Biltmore serves up great beer snacks in Newton

by Sandi Miller
Boston Restaurant Examiner

As they say, life is too short to drink uninteresting beer. It's also terrible to succumb to uninteresting appetizers. In Newton Upper Falls, there's a little oasis of fun cocktails, beer, and bar food.

The Biltmore's been around Newton Upper Falls in various forms since the dawn of the Prohibition era, sometimes with the name "Johnny's Biltmore," possibly as a speakeasy, definitely as a longtime dive your grandfather possibly stumbled out of. Jason Owens saw the charm in its bones and in 2008 fixed up the bar, polished the mahogany walls, painted the old tin ceiling a gorgeous copper, found some interesting period beer ads and gas pump decor, added a great jukebox selection. There's also 8 screens for sports fans. "When we opened, it was just me and the dishwasher, who came with the place," said Owens. His friends came to help out, and he grew the business a few menu items at a time. When a snowstorm hit, the place was so packed that Owens had to call in a catering company for seats and staff.

General manager Mike Stankovich came over from the Milky Way in JP and has been buiding up a beer menu that aims for the Publick House crowd -- he just added such brews as Lindemans Framboise, Mercury "Clown Shoes" Black IPA out of Ipswich, and Harpoon Oyster Stout, with Pretty Things "Fluffy White Bunny" Belgian Ale coming soon from Cambridge; tasting flights are available.

Cocktails come with 1920s names like The Bees Knees (gin, fresh lemon, organic wildflower honey). I tried the Old Fashioned, which is a bartop mason jar infusion of rye, bing cherries, orange zest, and sugar, and made with house-made bitters that Stankovich spends weeks making "just because we're really into it here." Even with a splash of soda, it is strong but fresh-tasting, with a nice fruit flavor. For a lighter drink, the Harvest Spritz – so named for the elderberries harvested by the monks who make the St. Germaine liqueur -- also featured Fresh Pomegranate Juice and sparkling wine. It was delicious with the clams casino, one of several especially tasty $5 bar bites created by Owens.

A Tennessee native, Owens offers some Southern dishes alongside New England seafood and burgers. He shuns the dated term "gastropub" in favor of "high-end pub food with a Southern twist." "We are a neighborhood place with higher standards than the average pub," said Owens, a self-taught chef who has been cooking before he was able to drive a car.

The signature Hog Wings are a riff on Buffalo wings -- marinated & grilled mini pork shanks tossed with BBQ sauce, braised for hours until they fall off the bone. They were terrific. But my favorite snack was the garlicky, buttery Clams Casino -- little necks from Capt. Marden's, served with an interesting bacon jam for a little extra salt. The hot dog sliders are marinated for extra flavor, and they're cute -- a custom-made, Canadian bacon-sized slice of Pearl hot dog on a slider bun, with a little sauerkraut and a relish-ketchup-mustard blend. There's smoked eggs with salmon and fried pickles, too. The challenging Ribs en Fuego are dry rubbed baby backs blended with very hot peppers. "If popele can't handle the heat, we give them a little Hoodsie cup" to cool off, said Stankovich.Added Owens," We really try to talk people out of the ribs, which makes them want it more."

There's also a raw bar with oysters, little necks and ahi tuna, and starters include a huge platter of crispy waffle fries dabbled with fresh ricotta cheese, bacon, and, says Owens, "to be really bad-ass," a fried egg on top. The menu aims for local and organic, so while there are apps like a $9.75 lamb lollipops, they are organic baby backs grilled with fresh herbs and with mint jelly. The chicken wings are Bell & Evans, tossed in reposado tequila hot sauce, served with a local bleu cheese.

There's a dining room as well for full meals -- I'd like to come back for the Chicken & Belgian Waffles entree with blueberry maple syrup over brunch, or the mustard catfish served over a pork shoulder hash and brussel sprouts.

Mostly a neighborhood restaurant, this place pulls in a huge Boston crowd for brunch; he's looking to open a second pub in Boston somewhere.

The Biltmore is also introducing their new "Beer Pairings" dinners. Tonight (March 22) is Cisco Breweries of Nantucket -- 4 beers paired with small plates. Featured Beers: Sankaty Light Lager, Grey Lady Belgium Witte, Whales Tale Pale Ale & Captain Swain's Extra Stout, for $30 p/p plus tax & tip. If you miss it, try to make the April 19th one with Berkshire Brewing Company, including BBC Pale Ale & the Coffee House Porter.

The Biltmore Grille: Open seven days a week for lunch and dinner til closing time, with Sunday brunch. 1205 Chestnut Street • Newton Upper Falls.

Celebrate Beer Day March 1; Sunset Grille raises a glass or 3

by Sandi Miller
Boston Restaurant Examiner

Sunset Grill owner Marc Kadish and a flight of beers, ready for National Beer Day.

Photo: Sandi Miller

Today, March 1, celebrate National Beer Day with your fave brewpub. This important holiday stems from the end of 75 years of prohibition in Iceland, in 1989. Raise a glass or four to our Icelandic friends -- It IS pretty cold in March, and beer warms the soul.

In my college days, Sunset Grill and Tap is where I discovered life beyond Miller High Life. Actually, it’s where I discovered that beer could actually taste good. So I went over to talk to chef/owner Marc Kadish about how they’ll be celebrating the holiday.

They’re offering 2- and 5-ounce 'Beer Flights' – ask Kadish or any other the wait staff trained in matching your taste buds to something other than Bud – there’s 125 beers on tap and nearly 400 micro-brews, perhaps the biggest beer selection around. Chase it with an extensive beer-friendly pub menu with specialties such as Beer Infused Chili, Raspberry Ale Marinated Swordfish Skewers and their famous Steam Beer Burger.

"We’re like the 365 day beer fest,” said Kadish, but that's ok, it's an excuse to round up your friends on a Monday.

For the first round, Kadish selected Troeg’s Nugget Nectar, which they just got in that weekend, a seasonal hoppy, earthy 9 percent alcohol beer that sells superfast; A session-style Kilkenny Irish cream ale “that you can pound and pound…it’s made with nitrogen rather than CO2"; Six Point Double Sweet Action, a 9% alcohol hoppy beer --- “I like to support that beer. It’s like two different beers, a pale ale and an IPA”; and Harpoon’s new Oyster Stout, made with a little oyster liqueur that Kadish would recommend with his mussels steamed in beer. “It’s not like you’re going to drink this beer and fine little bits of oysters in it. It’s not that prevalent.”

He’d match his Mexican dishes with something hoppy. For example, his chicken empanada, which has a homemade flaky pastry around a fajita-like chicken, was full of flavor and matched well with the Sweet Action and the Kilkenny. A rock-shriimp quesadilla sautéed in fajita sauce was overpowered a little by the Nugget, and in retrospect Kadish would have recommended a wheat beer, like the Dirty Blonde. The food, by the way, is bar food, but it’s bar food done just right. A basic lager goes with anything, Kadish said.

He admits that it'll be hard to choose flights tonight. “It’s like being a 5 year old in an ice cream store with 20 flavors,” he said. But the key is matching his 125 taps and tons of microbrew bottles with the customer's own preferences. For today’s Beer Day, it’s anything a customer wants. “We have Sam and Bud, and even those people I think we can get to try something," he said.

He also loves turning someone onto something new. For me, he pushed me toward a “sour” beer, a red Flemish wood-aged Duchesse De Bourgogne ale, which was slightly sweet with Belgian candy sugar, and fruity despite not being made with fruit. It went well with the juicy ribs, as did the Goose Island IPA, although again, thinking about it he would have liked to have paired it with a smoked Rouch beer if he still had some available. The sour beers he discovered during his recent tour of Belgian beerhouses and breweries. “It really opened my mind up, going there. I’ve beenpushing Belgian beers since we opened, but going there, it really kind of came together for me. Everyting is so fresh.”

One beer we tried later, the Southern Tier Chocolate, smells like chocolate syrup. “It’s like eating a Hershey bar.” We chased that beer with some egg-noggy ice cream he made with Sam Adams’ premium rare Utopia, one of the strongest beers ever brewed with an alcohol content of 25%. That ice cream is almost out, so get it while you can – the Utopia only comes out every couple of years.

He grew up drinking Colt 45s and Schlitz, but when he discovered Anchor Steam, everything changed. That beer is still his default beer. He tried brewing his own, but found it futile with all the great beer available at great prices available. Sometimes he'll bring in a beer that he ends up having to subsidize, since it's too expensive for his regulars. He figures if they'll come in for a $12 beer that he's charging $8 for, he'll make up for it with other $5 beers. It's all about providing a variety of beer, about making it fun,he says.

There’s a few regulars who have been coming since it opened more than 20 years ago, and there’s always the new college kid who discovers life beyond the kegger. Many go on to earn punches in their beer cards to earn Tshirts and the like; it’s impossible to have tried all the beers on tap or in the cooler, since Kadish likes to change up the selection regularly and keep his inventory fresh. “We either use it or cook with it,” he said. It’s easier when he gets 5-gallon kegs, which is only 40 pints.

But he's also a chef who knows his food.

“Some beers will ruin your taste buds for food, because they are super, super flavorful,” he said. So you really do need a beer sommelier to match a beer to the food you’re eating. The menu is geared toward beer lovers, though, with classics like the nachos and burger sliders. “There’s no right or wrong,” he adds. “M&Ms go with anything.” Fruit beers, such as the peach Lindeman’s Peche we tried, is trickier to match; I’d prefer it to end a meal rather than order dessert. There’s so many choices, so many things to try, that it was a good idea to do the flights.

Kadish recommends the flights because there's always something new to try. After doing this for so many years, he's still excited about what craft brewers are coming out with. "Every year it gets more interesting," he says, because beermakers are trying new things like using wood barrels and bourbon barrels. “I'm just excited about how it’s so exploded, how beer makers get more and more creative every year. There’s a place in Michigan that makes a peanut butter and Jelly porter, and a key lime pie ale. I love that creativity. It’s not the best beer out there, but it’s great."

Head's up: the flights are always available at Sunset Grille; also keep in mind their upcoming St. Patrick's Day menu,complete with green beer. Yes, Kadish knows it's sacriledge, but it's also fun.