Need a private space for a small event?

Book the Porter’s Beer Cellar! It seats upto 30 and all you have to do is spend a minimum of $500! Super easy!

Check out the details at http://www.theporterbeerbar.com/be-merry/beer-cellar-rental/

or email Joe to book! joe@theporterbeerbar.com

Where the Wild Beers Are Week 3

thanks for watching!

Cheers,

Molly

New Years Video Blog

Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVMPYel1ShA&context=C3df6526ADOEgsToPDskKy15KXY7qBYkrOccv9Z3jS

And Happy New Year!

Cheers,

Molly

Video about Frank!

Frank used to run food for us, before he became all famous!

http://vimeo.com/33865379

Video Blog Debut!

Hey Y’all!
I have no officially entered the 21st century with a video blog for The Porter Beer Bar. Below is a link, I will try and update it bi-monthly to start! So feel free to check it out, and remember this is only the first one, they’ll get better I swear!

http://www.youtube.com/user/MsMollyGunn

thanks for watching!

Sierra Nevada Beer Dinner is coming!

Wednesday November 16th from 6pm-9pm!

Since our kitchen is small we stagger our reservations so please specify what time (6, 6:15, 6:30 etc) you would like when making reservations.

$45 for four courses and beer pairings

Email molly@theporterbeerbar.com to save your spot!

Sierra Nevada Beer Dinner

Starter Beer: Sierra Nevada Glissade

*

Amuse: Incapsulated Oyster, celery mignonette, brunoise, celery froth, caviar

(Charlie, Fred and Ken Bock)

*

“Black and White”

homemade boudin noir, pommes, pickled cherry puffs

(Fritz and Ken’s)

*

Duck Confit

foie gras stuffed plum, red wine braised cabbage, apple

(Brewer’s Reserve)

*

Chocolate Tart

sea salt, toasted cereal milk ice cream

(Jack and Ken’s)

Thank you L5P Halloween Festival!

Thanks to everyone who came out to L5P Halloween Festival on Saturday, you made it a record day for us! But I am still exhausted from it, so no more blog this week… though Nick does have some amazing specials on right now:

Rosemary Gnocchi

shaved lardo, parmesan, egg yolk, veal jus

Homemade Boudin Blanc

potatoes a la robuchon, red pepper jus

(the potatoes are 50% potato, 50% butter!)

Blue Point Oyster

dill panna cotta, bread and butter pickles, 3.25 each

Tacos, Tacos, Tacos

Nick loves Tacos, so much so he once suggested to me that he wanted to open a place called Taco, Tacos, Tacos after the joint in the TV show Reno 911. Then Nick suggested they all have dirty names and then I said no. But tacos turn up on the Porter’s menu every so often and they are always delicious! Sometimes they are traditional like the lengua one Nick did in August, the pulled pork has been really popular during past summers, but the crazy ones are my favorite. This week’s taco is defintely a walk on the wild side : It’s Pork Belly done in the Korean bbq style, topped with kimchi spiced bean sprouts, cilantro, spicy jalapeno and sweet Asian pear. If you take a bite with all the elements and shut your eyes the balance of spicy, sweet, hot, cold, crunchy, soft, is perfect.

Reflecting on 3 years…

Woah! It’s already been three years since The Porter Beer Bar opened. Doesn’t time fly? What’s also amazing is how many 3 year reviews I have to write. It’s truly a blessing that over 25% of our original staff are still here. Truly they make Nick and my job so much easier. With less turnover we don’t have to be constantly hiring and training, instead we can focus on the good stuff, like beer!

Speaking of beer, we’ve come a long way baby! We opened with 25 taps and 100 bottles back in September 2008. Now we have over 500 bottles and 30 drafts including two hand cask hand pulls. But don’t worry we won’t stop there. Restaurants are like children (see previous post, Beer and Babies) they are either growing and changing or they are dead in the water. Nick and Ia re constantly getting better at our big picture job: making The Porter Beer Bar one of the best beer bars in the world. That’s why Nick is always coming up with new specials and we are always trying to find the most delicious and rare beers.

So come out, one and all September 10th is the day we will party! Starting at 11am we will unleash a crazy line up and amazing stuff. At some point  throughout the day we will tap a keg of KBS and at another random moment a firkin of Cigar City made just for us! No reservations required, just get here early and drink the day away!

Why I Hate To Close….

I can list the number of days The Porter has been closed since we opened on one hand. Thanksgiving, 08,09,10. Christmas 08,09, Christmas Eve 08, Staff Party Day, 09, 10. Once in April 2011, when the power went out for 24 hours. Ok two hands, but still, 9 days in almost 3 years is not bad. So why are we closing for three days to fix our kitchen floor?I only have two words for you: Health Inspection. Our floor in the kitchen is cement, which is fine in the health inspector’s eyes. But after repeated attempts we could never properly seal with due to a minuscule amount of water that always seemed to get under the seal and bubble up.So eventually every seal would flake up and degrade until the floor was not “an easily cleanable surface” which is key in the health inspector’s book. Now with new inspection rules and reputable restaurants failing their inspections right and left, we decided we could not risk losing a single point on something we could fix. Thus we had to close, move all the kitchen equipment out of the kitchen, level the floor and tile, then move everything back in and prep the entire menu!

Whew! I get tired just thinking about it.

But back on track, why I hate to close. First of all there’s the customers to consider. Every time a customer shows up and you’re closed, you risk permanently losing that customer. It’s also the reason I insist businesses keep regular hours as consistently as possible. Yeah sure, it’s nice to close Sunday & Monday and give yourself a restful two days off.  But it makes it that much harder on the average customer to remember when you’re open. (Side note, this works for restaurants/businesses that require reservations and appointments, but it’s a killer for the casual concept) The Porter is like many of my regulars’ home away from home. Closing that home risks those regulars finding another home away from home, which we just can’t have!

The 2nd reason I hate to close is lose of momentum, closing means throwing away food, or running it really close down to the wire. Your staff also have too much time to get drunk, arrested or find another job. So many restaurant employees live paycheck to paycheck so a loss of a couple days of pay can be devastating. (I am praying all my staff show up on Thursday alive, intact, and still wanting towork at The Porter)

So closing is a major risk, but sometimes it’s worth it. Just wait until you see the new kitchen floor, it’ll make your Belgian fries taste that much better!

Cheers,

Molly