Goddess Thanksgiving with Revolution Brewing and Chef Stephanie Izard

By guest contributor MC Johnsen

On Wednesday, November 12th, at Goddess and Grocer’s newly renovated Damen location, I had the pleasure of attending “Goddess Thanksgiving” dinner with beer pairings featuring the culinary talents of well-accoladed Chicago chef Stephanie Izard and the beers of local favorite, Revolution Brewing. Izard is also a local favorite – she was the first female to win Bravo TV’s Top Chef (2008) and is the Executive Chef of well-loved local restaurants, Girl and the Goat and Little Goat. Izard comedically narrated four demos of her cooking process to a lively crowd of fifty, which showcased her new line of three sauces and three rubs branded “The Flavor.”

Chef Stephanie Izard demos recipes featuring her product line, "The Flavor."

Throughout the course of the evening, we enjoyed Chef Izard’s dishes which were each thoughtfully paired with a Revolution beer. Stephanie only pressed pause to sip these delicious (and generous) three ounce pours, and to turn the floor over to Revolution Head Brewer, Jim Cibak, for some off-the-cuff beer schooling. Cibak explained the impetus behind each paired beer, and aptly reminded us all that brewing and cooking share a common key ingredient: balance.

Welcome Beer: Oktoberfest Marzen Style beer
We were each greeted with a pour of Revolution’s Oktoberfest, a well-balanced, bready beauty made from malt sourced entirely from Germany. Über-authentic and easy-drinking, this was a perfect gateway into the rich abundance of flavors we were about to experience.

1st Course: Fist City American Pale Ale, Holiday Brussels Sprouts + The Saute
After Cibak enumerated the aromatic qualities of this hoppy american pale ale – powerfully floral and citrusy in aroma, a creamy head of white foam, clear as a bell and golden orange in color with a citrusy hop bite – Stephanie regaled us (all while preparing the Brussels sprouts) with her own personal experience surrounding the uses of commercial hop pellets: “Don’t ever throw a hop pellet into your mouth.” The crowd roared.

Our Brussels sprouts arrived charred, quartered, and gleaming in butter, piled on the plate with purple radicchio leaves and crunchy Marcona almonds. “The Saute’s” fish flavors really came through as a fatty, quenching, umami sensation, which contrasted delightfully with the Fist City APA. Its citrusy floral elements were highlighted beautifully by the saltiness of the dish, and even some spicy herbal notes came forward to compliment the subtle, building heat from The Saute sauce.

2nd Course: Red Skull Imperial Red Ale, Butternut Squash Kimchee + The Chee
Next came butternut squash “quick kimchee.” Stephanie used The Chee sauce to speedily impart a fermented soybean flavor to paper-thin squash shavings. Half-moon slices of fennel bulb and basil chiffonade completed this richly flavorful dish, which was expertly paired with an equally rich beer.

A ruby red color, Red Skull’s sweet aroma contrasted perfectly with the spicy, pickled scent coming off the bright orange plate of salty squash. The sweet malt of the boozy beer stood up strongly next to the powerful kimchee flavors, tasting similarly spicy and herbal in comparison.

3rd Course: Eugene Porter, Peking Style Roasted Turkey + The Marinade,  
Croissant Turkey Gravy, + Rub #1, Spiced Apple Sausage Stuffing + Rub #2
My favorite pairing of the night came third. Nothing could have prepared my taste buds for the utter salivation and joy they experienced when Izard plopped the tray of just-prepared spiced apple and sausage stuffing with peking-style roasted turkey, smothered in croissant turkey gravy onto the table I serendipitously chose as mine. Yes, it was as good as it sounds. Yes, I gobbled more than I should have. No, I did not care – it was #goddessthanksgiving, dammit.

This particularly decadent dish was paired with Revolution’s Eugene Porter, a dark black beer with garnet highlights, this opaque brew was smooth and barely bitter with hints of coffee and caramel and a slightly fruity, roasted chocolate finish. When paired with the dish, the beer’s fruity sweetness was really brought to the forefront, its roasted malt finish effortlessly melding with the flavors of the roasted meat and the sliced apples. Absolutely delightful… and I’m drooling just thinking about it.

4th Course: Gravedigger Billy Barrel Aged Scotch Ale, Pecan Not Pie + The Marinade
Chef Stephanie left us with a scoop of sweet vanilla gelato topped with warmed pecan pieces smothered in browned butter, sugar, and cream. The decadent dessert was paired with Gravedigger Billy, a 10.4% ABV Scotch ale aged in Old Forrester Woodford Reserve barrels for 6 months. This boozy, sweet, strong beer was a caramel brown hue that tasted like a maraschino cherry dipped in bourbon. This beer, quite literally, was the liquid cherry on top of a mound of gooey pecan goodness, its candied flavors in perfect harmony with the sweet, creamy treat. 

Jim Cibak, MC Johnsen, Stephanie Izard

Stephanie Izard truly put on a cooking clinic, giving us all a delicious taste of what it’s like to observe someone in their element, doing what they’re meant to do on this planet earth. Goddess and Grocer was the most gracious hostess, and the Revolution beers were the icing on the cake (or the topping on the not-pie). Cheers to all, and thanks for a night my taste buds and tummy won’t soon forget. 


MC Johnsen is a professional graphic designer and illustrator based in Chicago, IL. She is also the artist and author behind beer blog Worth a Thousand Beers. In her spare time MC enjoys homebrewing, taking on DIY projects, CrossFit, and binge-watching TV shows on Netflix. Her favorite coffee beverage is an Americano, and she shares a home with her husband Matt and their dog Dallas in Lombard, IL. You can find her on Twitter @worth1000beers.

Fountainhead's Harvest Dinner with Metropolitan and Angel's Envy

By guest contributor Eric Zeigler

Recently I had the opportunity to attend a dinner to celebrate the onset of Fall and all of the delicious foods and libations that accompany the season. Fountainhead is a Ravenswood neighborhood gastropub that perfectly exemplifies this feeling in both décor and ambiance. I was a guest for the Harvest Dinner on the Roof Deck: A Night with Angel’s Envy and Metropolitan, and it was a splendid way to enter "comfort food" season.

Chris Kafcas (Front of House Manager) and Cleetus Friedman (Executive Chef) at Fountainhead gave a warm welcome and relayed their reasons for having such a dinner. Everyone has a fondness for Fall, but one of the special attributes the season imparts is a warmth and fellowship in gathering people together around comforting foods and perfectly-paired libations.

With that in mind, and the plates of food beginning to arrive from the kitchen, Chris first introduced Doug Hurst from Metropolitan Brewing. Doug gave a quick synopsis of Metropolitan and its German lager-style brewing philosophy. In fact, Metropolitan has been instrumental in guiding many of the new Chicago craft breweries as they have been starting out.


As Doug was speaking the plates were arriving and set before us. Piles of bone marrow with Herbes de Provence, pickled vegetables and fruit mostarda. This was paired with Metropolitan’s Dynamo Copper Lager. Its copper hue comes from a wonderful balance of 2 kinds of hops and Vienna malts.

The next two family-style dishes were superb! Hearty strips of kale, butter-roasted sunchoke, toasted sunflower seeds and onion frizzles coated in an apple sunflower vinaigrette. Also, a brussel sprout and delicata squash hash in a warm drizzle of nutmeg brown butter. These two sides were perfect examples of what Fall vegetables provide in terms of freshness and flavors.

For this particular dinner, three of our beer pairings would be served at cask temperature. Normally I am not partial to this, but suffice it to say, I would be a complete convert by the end of the dinner. A Metropolitan dry-hopped cask with beautiful notes of grapefruit and a collaboration American IPA cask with Lake Effect Brewing called 27 Blocks. Last but not least, a black pepper cask version of Dynamo that was, in my humble opinion, one of the best session beers I have ever tasted. It was a sublime pairing with the herbed roast beef and horseradish cream, which was the main entrée.

It was at this point, nearing the dessert phase of the dinner, when the representative from Angel’s Envy, Joe Nelson, was introduced. He gave an impassioned story of the founder of Angel’s Envy—Lincoln Henderson—who recently passed away and was the guiding passion behind this exemplary whiskey. We tasted their cornerstone bourbon, Angel’s Envy Port Finished Bourbon, which is aged in port casks – along with a Fonseca tawny port to compare and contrast subtleties of flavors imparted in each. Paired with the delicate caramel apple bread pudding as the last course of the dinner could not have been a wiser choice.

As the plates were being cleared from the tables, Joe invited all of us to sample some rarefied examples of their cask strength bourbon flagship which won the Best Spirit in the World in 2013 by the Spirit Journal. Also, a particular highlight for me was their Rye finished in Plantation XO barrels. To a rye and rum aficionado such as myself, this was a perfect ending to a spectacular evening.

All in all, the attendees of this dinner were left with not only the warmth of the spectacular food and libations, but also the embracing atmosphere created by Fountainhead, Angel’s Envy and Metropolitan. Rest assured if they collaborate again, it will surely be an event not to be missed.