Beer cheese sauce comforts on a fall day

I’ve been carrying around a birthday gift card from The Flying Goat since April of 2014. It’s one of my favorite restaurants, but my fiancé and I wanted to save the card for a special occasion, when we wanted to treat ourselves.

With our wedding coming up in two weeks, the comfort of pizza and beer on a fall Thursday night was just the treat we needed.

We actually ended up at Republic Pi since it’s closer to our house; Republic Pi, Flying Goat and Downriver Grill have owners in common, so their gift cards can be used at any of the three restaurants.

And lucky we did, because we decided to try the Pi Bites before our pizzas (Dalton for me, Wilson for him, although we always split). The appetizer is baked and pan-fried bits of pizza dough topped with sea salt, and served with cheese dip made with Perry Street Brewing Kolsch.

The light, Neapolitan-style dough is crispy on the inside and crunchy on the edges. With the sea salt dusting, the morsel-sized pieces are vaguely reminiscent of pretzel bites, but superior to anything you’d find in a food court, obviously.

The beer cheese sauce is flavorful yet light. My fiancé remarked that it would make a great homemade macaroni and cheese sauce, and he’ll probably try to recreate the recipe at home. Honestly, I think you could pour it on just about anything for a tasty meal.

According to The Beeroness there are three key steps for a Foolproof Beer Cheese Sauce : blend the crap out of it, don’t forget the cornstarch and don’t use pre-shredded cheese.

And since PSB offers $2 off growler fills on Sundays, today is a great day to stop by the brewery for some Kolsch so you can make your own beer cheese sauce for Seahawks game tonight.