Thirsty Bear Brewing Co.

First free night in San Francisco, and I happened to know that there was a little brewery and tapas restaurant not three block from my hotel.  “Happened to know” being, of course, a euphemism meaning, “as always, I heavily googled the area surrounding my hotel to unearth any available information on local restaurants, and then spent hours reading over their menus, and then when I got to the hotel also perused the magazines, handouts, and hotel guide to learn if I might have missed anything.”

So I knew of this brewery, is the point.  In addition to my sincere, deep, and abiding affection for beer—the bitterer, the better—I love tapas.  Because, my friends, you get to eat so many of them.  If you are, like me, cursed with the affliction that prevents you from deciding between a handful of options from any menu you see, then a tapas or small plates restaurant may well be the cure.  Instead of choosing one, you choose three, four, five, ten, depending how many people are around, or just how gluttonous you want to be.

We'd already eaten a couple. Oops.  

The Thirsty Bear Brewing Co. was our destination on Friday.  While I was honestly not too impressed with the two beers I tried, my mind changed when I stood up and realized how STRONG they must have been. Wow.  The Howard Street IPA was nicely bitter, but didn’t seem to have many additional citrusy or floral flavors that I usually crave (especially citrus) to give more interest to the shocking hoppiness.  The Brown Bear Ale likewise was caramelly, a bit malty, but also a little thin bodied.  Of course, to be fair, my sinus cold could have been the true factor swaying me away from liking - or tasting - them more. 

But the food provided no such challenge to taste.  We started with a Jamon Serrano Flatbread with Manchego and Figs---great, great simple snack.  The crunchy crust had a buttery richness that elevated it above your standard dough, and the quartered figs brightened up the salty, cheesy dish. I could have used more ham, but the sweet, perhaps balsamic syrup underneath all the toppings made up for it.  We also had the empanadas, filled with pulled pork shoulder and queso fresco and sitting atop a squash and pepper sauce.  These were tasty little morsels, but perhaps not anything too out of the ordninary.  Still, a fried dumpling is a fried dumpling, which in my book means delicious.

I will have dreams about this. 

I must have been hungry when the second round of food came, because I forgot to take pictures and instead dove right into eating.  Who would have thought, right?  We got one of the night’s specials—squid stuffed with house-made chorizo and sitting atop braised winter greens.  The chorizo was not as spicy as I would have preferred, but the squid was perfectly cooked and tender, not chewy, with a bit of char from a grill/salamander.  Greens gave a nice herbal note to the meaty bundles, but were otherwise not too out of the ordinary. 

And the bocadillos?  GREAT.  Sure, they are a Spanish riff on a slider/mini-burger, but the interesting addition of hard boiled eggs and capers to the garlic aioli sauce gracing the lamb, pork and meat-burgers was interesting—salty, tangy, rich and delicious.  And the lightly pickled squash salad on their side once again balanced the plate, cutting through meaty, rich flavors with vinegar’s bit and veggies’ crunch.

Definitely recommend.  In fact, I want to go back before I leave…