Second location alert. Burbank’s Trustworthy Brewing now has a burger and beer spot in Pasadena…
Hard to go wrong with that combo especially after walking up a hunger in Old Town Pasadena
Jake is Trustworthy
Bourbon Steak + Modern Times + Burgers
I will write more about the team-up of the restaurant Bourbon Steak with the brewery, Modern Times over on Food GPS. But here are a few notes (and a pair of photos) from a preview of what’s coming…
All three of the Non-IPA’s used for pairing tasted better to me. Lomaland Saison which I had not tasted in a long, long time was quite good. Simple, training wheels funk. One note but well done. The same goes fro Black House. I have had more of the variants than the actual base beer and it came through with the coffee. Again, not much else, but well done. My favorite though was the passionfruit and guava Fruitlands. Not quite salty enough for a Gose but the wheat and touch of sour with the fruit was nice.
My favorite burger was the “Pho”nomenon which despite the jalapeno’s was unique but also showed a light touch on powerful ingredients like the cilantro and mint. The Lomaland and the Fruitlands would pair well with it. The Redondo Surf n Turf was good too but I can’t see anything but maybe their Ice Pilsner working well with it. The savory of the meat and the crab meat really overpower anything, even hops.
Pairing beer and food is fascinating every time.
Bud at it Again
So Budweiser would have us pair artisanal burgers with fancy buns and all sorts of toppings with their beer.
Here is the thing though. People who enjoy a really good burger probably don’t want your Big Mac beer. Again, ABInBev, who are you advertising too? Just show semi normal men with hot women and an outdoor grill. That is your diminishing market.
You may have also seen that they have bought David Chang and his loathing of craft beer to judge a burger contest as well. But Chang lost cred with craft beer and is probably unknown to Bud fans so the only winner is whoever pockets the prize money and then drain pours the Budweiser.
Maybe if a Don Draper were around, he could explain what is going on but from my perspective, Budweiser is losing its marketing touch.
Oh and the clinking bottles at the end was a little aggressive, or was that me worrying about broken glass?
Simmzy’s – Burbank
There was always a couple reasons as to why I didn’t get out to Simmzy’s more often. One it was in Manhattan Beach (then Belmont Shores) which is not an easy 405 drive or parking experience. Secondly, it is teeny-tiny and super popular.
Well, those two problems have been alleviated for me. With the new Burbank location that has some elbow room to it. The same food concept reigns here with a curated menu of items that should hold a choice for everyone in your party. Or just the S’more Pudding for dinner. OK, I had the Bleu Cheese Burger which was really good though a bit tall to fit into my mouth.
The beer menu shows great diversity as well. Locals? Check. El Segundo, Smog City and MacLeod on tap. Styles? Covered. Porter to brown to ESB to IPA. And you can order up a Simmzy’s Flight as well to get a broad spectrum of tastes. I can see studios converging to the corner of Olive and Alameda for lunch often.
Review – Plan Check (Fairfax)
There are many, many L.A. craft beer spots that I need to visit. My pace is slow for sure but thank to an invite from the folks at Plan Check, I was able to cross another establishment from the list while learning about their craft beer vision.
What struck me first was the simplicity of the menu. There weren’t 500 variations of burger and 100 taps. Nope. You had a few options and a special plus fries in a couple preparations and appetizers. 16 taps. But you could do a lot with that number as you can see below.
And there tap take-overs aren’t one and done affairs. They usually stretch over a course of days, so that if you day 1, you aren’t out of luck. Though they did run through both 329 and El Hefe Anejo pretty quickly.
The space on Fairfax is roomy with booths on the edges and some cool industrial lighting. The bar area is pretty cool looking with the bottles getting light on them and they have a hop vodka cocktail on the menu that I will be trying the next time that I am there.