Lakewood now serving up brews and bites all day long

Bacon Me Crazy, the Flatbread of the Month at the Lakewood Kitchen (Image: Cassie Henderson).

Lakewood Brewing Co. of Garland looks to become a regular lunch destination for its patrons, as the company has expanded its hours to allow more time to enjoy the Lakewood Kitchen's lineup of "not your typical pub fare," which includes shareables, salads, sandwiches, flatbread pizzas and desserts.

The brewery first opened its on-site kitchen in the fall of 2022, but lunch service was originally only offered later in the week and on weekends. Now, taproom visitors can order a midday meal seven days a week, with hours beginning at 11 a.m.

“Our kitchen team has been knocking it out of the park, and we wanted more people to experience that,” says Wim Bens, founder and president of Lakewood. “Lunch gives us another opportunity to surprise guests with what brewery food can be.”

As for the menu, one highlight is the brewery's rotating "Flatbread of the Month." This month's selection, created by line cook Juan Fleming, is appropriately named Bacon Me Crazy. It features a crispy crust and an alfredo-sauced base layered with mozzarella, bacon, spinach, marinated cherry tomatoes and a Temptress balsamic drizzle.

On that note, several other dishes also incorporate flavors from the brewery's range of beers - Lakewood Lager enriches the jalapeño queso, the Bavarian Pretzel is served with Temptress-infused mustard, and the Prosciutto Flatbread is finished with a Temptress reduction.

For more details on the everyday food offerings at Lakewood, check out the full menu posted on the brewery's website at https://lakewoodbrewing.com/taproom-food-menu/.

Funky Picnic pairs with Chef Victor Villarreal for beachy beer dinner

Chef Josh Rangel (left) and Sous Chef Parker Gordon (right) of Funky Picnic are partnering with Chef Victor Villarreal (center) for the brewpub's La Playa Beer Dinner. The culinary team worked with head brewer Michael Harper to pair the flavors of the beer and food (Funky Picnic Brewery & Café).

Funky Picnic Brewery & Café of Fort Worth will present its first beer and food pairing of the new year on Monday, January 24. The brewpub's La Playa Beer Dinner is set to feature five seafood and beer pairings curated by Chef Victor Villarreal of La Onda restaurant, and Chef Josh Rangel of Funky Picnic.

"One of the unique things that sets Funky Picnic apart is that we are the only restaurant in Fort Worth with a Certified Cicerone on staff, as co-owner Collin Zreet has been professionally trained in the art of pairing beer and food,” says Chef Rangel. “This is a similar certification to the Sommelier program in the wine world, and makes for a unique dining experience as we walk you through the flavor pairings of each course.”'

Each Funky Picnic beer dinner debuts a brand new beer created by head brewer, Michael Harper, specifically for the meal at hand. Harper works with the kitchen team on creating a unique brew that reflects the flavors and theme of the beer dinner. For this round, Harper and Chef Villarreal created a citrus farmhouse saison to pair with the cured salmon gravlax course.

“Chef Villarreal and I quickly hit it off and got excited about the idea of using charred citrus in a crisp and easy-drinking beer,” says Harper. “This farmhouse saison is very light-bodied with a huge pop of citrus and just enough malt body to keep things interesting, and will pair well with nearly any seafood dish.”

The La Playa Beer Dinner also includes ceviche salad paired with a citrus pilsner, and mango ice cream topped with short bread crumble and bowfin caviar paired with Funky Picnic’s latest Hazy IPA. Click here to see the complete menu and to reserve your seats for this culinary event (tickets are $90pp all-inclusive, or $70pp for just the food portion).

As for other gatherings Funky Picnic has planned, a Brewing Up Love Beer Dinner is on the calendar for February 14-15, followed by a Vegan Beer Dinner with Blue Zones Fort Worth on March 28.

Sampling "beer" snacks you can buy at the store

"Beer" products now on sale at your local market (© Brian Brown/Beer in Big D).

What's in a name? Well, if it's a food item found on local store shelves with "beer" in the name, you'd naturally expect to experience something beer-like in the flavor. The thing is, though, not every implied infusion actually contains beer.

For example, Mrs. Renfro's Craft Beer Salsa is made with beer from Rahr & Sons Brewing Co., a fellow Fort Worth business. Yet, on the coupling of two other Cowtown companies, there's not a drop of Martin House beer in a Best Maid Beer Pickle.

Indeed, on the grocery aisle, "beer" is a term to be taken either literally or figuratively, depending on the product. Even then, beer as an ingredient doesn't always translate to "beer" as a tasting note in the literal cases, while all bets are off when it comes to food items trying to be "beer-flavored" without the benefit of beer.

In any case, below you'll find notes on nine products for sale in North Texas with beer (or ale, porter, etc.) in the name or the ingredients. Some have beer, some don't. And, of course, some have the taste beer, while others taste like nothing of the sort.

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Harpoon Alehouse Cheddar:  For this product, cheese curds are soaked in both Harpoon IPA and Harpoon Dark (a Munich-style dunkel) from Harpoon Brewery of Massachusetts . The result is a firm, crumbly cheese with a strong flavor element likely attributable to the beer, though I don't really get the "hoppy" impression noted in the commercial description.

Maker: Vermont Farmstead Cheese Co. (South Woodstock, Vermont).

Purchased at: Market Street.

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Red Dragon Cheddar Cheese with Wholegrain Mustard & Ale: Its packaging lists "ale" as an ingredient, but a further search suggests this cheese is blended with a Welsh brown ale. Red Dragon is a soft and creamy cheddar, with a well-balanced taste profile. A mild mustard flavor is most prominent, with a bit of brown ale coming out in the aftertaste.

Maker: Somerdale International (Wellington, Somerset, England).

Purchased at: Central Market.

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Sierra Nevada Mustard: Two varieties of mustard incorporating beers from Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. of California are available on local shelves. The first, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale & Honey Spice Mustard, is sweet and spicy with an earthy element and a smooth texture. As for the other, Sierra Nevada Porter & Spicy Brown Mustard is bolder and grainier, coming across as a darker version of French's Spicy Brown Mustard.

Maker: Frank's Famous Foods (Lafayette, California).

Purchased at: Market Street.

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Boardwalk Craft Beer Pretzels: Beer isn't among the ingredients, so we'll assume these Pilsner and Stout-flavored pretzels are designed to mimic the respective beers. Maybe they do, maybe they don't. Either way, both are salty and sawdust-like at their core. The Pilsner pretzels are herbal with some sweetness, while the Stout pretzels have traces of brown sugar and cocoa powder, along with an intense, sort of dipped-in flat brown ale kind of flavor.

Maker: Boardwalk Food Co. (Sarasota, Florida).

Purchased at: Central Market.

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Mrs. Renfro's Craft Beer Salsa: Made with Texas Red American Amber from Rahr & Sons Brewing Co. of Fort Worth, Mrs. Renfro's Craft Beer Salsa is Pace-like, but more complex as it delivers a moderate kick with a noticeable malt sweetness in the finish.

Maker: Renfro Foods (Fort Worth, Texas).

Purchased at: Kroger.

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Wackym's The Temptress Cookies: Infused with The Temptress Imperial Milk Stout from Lakewood Brewing Co. of Garland, what emerges from this pairing is a chocolatey, malty butter cookie that makes for an ideal snack pairing with the beer for which it's named.

Maker: Wackym's Kitchen (Dallas, Texas).

Purchased at: Central Market.

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Best Maid Beer Pickles:  No beer is used in the pickling process for Best Maid's beer pickles. Instead, the company adds lemon and coriander to the brine to model the flavor profile of The Salty Lady from Martin House Brewing Co. of Fort Worth. What emerges is a tart, salty pickle with a hint of lemon essence.

Maker: Best Maid Pickles (Fort Worth, Texas).

Purchased at: Market Street, Best Maid Pickle Emporium.

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Caramel 'meats' beer during Summer Sampler at Franconia, July 18

Image credit: Piebird Services.

Not week goes by, it seems, that there's not some sort of beer and food pairing event going on somewhere here in the Metroplex. Beer dinners, in particular, are a virtual staple in weekly event listings, with cheese pairings not following too far behind. Lately, we've even seen donuts thrown into the mix, perhaps being a sign that consumers are open to a little something different when it comes to enjoying their favorite craft beers with food.

Along those lines, three local business are coming together for an event they're calling the Summer Sampler. Born of an idea they came up with in March while participating in the NARI Home and Garden Show in Plano, the owners of Franconia Brewing Company, Local Yocal Farm to Market and Dallas Caramel Company thought consumers might enjoy their fresh, quality offerings even more if they could enjoy them together.

Happening Saturday, July 18 at 5 p.m., brewery owner Dennis Wehrmann and crew will be your hosts for the Summer Sampler to be held at Franconia in McKinney. The event will feature six sampling stations bringing together hand-cut meats, hand-crafted all natural caramels and, of course, locally-made beer. Examples of the pairings include:

Franconia Kölsch

 Beefy grass-fed hanger steak and a creamy orange caramel.

Franconia Dunkel

Krautwurst sausage and a Texas-style caramel turtle called the Armadillo.

In addition to Wehrmann, Matt Hamilton of Local Yocal and Rain McDermott of the Dallas Caramel Company will also be on hand to answer questions and provide insight into their product offerings. 

Tickets for the Summer Sampler are $40 per person (all-inclusive, no fees), and can be purchased on Eventbrite by way of the following link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/summer-sampler-tickets-17499749221.