Soups & Suds

Over the past week I have finally been enjoying some good autumnal soups and locally crafted brews. The ones I will touch on today are from the best micro breweries around, Otto’s Pub and Brewery and Elk Creek Cafe + Aleworks.

Both locations have very fine brews and one of my favorites this summer included Otto’s Pilsner Lager. Yeah – don’t expect me to go on in the traditional fashion about how it has a beautiful golden color with a 1cm crystal white head that laces beautifully as I enjoy the saaz hop aroma and the crisp finish. All that is true but more importantly is that it’s a wonderfully drinkable summer beer. My heart sunk the other day when I saw it was taken off the board; goodbye summer, goodbye Otto’s Pilsner.

On to Oktoberfest beers of which I have none photographed in my slideshow below. Between these two breweries this season, I am preferring Elk Creek Cafe’s Crick Fest. Copper with a nice malty nose, I tend to like it because of the lesser carbonation and bready grains. It makes the coming of the colder months much more acceptable when I warm with a few mouthfuls of Crick Fest.

Another outstanding beer is Elk Creek’s Home Grown Hop Harvest Ale. Wet and dry hopped with local hops, it is reminiscent of Otto’s Flying Squirrel Ale. Not pretentious, downright earthy and organic in flavor.

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Now for the soups. We know we can always rely on a daily vegetarian soup at Elk Creek Cafe and have enjoyed the Mushroom Soup there lately. It is always rich with earthy goodness and just a little garnish of truffle oil on top. Tasty and classy.

We also just enjoyed a remarkable Le Puy Lentil Stew with Tait Farm Peppers, Radish Leaves and a Radish Leah Pesto(!!) on Crusty Bread. The stew was organically sweet with tiny red lentils and a tomato base. The Radish Leaf Pesto was a fresh reminder of leafy summer mellowed by sunflower seeds. Another breathtaking Elk Creek Cafe meal – really.

I have to watch the specials carefully to catch the veggie soups at Otto’s. Lately I have lucked out with 3: Broccoli Cheddar, Tomato Florentine and Vegetable Chili. I am thinking I got the very dregs of the Broccoli Cheddar (not in slideshow above)because it tasted a little burnt. It was ok, I did let my waitress know and I guess my appetite wasn’t fully there to begin with so I didn’t finish it.

The Tomato Florentine was a much better soup but seemed more like a Tomato Basil since it had no discernible dairy in it. The tomato flavors were bright and full and the basil was very flavorful. A great soup at anytime of year and my guess is local tomatoes were used since it’s September.

Best for last, the most recent Vegetarian Chili at Otto’s. We couldn’t determine the heat but our best guess was more of a powdered chili, perhaps poblano. Very nicely seasoned (included cumin, garlic, basil) and treading a tricky line with the Pennsyltucky pallete. The seasoned broth was thin but was chock full of chunks of zuchini, yellow squash, corn, carrot, celery, onion, tomato, bell pepper, black beans and kidney beans. A beautiful festival of local harvest this soup was a perfect welcome to Autumn!

A quick end of 10-2-11 week addendum, we had another amazing soup at Otto’s. You know it’s Fall when places start carrying Butternut Squash soup and Otto’s has always had a great one! Years ago, the day I became a Pub Club member actually, Leah served us a couple of bowls of this soup and tuned us on to adding a little of the Hurricane Mary wing sauce. It’s a favorite combo of ours!

Two great spots for soup and suds! We are lucky to have these restaurants so close to us!

Elk Creek Cafe + Aleworks

What started as a much smaller cafe in less than half the space it now occupies, Elk Creek Cafe + Aleworks is now the live and beating heart of downtown Millheim. Located on Main Street at the only light in town, what hasn’t changed is that you will still be treated like a good friend who is welcome to sit and chill, enjoy a meal or sip your drink as long as you like as you watch the Amish buggies clip and clop past the big picture windows.

The days and hours they are open are a bit odd (closed Mondays & Tuesdays, no lunch Wed & Thur) and there are also different bands featured to perform in the main dining area many evenings so check the web page and FaceBook page. Parking is on the street or behind the building.

What does this small town brew pub have to offer a vegetarian? Plenty! It’s exciting to say they have always had a nice vegetarian sandwich or two and a vegan hummus plate. Now I can add they are dedicated to all of that plus a vegan entrée and vegetarian soup choice every evening meal. Sitting at a high top table or on one of the elevated stages with good food and a local drink makes anybody, loner or huge family, feel like they belong at the Elk Creek Cafe. They feature Tait Farm Shrubs and local wines as well as their own established list of beers.

Belgian Cut Fries & Watermelon Gazpacho!

The food menu, self dubbed Nouveau Dutchie Cuisine™, is dedicated to fresh, local foods and we have enjoyed many a wonderful soup and “vegan bowl” with a house crafted micro brew. On our last visit, we started with some of the Belgian Cut Fries with the Tabasco Catsup & Aioli and shared a bowl of the vegetarian soup of the day, a vegan Watermelon Gazpacho!

The soup, as are ALL of their vegetarian soups, was crazy good. It was super chilled and had a great balance of tangy sweetness with onion in it’s to the deep pink broth. A thin chiffonade of flat leaf parsley added contrasting color as did the large halved blue berries that were floating in it. We both agreed that the little cubes of watermelon may have been marinated. We detected a bit of basil along with the peppery mustard seed we found on the bottom of the bowl.

We typically choose not to go when a band is scheduled because we like to chat and enjoy our meal. The dining area wasn’t full but about 1/3 of the 30 tables were being served in the cheery glow of the bright walls. We enjoyed peering around at the artwork of the month as we dipped our fries and sipped our soup. I even used my iTouch to pop online and touch base with Arron, just back from Japan. The Wi-Fi is free and no tvs even near the 16 seats at the bar to distract from the warm and woody ambiance of the place. I could hear a large meeting or gathering in the separate back dining area but it wasn’t keeping the wait staff from being on top of what we had ordered.

Our salads were served next. I got my favorite Roasted Beet + Fennel Salad and Jim ordered the vegan special of the day, the Tomato Panzanella Salad. Both were served with generous portions of tasty mixed lettuces and thinly sliced red onions in large shallow bowls. Jim’s was dressed with a sharp red wine vinegar which offset the sweet hunks of local tomato and saturated the large soft croutons. He loved the hint of dill he would taste with every other mouthful.

I just can’t get enough of the roasted beets nestled in those same greens and coated with a delicate grapefruit dressing. The sweet bites of mild and crunchy fennel are a wonderful counterpoint to the pieces of radish and red onion. It’s that little bit of fennel seed (caraway?) that makes me sit up and take notice and keeps me ordering it almost every time.

Over the years we have enjoyed tempeh sandwiches, quinoa and greens, mushroom soup with truffles oil, red beet latkes, artisan cheese and fruit plates and many a pint of good beer at Elk Creek Cafe. I cannot think of any meal I have not enjoyed every bite of and that includes their Sunday brunches (I dream about the tofu scramble and crispy potatoes.) Service can be a little slow at times but it’s not that any employee is dawdling. If you look around the staff are hustling to meet everyone’s needs and that includes knowing or being at the ready to check if a menu item is vegan or vegetarian, they care to know. We have taken family and friends, large groups and snuck off just the two of us, we have come for the bands and for the beer. Elk Creek Cafe + Aleworks has never let us down.

Winner Pennsyltucky Veggie Awards 2011 – Best Specials & Best Restaurant.

Marzoni’s Brick Oven & Brewing Co

Marzoni’s Brick Oven & Brewing in Duncansville.

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With their own craft brews and as good a pizza as I have ever had. We got banana peppers and black olives as toppings. On a separate trip we tried some of the veggie appetizers, stick with the pizza.