From: devine@olympus.CS.Berkeley.EDU (bob devine)
Newsgroups: ba.food
Subject: Re: Livermore eats?
Date: 5 Nov 92 22:53:04 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
NNTP-Posting-Host: olympus.cs.berkeley.edu
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL3

From today's rec.crafts.brewing newsgroup is the description
of a very interesting sounding restaurant in Livermore.
Even if you are not a big beer fan, the food sounds yummy.

Bob Devine

-----------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 4 Nov 92 12:38:44 PST
From: grumpy!cr@uunet.UU.NET (C.R. Saikley)
Subject: Belgian Delights in Livermore

                        Belgian Delights in Livermore

Last night I was fortunate enough to participate in a dinner so inspiring,
that I feel compelled to share a description. The event took place at Mrs.
Coffee's Belgian Bistro in Livermore CA, and was prepared by Christian
VanHoutryve, the proprietor. The best description probably begins with
the menu.

                Petite Casserole of Steamed Mussels
                with Boquet of Spices & Lemons
                Blind Tasting of Interbrew Hoegaarden & Celis Wit
                                ------
                St. Arnolds Flemish Leak Soup
                Four Year Old Celis Hoegaarden
                                ------
                Lambic of Pheasant a la Framboise
                Fresh Raspberry Sauce Lindemanns
                Scallops of Pommes Frites
                Vlezenbeek Farm Vegetables
                Lindemanns Gueuze
                                ------
                Petite Roulade of Pineapple Crisp
                Chantilly De Chimay
                La Chouffe Belgian Spiced Ale
                                ------
                Cordials au Chocolat with Belgian Grapes
                Digestive de Rodenbach a la Grenadine
                                ------
                Tasting of Bourgogne de Flanders

Christian has worked for many years perfecting his food and beer
combinations. Last night he was in top form. The complex interplay
of the different flavors was a true gastonomical delight, and I wouldn't
hesitate to recommend this place to anyone. Ahhh, "But what of the beers?"
you ask.

The blind tasting was very enlightening. It was my first taste of Celis
Wit, and I was quite impressed, although one would expect nothing less of
the man who single-handedly revived this style. The Interbrew Hoegaarden
was softer and breadier, whereas Celis' beer was crisper and more refreshing.
Both were very aromatic from the coriander and orange peel. We all preferred
the Celis and are anxiously awaiting its appearance in CA, which should
happen in the next week or two.

The next brew was the four year old Hoegaarden, brewed when Celis was still
at the helm of the DeKluis brewery, before the takeover by Interbrew.
Needless to say, a four year old wit is well past its prime, but it held up
surprisingly well. The aromatics were largely diminished, but the beer was
still tasty and refreshing. On a recent visit to SF, Pierre Celis sampled
some of this brew from the same cellar. He too was surprised by its
relatively fresh condition.

We moved on to the Lindemann's gueuze. This is, in my opinion, not truly
representative of the style. I prefer the harder lambiks with more acidity
and Brettanomyces character. In contrast, Lindemann's is overly sweet. It
did however, complement the food well and was enjoyable in its own right.

The LaChouffe was one of the evening's truly outstanding beers, which is
saying alot. It is a specialty brew produced by an upstart brewery that
defies easy catigorization. It's fairly full bodied with a good deal of
residual sweetnesss, balanced by a substantial dosage of herbs and spices.
I read somewhere (Jackson?) that this beer was made with honey and a blend
of six spices. It was a very complex balance of flavors, and hard to single
out any of the spices, although some detected hints of clove and cinnamon.
A shame this one's not available in the US.

I'd had Rodenbach many times before, but never with Grenadine. The
unadulterated beer is quite tart, but the sweetness of the Grenadine
took the edge and added a fruity character. The flavors integrated quite
well. I'm generally reluctant to add flavorings to beers, but Christain
insisted that this was the proper way to serve Rodenbach _after_ a meal.
I must admit that the resultant mixture was absolutely delcious at the time.

Finally we finished the evening with another specialty brew, Bourgogne de
Flanders. On my recent trip to Belgium, this was one of the few beers that
I drank more than once. Its deep reddish brown color and full spectrum of
flavors make it worthy of the noble title Bourgogne. It has a very present
fruity flavor although no fruit is used. Even with its big flavor, this
award winning brew remains fairly light in body and is quite refreshing.

Overall it was a delightful evening that we won't soon forget. If you get the
chance to get out to Livermore, Mrs. Coffee's is definitely worth a visit.

CR