Trouble With Toast

What to order at the Porter

First, sorry for the lapse in posting.  Triathlons, work, dog training, wedding planning, blah blah blah.

Second, I am oh so pleased with myself for coming up with a quasi-rhyming post title.  I may or may not have giggled out loud as I typed it.

Moving on…

Jason had been bugging me to try the Porter Beer Bar (in Little Five Points) for quite some time, but I kept looking at the food menu and having a “meh” kind of reaction.  Their beer selection is HUGE, though, and last Friday evening was one of those times when beer needs definitely trumped everything else.  We got there around 7:30 PM, and I anticipated a long wait, but the only part of the place that was packed was the patio.  We grabbed two seats at the large bar and were helped immediately by the bartenders (who were knowledgeable but not particularly friendly).  My first beer was a He’Brew Bittersweet Lenny’s R.I.P.A., a fantastically hoppy beer that was brewed in honor of the late Lenny Bruce.  Jason opted for a Moylan’s Hopsickle, which both of us found a little too sweet, particularly on the nose.

We were starving, so we ordered an appetizer right away–one of the specials, goat cheese fritters, with cracked black pepper and clover honey.  This really was a delicious dish, with a crisp, non-greasy coating over the soft cheese filling.  There was a wonderful flavor duel between the spice of the pepper and the sweetness of the honey.  They smelled and looked so good that our neighbors at the bar offered their assistance in cleaning the plate.  A clearly unnecessary gesture.

For our meals, I ordered the homemade black bean and quinoa burger, and Jason opted for the Reuben.  Both came with HUGE piles of herbed fries, which smelled more flavorful than they actually were.  They were fried beautifully, however, and they had a great non-greasy crunch.  My black bean burger had good flavor, but the texture was very soggy and the patty, bun, and toppings all sort of mushed together unappealingly.  The pickled red onions that came on the burger tasted great–but the sandwich needed crunch, so I feel like raw red onions would have been a better choice.  I could only finish half the burger and maybe a third of the fries before I was stuffed; I blame that partially on the obscenely large portions and partially on the Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA that I was guzzling while trying to eat.

All in all, I think we’ll go back to the Porter–after all, their beer selection is the best in the neighborhood.  If we’re hungry next time, I think we’ll just stick with appetizers and smaller noshes.