The Bar Towel

In this weekend's edition of the National Post, food critic Jacob Richler writes about a beer dinner that he recently attended at North 44 along with Innis & Gunn rep Dougal Sharp. The article - which you can read here - makes it clear that Richler holds to standard attitude that wine pairs better with high-end food than beer, as this excerpt illustrates:

While I like beer -- OK, I like it a lot -- and think that in a pinch it goes well with just about everything from fried eggs to pissaladiere to foie gras poele, beer seldom shows up on the podium as my first choice with food. With choucroute garni, sure. With moules-frites, definitely. With fish and chips, naturally. But with asparagus and morels, I'll take the New Zealand sauvignon blanc, thanks.

Of course, his opinion may have been influenced by the fact that three of the six beers served during the dinner were from the ubiquitous Inbev line-up of mediocre Belgians - Stella Artois, Leffe Blonde & Bellevue Kriek - and of the remaining three, the only truly world-class offering was Duvel.

It's also interesting to note that Richler claims that Toronto has no true "gastro-pubs", where fine food is paired with an extensive beer list. Perhaps it was a different Jacob Richler who wrote this review of beerbistro back in January, 2004...

Richler knows food, but it gets pretty embarassing when he talks about beer.
He's been known to praise some pretty mediocre beers.

From what I've read from Richler, he should stick to food and wine and leave the beer. If you're not particularly well-versed or interested in the pursuit of beer knowledge, fine, but don't write as if you're an expert and proceed to bash it. It simply continues to propagate the attitudes that most people hold. It is also interesting that the Post should be such an offender, as it holds itself up as a white-collar publication, and as such (in this respect, at least), it conveys a typical high-handed attitude towards the overly proletarian beverage of the masses. In contrast, the New York Times had a glowing article about the virtues of the complexities of beer in general, and lambics in particular a couple of weeks ago that also pokes fun at people like Richler who sneer at beer - "To be frank, that's a position of blindness and should not inspire pride."

GregClow wrote: It's also interesting to note that Richler claims that Toronto has no true "gastro-pubs", where fine food is paired with an extensive beer list. Perhaps it was a different Jacob Richler who wrote this review of beerbistro back in January, 2004...

To be fair to Richler, given the tone of the article that you cite, a claim that there are no true gastro-pubs in Toronto would be entirely consistent.

Based on the pairings he was offered, I expect that I'd find wine the winner, too. That's like crafting a great beer dinner and then offering a selection of Piat D'Or, Kressman and Yellow Tail as wine alternatives. Which do you think would win THAT battle?

Dining with beer in Toronto? Let's see...Beer Bistro, Cafe Brussels, Starfish, La Palette...

downtown drinker wrote:Dining with beer in Toronto? Let's see...Beer Bistro, Cafe Brussels, Starfish, La Palette...

Cafe Brussels is closing May 27th.

http://www.stevemunro.ca/?p=143

Bah. These so-called "foodies" are notorious wusses.

To quote Mr. Homer Simpson: "The man never drank a Duff in his life."

Bar Towel: 1
National Joke: 0

lister wrote:Cafe Brussels is closing May 27th.

http://www.stevemunro.ca/?p=143

Oh man that's awful news!

Everything I've read by this Richler guy seems to indicate that he really doesn't like beer even though he professes to be a beer-lover. It's unfortunate that he's given a platform on which to rant about his wine snobbery.

Just for fun, I posted a link to this story at the Burgundian Babble Belt and started a significant thread with it. If anyone is interested: http://www.babblebelt.com/bbb_classic/r ... 1147696702