BBC 1 & BBC 2

No, not the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Bisbee Breakfast Club and the old Bisbee Brewing Company! I recently visited these fine establishments, on the same day no less. The Bisbee Breakfast Club is located on Erie St, a road lined with old storefronts and auto repair shops. The inside was converted from an old pharmacy and soda fountain into a spacious loft-style restaurant. Lots of great light, and lots of wonderful smells emanating from the surrounding tables.
I had the Popeye, an omelet stuffed with spinach, bacon and cream cheese. I substituted my toast for one of their biscuits, oh my goodness. Heavenly. Look at the size of it! They had a variety of jams on the table, including an apple butter. It melted beautifully over my warm biscuit.


Now the Old Bisbee Brewing Company is located in the center of what you could call the downtown area. It’s very small and unassuming, the brew house is actually in a separate building then the tasting room. It opens at noon every day and there were already people lined up outside the door when we arrived. (Always a good sign.)

My friends and I sat at the counter ordered the sampler which included:


Scottish Red Ale
Pale Ale
IPA
Belgian Whitbier
Stout
Copper City Ale
Classic Pilsner Lager

I think my favorite was the Red Ale but I was pleasantly surprised by the Pilsner, it had a much richer taste then I’m used to with lagers. My friends all loved the stout, and it certainly was delicious, it had a very strong coffee aroma. If I was a more thorough blogger I would’ve asked what was in it, instead I just enjoyed.


I noticed that Old Bisbee Brewing Company also made their own root beer and I decided to try it after the sampler. Ok. I promise I am not exaggerating when I say it was the BEST root beer I have ever had. It was sweet and refreshing and very full of flavor. It’s one of those root beers I wouldn’t want to spoil by making a root beer float out of it. That’s saying a lot!

http://www.bisbeebreakfastclub.com/

http://www.oldbisbeebrewingcompany.com/

Salad Wha?

Sometimes I eat salads! It's true. I actually love spinach, I like it in my salads and I use it in my sandwiches as a substitute for lettuce. My favorite salad dressing right now compliments spinach beautifully- it's Red Wine Pomegranate Vinaigrette with Dark Chocolate.

Chocolate on a salad? What?

It's actually delicious. The pomegranate and the vinegar cut the sweetness, and you're left with a rich cocoa flavor. This particular salad dressing comes from Ravenous Chocolate, a Colorado company that specializes in unusual chocolate products. I picked this up at the Boulder farmer's market last fall and I've been carefully rationing it ever since. Ravenous Chocolate also features flavors like Strawberry Champagne Vinaigrette and Citrus Balsamic Vinaigrette with Dark Chocolate. I highly recommend!

http://www.ravenouschocolate.com/

Samurai

My friend Mark took me to Samurai today. It's a cute little Japanese place tucked away in a Tucson mini-mall. I had the chicken yakisoba with a tiny scoop of mash potatoes. I loved the sauce and the noodles were plentiful. (Not too many of those skinny onions; I know it's a weird quirk but I believe those things can make or break an asian dish.)

The menu was enormous and fairly economical. Lots of noodle dishes, Bento, and sushi. They even had Mochi, my favorite little ice cream balls.

Can't wait to eat the leftovers!

Today's Treat: A Very Tart Margarita

Made from freshly squeezed lemons and limes. (Maybe a little sugar?) It was extremely tart but quite refreshing.

Who's that at the door? A horse.

Within 60 min of showing up in Bisbee, Arizona my friends and I are in a bar. Within 20 min of being in said bar, a horse shows up. Pass the beer.

This is Hot Licks Saloon in Old Bisbee and the horse didn't stay long. I ordered Dave's Electric Beer because I thought it was local. Turns out it comes from Tempe, but the owner is from Bisbee? The details are kind of foggy but the beer was delicious.


Adjacent to the saloon is EAT Barbecue, a bbq stand that offered ribs, chicken legs, and pulled pork sandwiches. We got a goat cheese plate as an appetizer, sooo delicious. I ordered the pork sandwich with a side of corn and was very happy with it. Until I sampled one of the ribs. I soon wished I has ordered that instead! The sauce had this amazing black pepper kick to it and the meat was very tender. Oh well, next time.

I continued to eat well the rest of the trip. I got to the hotel room and the first thing I see are homemade cookies sitting by my bed. (This was at the Copper Queen Hotel, they also have fresh baked cookies in the lobby.) And today I started the morning with a hot chocolate from Bisbee Coffee Company. That whip cream on top is freshly whipped, not from a can, folks. Yummy.

I also visited a brewery and a breakfast place while in Bisbee, I'll tell you about them tomorrow!

Croutons & Soup in a Box

Tonight I had a simple dinner. I was watching the Barefoot Contessa and she had a whole show on leftovers. She cut up leftover bread slices and made these huge beautiful croutons. She then sprinkled them with olive oil and pepper and stuck them in the oven. I thought, I can do that! I usually don't eat the heels of bread so that's what I used. And instead of pepper I seasoned the bread with garlic powder since the soup also contained garlic. My croutons were soooo good, especially warm. I could've eaten them just on their own.

The soup was very pleasant, I'm always satisfied with Trader Joe's box soups. I usually get the carrot or the red pepper tomato variety, tonight was the first time I tried the black bean. It could've used more of a kick but that's just my taste.

More Pictures of Food and Beer

My friends and I were eating at the Grill a few months back and naturally we started

talking about food. People started whipping out their phones and displaying pictures of different meals they'd had recently. I think this is terrific! For so long I thought I was odd for taking photos of my food. Far from it!

Now that the average person has a camera at their fingertips food photography has become more popular than ever. Even Liz Lemon has a food photo hanging from her wall. (Kinda wish I had thought of that.)

That same night at the Grill I had a tiny tiny beer. It was $1 and not too bad. I put a tater tot in the picture as reference.

The Grill has great tator tots, they're kind of known for them. I usually get them as a side with my smoked salmon and cream cheese omelette. My other favorite meal there is the corn-fed biscuits and gravy, only $4!