It used to be that wine dinners were the "in" thing in terms of food pairing events. It's been done for hundreds, if not thousands of years; so it definitely makes sense.
Beer pairings, on the other hand, are a slightly newer occurrence. Given the popularity of craft brews and the dramatic increases in its consumption in the Florida market, it also makes sense that these little pairing events are popping up like wild fires.
As fun as they are, beer dinners are kind of pricey -- not many people can throw down 40 to 50 bucks a head for dinner every other week. To lighten the load on your wallet, d.b.a./ cafe has teamed up with hometown favorite, Funky Buddha Brewery for a beer social coming up this Monday.
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Taking place on Monday at 7 p.m. the event will feature seven courses of tapas-sized portions coupled with brews straight from Funky Buddha.
"Funky Buddha's been doing so many beer dinners lately," said dba owner Tom Moynihan. "When we originally set a date it was a few days before the Hot and Soul dinner and we didn't want to steal their thunder or any of the diners, really. Instead of a formal sit-down dinner, you can stand up in a relaxed context and try more for less."
For $25 per person, the pairings include:
Floridian: Lime Sponge Cake with mint simple syrup and macerated strawberry.
Hop Gun: Pork Meatballs and soy-infused honey glaze, slivered scallion.
Doc Brown: Shrimp & grits, including butter poached rock shrimp, jalapeno, and cheddar grits with shredded phyllo crisps.
More Moro Blood Orange IPA: Chocolate covered oranges.
Blueberry Cobbler: Confit Crostini, duck confit on toasted crostini with balsamic blueberry reduction.
Bonita Applebum: Bacon wrapped scallop, applewood smoked bacon, sea scallops, and apple chutney
OP Porter: Kona Crusted skirt steak, coffee-crusted skirt steak, shoestring potatoes with an OP Porter, and berry reduction.
"I feel like its a better way to showcase our talents, the beer of Funky Buddha has and the culinary genius in the back," said Moynihan. "It's a cool way to let the sous chefs and the line chefs show off their talents, it's a group effort."
To purchase tickets visit fbb-dbabeersocial.eventbrite.com.
d.b.a./ cafe is located at 2364 N. Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale. Call 954-565-3392, or visit dba2z.com.
Follow Sara Ventiera on Twitter, @saraventiera.
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