A Food & Drink focus edition on Patio Dining! Sponsored by The Leader • Saturday, September 16, 2017 • Page 1B
Karbachtoberfest shines free music lineup, charities for flood relief By Christina Martinez christina@theleadernews.com
You won’t have to travel to Munich, Germany to partake in Oktoberfest festivities this year. Karbach Brewing Co. is bringing the big party over to the brewery on Karbach street with their annual festival, Karbachtoberfest. Karbach is going on their sixth year of bringing their take on the German beer celebration and this year things are getting bigger and better. The festivities for Karbachtoberfest are now spreading over a four week span – just like the real Oktoberfest in Munich - kicking off this Thursday, Sept. 14 spanning through Saturday, Oct. 7.
Contributed photos Karbach Brewing Co. will bring the spirit of Oktoberfest to their brewery with their annual event, Karbachtoberfest. The event will begin Thursday, Sept. 14 and span thru Saturday, Oct. 7 showcasing free, local talent, their Karbachtoberfest seasonal beer, German inspired fare and more.
“We are really kicking it up a notch this year, in terms of bringing in some awesome entertainment during the fest,” Karbach Brand Manager, David Graham said. “It will be absolutely free admission to these shows. “ The fun starts off this week, with Heapin Helpin’ taking the stage on Thursday, Sept. 14;
The Suspects on Friday, Sept. 15; and Bun B with Trae the Truth on Saturday, Sept. 16. All acts will kick-off at 8 p.m. and are completely free for all ages. Other acts include Grupo Fantasma, Los Skarnales, The Bright Light Social Hour, Gio Chamba, Ishi, Wrestlers, The Tontons, Otis the Destroyer, Flow Tribe and Blaze x Black and more. Karbachtoberfest isn’t just the name of the brewery’s local famed lineup and party, it is also one of their seasonal beers. Karbachtoberfest is a traditional marzen style lager with Vienna and Munich malts. “It’s the longest fermentation time of any of our beers - it stays in the tanks a full eight weeks,” Graham said. “Where like Hopadillo would be a two to three week start to finish beer, so Karbachtoberfest takes quite a bit longer. What you get in that cold aging time is a really, unbelievably smooth malt character out of that beer. It’s 5.5% ABV; it’s something you can drink by the mug full and still be functioning. It’s a great beer for this time of year where we can be experiencing heat or a little bit of nice weather. It’s light enough bodied to be fresh, and still a lot of that malt body for cooler evenings.” After hurricane Harvey, the festival restructured a bit. The brewery has made an initial $10,000 donation to The 100 Club on behalf of the late Sergeant Steve Perez, K9 Angels Rescue, The Diaper Foundation and The Houston Chapter of Habitat for Humanity. The fundraising continues and the brewery will welcome each of these foundations to Karbachtoberfest to raise awareness on their mission and how you can help. The 100 Club will be out at weekend one; K-9 Angels at weekend two; The Diaper Foundation at weekend three; Houston Habitat for Humanity at
Balls Out Burger serves straight up burgers on prime patio real estate By Christina Martinez
What’s cooking on the patio Betsy Denson Betsy@theleadernews.com
Photo by Christina Martinez The Balls Out Burger single patty with cheese and all of the toppings.
Saint Arnold,” Tucker said. “We wanted to support local and St. Arnold is independent and their product is great across the board.” The burger joint sits on some prime real estate at 1603 N. Durham Dr. and Tucker said his real estate agent said about 70,000 cars drive by daily. That’s a lot of drive by promotion. Balls Out Burger seats 40 inside and 120 outside on the patio. Dogs are even welcomed on the patio, with their own stations for water and waste. With patio weather here, things are gearing up on the patio with outdoor music kicking off every Tuesday in October. Cornhole tournaments will also be held on Thursday, also kicking off in October, with a start time of 7 p.m. You can find your favorite sporting event on the TVs outside, and even enjoy $1 off beers anytime any Texas NFL or college football game is on. Patio games are aplenty, as well. This isn’t Tucker’s first go - he has restaurants back home in Dublin and he’ll be bringing the style of those concepts to his coming soon project in Sawyer Yards, Poiten.
the end of the year,” Graham said. Even if beer isn’t your taste or adult beverages aren’t on your lineup, the Karbach restaurant will be adding German-style and inspired dishes to the menu. The restaurant menu wouldn’t be complete without Sausage on a Stick, Schnitzel Wings, Curry Wurst and Crispy Pork Shank. The biergarten will be equipped with German flared food trucks, too. “No matter what style your music is, you can come out and have a great time,” Graham said. “This is a fun festive time, admission is free, come one, come all and enjoy the season with us.” To buy your beer package and explore the music lineup visit www.karbachbrewing.com.
While bourbon, beer and tacos have been staples at Eight Row Flint since it opened in early 2016, there has been another mainstay for nearly that long – their Tuesday night cooking series. “We’ve been doing the cooking series almost since we opened,” said General Manager Christina Ramey. The brainchild of Chef Ryan Pera and the team at Agricole Hospitality, which also includes Coltivare and Revival Market in its roster, the Tuesday night series was intended to shine a spotlight not just on chefs from Agricole’s restaurants, but from other Houston eateries. The series took a break from November through February of this year but came back in the spring, just in time for patio weather with such fare as the Juicy Lucy, where the cheese is actually inside the patty.
christina@theleadernews.com
Ian Tucker moved from Ireland to Houston about two years ago. His now wife a Houstonian, the two met while she was on vacation in Ireland and now call Houston home together. The two birthed a boy this year, along with their straight forward burger concept, Balls Out Burger, that opened this past June. Balls Out Burger owner Ian Tucker isn’t shy on sharing the burger joint’s strait forward menu and concept, saying they focus on using quality ingredients for a classic style burger - with emphasis on the meat and buns - and no frill ingredients so the core ingredients can truly shine. “Our concept isn’t for everyone,” Tucker said. “People will come in and want to add on bacon or something else, but that’s not what we’re trying to do. I’m not shy of pointing people to Hopdoddy for fancy toppings.” The two core ingredients for Balls Out’s burger aren’t your typical sysco buy. The beef comes from 44 Farms, a farm out of Cameron, Texas that specialzies in Black Angus. The burger buns come from Slough Dough - a local artisinal bread company - and is a specialty recipe just for Balls Out Burger. Toppings keep it simple with cheese or no cheese, lettuce. tomato, onions, pickles and fresh jalepenos. The menu consists of a few options for burger building: single or double patty; cheese or no cheese; toppings all the way, or select your picks. You’ve got three options for fries: shoestring, handcut or sweet potato. There are two milkshakes on the menu: vanilla or chocolate - all made with Amy’s Ice Cream - though, strawberry is making its debut this week, Tucker said. “We just had to pick out the stawberries we wanted to use.” For beverages, you can have water, sparkling water, sweet tea, soda, or beer or wine. When it comes to the beer, you’ve only got one brand option, though, and that’s St. Arnold. “We’re the only venue that’s only serving
weekend four. In addition, Karbach will do a cents per case donation to these charities when someone buys a six-pack of Love Street, donations going to The 100 Club; Hopadillo, donations going to the K-9 Angels; Staycation, donations going to The Diaper Foundation; Weekend Warrior, donations going to Houston Habitat for Humanity. “We started this Aug. 31 and it will go through
Photo by Carla Gomez Troy Witherspoon from Buffalo Bayou is the chef for Eight Row Flint’s Tuesday Night cooking series on Sept. 12 and 19, located at 1039 Yale St.
While culinary director Vincent Huynh initially had primary responsibility for the series with the help of veteran sous chef Marcelo Garcia, he recently passed the reins to Garcia who in turn solicited the help of wife Kaitlyn who works for Justin Yu and chef de cuisine Jason White, the chef at Yu’s new Theodore Rex. White cooked coal-grilled chicken with green garlic broth and chicken fat rice for a recent popular series. And Sam Chang of Oxheart and Underbelly fame brought down the proverbial house with his Taiwanese street noodles. “It’s a very popular dish right now and Sam has a loyal following,” said Garcia. Next up is Troy Witherspoon from Buffalo Bayou Brewing Company who for the next two Tuesdays will be dishing up Chiles rellenos, grilled and stuffed with brisket and blue heron goat cheese, along with a grilled broccoli salad, topped with grated horseradish and grapefruit supremes. Witherspoon jokes that when Garcia asked him to participate his first question was – “Why?” “I’ve known Marcelo for a while now, and some of my greatest inspirations are these chefs,” he said. Witherspoon, who incidentally is an Oak Forest resident, said that when thinking about what he would serve, he was inspired by Buffalo Bayou’s Crush City IPA, a special limited release that will be offered as long as it lasts at Eight Row. All proceeds of the sale of the beer will go to Hurricane Harvey relief funds. Other Buffalo beers available at Eight Row are their Sam’s Daily Cream Ale and the Great White Buffalo Style Belgian Wheat. A jack of all trades but a chef at heart, Witherspoon has cooked at the Petrol Station and also operated a food truck called Craft Infusion. “Every dish included a local beer,” he said. Before coming to Buffalo Bayou Brewing, he was the general manager at Brews Brothers on the Strand in Galveston where he got their
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