Sausage Fest at Summit Brewery

It's stupid cold outside. I'm not a native so I get to overstate the obvious for the next decade or so. In the midst of such icy, wintry ridiculousness, tonight I was comforted by two beautiful things: beer and sausage.

Both of these gifts came courtesy of the TC Daily Planet-sponsored, Summit Brewery-hosted Winter Sausage Festival.  I'd never made it to the Summit epicenter before, so this was a great way to finally see the taproom pouring a couple of my favorites (Saga, Horizon Red Ale).  The crowd was wonderfully diverse, equal parts male and female, skewing perhaps a bit over the 40 year mark.  It was great to see such a wide span of ages in attendance and that healthy mix added to the happy vibe of local folks enjoying their local beer and their local meat-makers. I saw one couple that had to be in their late 70s and the wife at one point asked, "Honey, d'you want another beer?" to which her fella replied, "Sure, and I'll grab you some more of that terrine." Man. I want to be them when I grow up. I want to be going to sausage festivals eating my weight in boudin when I'm pushing 80. 

The star of the evening was the embarrasment of riches from Butcher and the Boar, Three Sons Meat Co, Modern Cafe, The Sample Room, NateDogs, Corner Table, Seward Co-op, and Kramarczuk's. 

I'm not ashamed to say I taste-tested almost all of them (so sorry, Kramarczuk's, but I know your awesomeness well and saved room for the unknown-to-me vendors in the room) and no master slouched.  

I was thrilled to see NateDogs in attendance, as I reviewed the mustard-that-shall-haunt-my-dreams in my Republic review. This time I actually had a dog plus the aforementioned heavenly mustard with the added joy of some goat cheese.  It was like a high five for my mouth, no joke. 

But my favorite discovery of the evening was at the Corner Table, a restaurant that has been on my must-go-there list for some time.  The pate in gougere, pictured above, was the winner for me.  Side note, despite a decent knowledge of French, I always confuse gougere and courgette, always. As good as I'm sure the pate would have been on zucchini, I much prefer it tucked into a gougere, that flaky, cheesy pastry that Corner Table's Nick described as the savory cousin of the profiterole. And now...a picture of me in France with a plate of profiteroles, because that's always appropriate. 

Anyway, back to the pate gougere. I'm claiming to have eaten two but I think four may be nearer the truth.  The pate was mild and flavorful, the gougere had the necessary sharp touch of cheese, and the mustard seed dollop was the perfect finishing touch. Unfortunately, the gougere really just made me want someone from Corner Table to make me some profiteroles. Minor disappointment for the evening.

And as I was driving away, I thought two things: I really need to go to Corner Table.  And I really need to go running tomorrow. 

Amen, on both counts.

Follow me on Twitter @TheMinneapolite.