Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
A German biergarten has just opened up on La Brea just below Fountain. Loreley has both indoor and outdoor seating with long communal tables and surprisingly good prices. There is a small food menu too.
The list sports Weltenburger, Hofbrau, Schneider and Weihenstephan with a few craft options on the right side or (domestic side) of the menu.
Maybe this will be a fill in until that Cat & Fiddle spot gets beer back, if ever.
In the remaining half of October , Plan Check Kitchen (on Sawtelle and also on Fairfax) goes all German/American Oktoberfest with the return of Chef Ernesto Uchimura’s Burger Brat Pack ($15*), an Oktoberfest mash-up of pretzels, bratwurst, and beer.
Here is the burger and sides description, It “is comprised of a pork and beef bratwurst patty sandwiched between a homemade salt & pepper pretzel bun, topped with atomic beer mustard, beer braise sauerkraut, and caramelized onions. Accompaniments include a mound of French fries, salt & pepper mayo, and a tall glass of Paulaner’s Oktoberfest Marzen to complete the feast.”
They only prep 15 for each day. So you better get on it quickly.
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.