went to DC-3 for dinner that same night. Their dogs are pretty. They taste great too.

Wings don't have to be buffaloed. This braised number made me grin.

I followed those wings with pizza, and washed the pie down with cold PBRs. Maybe five of them.

Breadsoda makes grilled cheese with bacon on it. It looks good. It's kinda not.

This is deep-fried mashed potatoes with salami. You can order it at Pizzeria Orso. It's fucking good. (Hi Tim!)

Orso also makes a great pie. Yeah, that's another egg.

Ba Bay bánh mì, Ba Bay bánh mì, Ba Bay bánh mì, Ba Bay bánh mì, Ba Bay bánh mì, Ba Bay bánh mì, Ba Bay bánh mì, Ba Bay bánh mì, Ba Bay bánh mì.

DC-3 has some decent mini dogs as well. And that sandwich? Salty beefy good.

You know the drill. It's grilled cheese and tomato soup. They're such a pair those two. I should write them a poem.

Can one have too much grilled cheese? Maybe too much cheese in a grilled cheese like this one at Room 11. But the salad makes this plate healthy.

I think I've had at least 144 of these since starting this project and many more before that.

So I think I need a salad. And a nap. :-/

The Cuisine: Sudanese, Middle-Eastern, Pizza

The Go-To Dish: Beef or chicken shawarma...after dark

The Scoop: As the clock slowly ticked on toward midnight on a recent cold weekday evening in Adams Morgan, my stomach began to alert me that it was time for a snack. I was with friends and we made our way out onto the corner of Florida Avenue and U Street NW, the remedy to my hunger became clear and a few steps away: late night shawarma at El Khartoum.

It had been a few years since I had been there and for a second I thought the unthinkable had happened—El Khartoum, the Sudanese-owned late-night greasy spoon, no longer existed. The restaurant's awning had been changed and instead donned the name "Pizzeria Trattoria." I walked inside to find the same decor and menu as I had remembered at El Khartoum and asked the guy behind the counter if I was in the right place. He informed me it was still called El Khartoum and the menu was the same. But he said it was also called Pizzeria Trattoria, because they now deliver pizza. Confused as all hell, but relieved, I ordered a chicken shawarma off the hot meat skewer behind the counter.

After my first bite, nostalgia from my previous visit came laced with tahini and added a comfortable warmth to the end of what was a terrific night. But the pita was too soft and crumbled while I ate it and the meat could have used additional spices. But for midnight snack on a weekday for only $6.50, it hit the spot.

The Verdict: It's ironic that I had Scott Reitz's recent Young & Hungry post on Budweiser still fresh in my head when I ventured out to El Khartoum. Just like Reitz's admission that while craft beers are great, sometimes a good 'ole fashioned Bud does just the trick. Well, that's how I feel about El Khartoum. As a late-night snack option, El Khartoum aka Pizzeria Trattoria aka whatever the hell they decide to call themselves next, is just right.

Photos by Andrew George

Stetsons isn't the only bar that that has discontinued Budweiser beer. One of my favorite Mexican joints, Los Tios in Del Ray, has removed the ubiquitous lager from its menu recently as well. In fact many bars I've frequented don't carry Bud.  Kev29 who commented on my recent post thinks that DC just isn't a Bud heavy kind of town...

...And sorry, but this just isn't a Bud heavy town anymore. But with all the incredible beers you can get on tap nowadays, who cares?

I think there's more to it than that. Sales of Anheuser-Busch InBev's flagship brand have been trending down nationally for some time, as lighter products from Coors and Miller gain market share spurred by recipes that were inherently lower in carbohydrates.  Budweiser has answered with Bud Select and Select 55 but it is too late; And as Kev29 asked, who cares?

Well I do. I love an ice-cold bottle of Bud.

While drinking one of the cities coldest at Cashion's Eat Place (they claim to keep one cooler set to 31 degrees) I talked with the bartender, George Manolatos, about our shared love and how we ended up hooked on what many view as piss.

George told a tale of sneaking into an icebox in his father's garage after mowing the lawn on weekends. Apparently his old man stocked can after can.  The jig was up when his father noticed excessively eager lawn mowing habits.  He must have been cutting grass twice a week in winter.

My first Bud came in the form of a six pack given to me by a snack shack employee with questionable morals. It was August and I waited until the 14th hole to open up my first can. After a few hours of sloshing around in the bottom of a golf bag in 90-degree heat, a warm geyser of froth gushed forth.

Needless to say, that day I had trouble understanding why people even liked beer, let alone drank it till it came out of their ears. I kept at it though and I've been drinking Bud ever since. Our stories made me curious for others' tales of first encounters with alcohol, whether stolen away from a parent's liquor cabinet, or guzzled at a high school keg party.

So when did you first imbibe?  And did the experience foster a life long brand loyalty, or does it still leave a bad taste in your mouth?

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When my participation was first announced at the Young and Hungry Blog one commenter requested clarification saying…

Good first blog topic: definition of “bar food”…. :-/

I’m a few weeks into my effort and still not sure I could offer a definition to  satisfy the folks at Merriam-Webster.  For now I suppose I’ll just have to say I know it when I see it – and I’ve seen a lot of it served at the Vienna Inn.

While many of the original structures on Maple Street in Vienna Virginia have succumbed to Whole Foods, Safeway and Jiffy Lube, the Vienna Inn has made itself a landmark.  The single family home turned dive bar was built in 1925, according to owner Marty Volk. After a stint as Freddy’s Place, it took the  moniker currently celebrating its 50^th anniversary.

Whether drinking Bud bottles, Guinness cans, a Miller Light draft or a self-serve fountain soda, most customers return again and again for the cheap food that’s as familiar as the faces on the other side of the bar.  The rest may come for the waitresses.  By design or not, the staff averages 18-24 in age and consistently lacks a Y-chromosome.

With 5 years tenure, Jamie is one of the most senior at 25. Long blond hair is perched in a mess of a ponytail above the nape of her neck. Pink fingered from handling steamy Wonder Bread buns, she works the station that turns out hot dogs that have become the most popular item on the menu.  Jamie claims the Vienna Inn sells up to 13,000 dogs a month.  The number may seem high, but watching her navigate an endless procession of white tickets  I’m inclined to believe her. (The hot dogs, incidentally, turn out to be turkey dogs.)

Eating my second chili dog with everything, I began to understand why the bar stools have worn holes in the vinyl floor.  The food here isn’t great and the place is dingy, but everything reeks of familiarity.  Patrons don’t come here for the areas best Reuben (though you can get a decent one). They come here to fuel up and spend time with the staff and friends.  They come to watch their favorite team or just to blow off steam.  And they come to eat hot dogs.

During a recent visit I was outside with a cigarette when two young girls pulled up in a BMW and walked in.  Seconds later they ran back out with furrowed brows, shouting to friends who just pulled into the lot.   “We’re not eating there," they said. "Have fun.”

They didn't know what they missed. And, honestly, I didn't mind.  Headed back inside I watched orders for wings, sandwiches and a few hundred hot dogs define bar food as much as a way of life.

What's missing from this picture? Beer, of course. According to a report in the New York Daily News, Burger King plans to open "Whopper Bars" in several cities, thereby allowing customers to get some suds with their burgers and fries. The first one will be in Miami Beach, with others to follow in New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. But don't get your hopes up: the burgers may be tasty (thanks largely to flavor scientists in white lab jackets), but the beers will not be as flavorful. Whopper Bars will carry only watered-down American pilsners like Bud and Miller. They'll set you back $4.25 for the beer alone, or $7.99 if you get the meal deal including a burger and fries. No plans for special toys with your over-21 meal deal, but the beer will come in a custom-designed aluminum bottle.

Photo by Siqbal used under a Creative Commons license

It's Wegmans' world. We just live in it.

Judging by the number of clicks and Twitter comments we received this week (sample: "I love Wegmans!"), Wegmans rules not just this week on the Y&H blog but also in the hearts and minds of Y&H readers. Check it out:

1. The Restaurants Coming Soon to a Neighborhood Near You
2. From Parmigiano Reggiano to Utz Cheese Balls, Wegmans Has It All (*)
   
3. Is Hopslam Worth the Hype?
4. The Taco Bell Drive-Thru Diet: You Don't Even Have to Lift Your Ass From the Car to Lose Weight!
5. Is the Wegmans' Deli Channeling Monty Python?

* A certain light-drinking Budweiser beer was, once again, a popular item, but we’ve stopped counting it.

According to US government estimates, global corporations lose something in excess of $60 billion annually to Chinese counterfeiters. DVDS, books, handbags, jewelry, shoes, . . . Name your material desire, and some firm in China will likely be standing by to supply a fake rip-off of it. Beer is no exception.

China Daily reports that police recently arrested four men in the village of Wuliqiao in what has become a familiar scheme: refilling empty bottles of imported beer like Budweiser, Corona, or Carlsberg with cheap domestic brews and reselling it to local bars as high-priced imports. Chinese beers, for example, sell for less then 50 cents per bottle, whereas imports can fetch up to three dollars. The incentives for corruption are clear.

But simply refilling discarded bottles with cheap beer isn't enough. There's a fine art to the deception, as described in this account of a counterfeit operation shut down by Chinese authorities in March 2008:

A former worker at the facility who was asked by the government to demonstrate how to turn a 610 milliliter Kingstar Beer into two 300 milliliter Budweisers (see image above) said that experienced workers could make two fake beers in around five seconds – making as many as more than 1,000 fake Budweisers or Carlsbergs in one evening.

The repackaging of the Kingstar beer as smaller, more expensive imported beers is then followed by an arguably more crucial step in the counterfeiting process. Once sealed, the beers were placed in large woks connected to gas burners. Each wok used a thermometer to monitor temperature, with 80 degrees Celsius the ideal temperature to maintain.

'Cooking' the beer has two reasons behind it. Firstly, Kingstar beer tends to have more flavor than Budweiser or Carlsberg – raising its temperature rendered the beer's flavor less strong. Secondly, cooking the beers ensured that upon opening, the beers would bubble up and produce a foamy head.

Yes, you read that right: Kingstar "tends to have more flavor" than cheap imported pilsners, and still, black marketeers are watering it down to taste like Budweiser.  Chalk up another branding victory for Anheuser-Busch.

For pictures from the 2008 sting operation, click here.

Photo by CharlieBrown8989 used under a Creative Commons license.

It may not be the big deal here that it is in the rest of the world (though you'd never know it from our strangely unrepresentative sample of soccer-crazed friends), but come June the World Cup promises to be one of the most significant shared global events of the year, dominating news cycles around the world and earning corporate sponsors many millions of dollars or euros or lira or pesos or whatever. This year's winners will include an East German brewery called Hasseröder, which has been selected as the official beer of Germany's World Cup team.

Now, picking a German beer to represent the German team may seem like common sense, but common sense doesn't always win out in a world of huge international conglomerates like Anheuser-Busch InBev, the Belgian-based behemoth that accounts for about 25 percent of the global beer market (or Heineken now that the Dutch company has launched an imperialist campaign in the Americas). In 2006, for example, Anheuser-Busch experienced something of a public relations guffaw when Germans rebelled at Budweiser being selected as the World Cup's official beer. This time around the company intends not to make the same mistake.

Though Budweiser remains the official beer of the tournament, InBev's selection of the Hasseröder is meant to calm the ire of German fans who instinctually gag at the idea of drinking a beer brewed from rice. It's an ironic twist, perhaps, that globalization of the beer business (Anheuser Busch and InBev merged in 2008) could lead to a more acute awareness of these sensitivities.

"We are maximizing our sponsorship in order to connect with beer drinkers. In certain markets where our global flagship brand is unavailable, or one of our local brands already has an existing football association on par with the passion of World Cup, we believe the added flexibility, such in the case of Hasseröder, allows us to further bring a truly amazing global event even closer to home," the company's global director of sports & entertainment told Germany's Der Spiegel magazine. In other words, they got burned last time and learned from the mistake.