Last weekend Mike and I had an impromptu "date night" so we decided to walk to Market Street and have dinner. It is rare that we have a weekend off together, let alone a Saturday night where it is justthe two of us. Our plan was to grab a burger at The Market Street Brew Pub and have a beer or two and head home. My famous last words were "I don't want to get three sheets or anything...".
Yeah.
I wasn't hungry when we made our way to the center of town so we walked down to Maley's to have "a beer" which became two and then we walked in the crisp night to the brew pub and had a flipping amazing burger. The chef was on top of his game that night. Spectacular food porn grade burger happened with some tasty homemade fries and their always wonderful Wheelhouse IPA. I surprised him with a shot of Basil Hayden's.
We had a fantastic waitress for a change. She was perfect in every way. It had been a great night. We bundled up for the walk back up the hill and then....
Hand + Foot happened. It happened real good.
It should be pretty evident that we don't go out much anymore, but we had been watching the progress of this new bar that was sprouting up on Market Street. We love to see new businesses come to our town and love even more when they bring something lively to the mix. This bar/restaurant took over the old Snooty Pig site.
We would have never went in had a group of bar hopping teachers not crowded the sidewalk in front of Hand + Foot. I looked up, the heaven's opened, and we had to go in. One beer, I thought, just one.
Right.
The bar is a beautiful pale wood with enough lighting to see the person next to you but not enough to make you blind or irritated. They have a luscious menu filled with more brews, wines, and boozes than you can possibly comprehend. To make it easy they have a nice chalkboard sign with what is already on tap. I have an insane love for IPA's and am pretty easily suckered into trying any new one that comes around. Hand + Foot were featuring a seasonal, limited run of Green Bullet Triple IPA (10.1%) from the San Diego company called Green Flash Brewing. This beer was not served in a traditional pint glass (thank god) because a little is all you need to get the party started. This brew was hopliscious and grassy and made me want to climb mountains.
Half way through that brew, while we were vigorously chair dancing to Earth, Wind & Fire and Chaka Khan, I decided a shot of Elijah Craig 12 was a fantastic decision.
The bartenders in Hand + Foot are fun!! They are knowledgeable about what they serve, they laugh with you, and play the best music. They even dropped little surprise bag of the hottest god damned chex mix I have ever eaten. I got all Alice in Wonderland about it. I carefully opened the stapled bag, smelled the contents (I smell everything before I eat it), and tried to decide if I was going to eat it. At first, it looked like chex mix. It had a bit of a soy-nutty taste to it and minutes later my eyes are bugging out of my head and my hand is waving in front of my mouth like a typical spice wuss. You would guess that I would leave it alone. No. I went back for seconds and thirds because damn it burned so good.
We moved on to another brew which I can't remember the name of but it was from the Keuka Lake area, a bit lighter at 7% and very enjoyable. We saw some bourbons and such closed up behind glass which appeared to be Japanese. Both and Mike and I were pretty interested in what that was all about so the bartender, sporting the Run DMC shirt, pulled out the bottle and explained that this particular Scotch Whiskey had just been voted the best in the world. It beat out Scotch from Scotland. Shut the front door! The bartender mentioned something about James Bond and it was all over. We ended up with a shot of this spectacular, mind vaporizing, went-down-so-smooth-I know-I'm-going-to-be-in-trouble golden gem called Yamazaki.
After this beautiful shot in walks a friend from high school who I had not seen in 23 years. I was in full tilt boogie by then. Laughing, giggling, and most likely walking like a sailor who forgot he wasn't at sea anymore. Good times.
It took me a few days to recover, but I have not stopped thinking about what a great addition to the community Hand + Foot is. I felt comfortable in this bar and that, if you know me, is saying a whole hell of a lot. I can't wait to go back to eat this:
