1. On Saturday night, Laura, our Old Line Bistro server, told us she wanted to go to Frisco in Columbia, a tap house with a zillion taps and food. The Deke and I decided to drive through Maryland's broccoli forestland and give Frisco a try. Today they carried about six taps of beer brewed in house (Push ales) and about two dozen or so other taps. I ordered an Iron Fist Gauntlet Imperial IPA and loved it, but we were disappointed with Frisco's service and the franchise/chain restaurant feel of the place wasn't what we were looking for and we decided not to eat at Frisco and headed on down to Silver Spring and enjoy a second beer at Quench. I'm really glad we drove the twenty-five minutes or so it took to go to Frisco. I enjoy trying out new places, and, even though Frisco disappointed us, we had a lot of fun making the trip and we both enjoyed our beers. And, I'll add, we both left Frisco fully aware that we were its only disappointed customers -- isn't that funny? People around us seemed very happy, but, for us, even though Frisco was clean, open, and comfortable, the vibe wasn't quite right and neither of us were having a very good time.
2. We are right at home at Quench and today the Deke struck up a conversation with Mike, the owner, and learned about how he came to the USA as young man from Iran with his family and how he and his siblings have worked to become successful here. Mike loves owning and running Quench and it's been fun to see the ways he has expanded the joint's offerings with a new liquor license and an expanded food menu. Quench always has a reliably diverse tap list, with great information published about each beer, and, even though the prices can be a little steep, the quality of service, the comfort of the place, and the neighborhood feel make paying a little extra worth it to us. (By the way, Frisco's beer prices were less expensive, but unpublished and not displayed; Frisco didn't offer flights of beer, a big disappointment at a place with so many beers available; Frisco offered no information about their beers -- I only knew Push was their in-house beer because I read about it online before we went and I learned about the powerful and awesome Imperial IPA I loved when I later went online and found out that Iron Fist brews their beer in Vista, CA. I enjoy tap rooms where there's a commitment to informing customers about the beers and where beer can be purchased in smaller volumes, making sampling and learning more about unfamiliar beers possible.)
3. Molly did some improvising in the kitchen and whipped up a tasty taco casserole with cabbage salad and, before dinner, she mixed a peppery Moscow Mule in a copper cup for me to enjoy. It was fun that she had bought ginger beer for the Moscow Mule that was subtly heated by some kind of pepper. It all made for a very enjoyable Father's Day dinner -- oh! and Molly gave me a flight set for Father's Day -- tray, four 4 oz glasses, and a little board of slate on which to write the name of each beer. What a fun and perfect gift!
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