cravings

5 Star Cuisine Meets Monday Night Brewing

Chef Nick Walker Cobb Galleria Centre Monday Night Brewing

When you think of convention food, it’s safe to say that a fine-dining-quality meal is not what comes to mind. And rightfully so. Imagine catering a large event with hundreds of attendees to serve. Sure, the food may be fitting but certainly not memorable or even remotely impressive.

Well, it’s time to change the perception of convention center food. Enter Chef Nick Walker, the culinary genius at Cobb Galleria Centre who’s raising the bar on convention center fare by re-imagining dishes with 5-star renditions inspired by his Georgia roots.

And luckily for me, I was invited back to Chef Nick’s kitchen for an exclusive Chef’s Table event. Sitting amongst other Atlanta-area influencers, I waited patiently for my palate to be endlessly surprised—I can always count on Chef Nick to introduce me to new flavors and pairings, two things I was immensely looking forward to this time around.

Chef Nick Walker Cobb Galleria Centre

Craft-y Brews & Fine Food

This year’s Chef’s Table was a flavor-packed 6-course meal paired with beers from Monday Night Brewing. I never really thought you could pair brews with food, but Chef Nick definitely proved it’s possible to make an amazing meal even better with the perfect pairing. Who knew!

Chef Nick Walker Cobb Galleria Centre Jeff Heck CEO Monday Night Brewing

Jeff Heck, CEO Monday Night Brewing and Chef Nick Walker

Chef Nick Walker Cobb Galleria Centre Monday Night BrewingChef Nick Walker Cobb Galleria Centre Monday Night Brewing Chef Nick Walker Cobb Galleria Centre Monday Night Brewing

The first course was an Amuse Bouche: a tasty ginger crab fritter (you guys know how much I love seafood) topped with an unexpected but delicious spicy banana puree. The beer paired with this course was a Belgian Style Wit called Fu Manbrew… Lol, such a punny name!

Chef Nick Walker Cobb Galleria Centre Monday Night Brewing Amuse Bouche

Second in the lineup was a Duck and Blood Orange Salad, a mix of frisée, spent grain cracker, and fennel, topped with a blood orange vinaigrette. Take a guess at what the beer pairing was… O.K. I’ll tell you! It was none other than a Blood Orange IPA named Blind Pirate. Bet you didn’t see that one coming! 😉 (I’ll show myself out…) 😀

Chef Nick Walker Cobb Galleria Centre Monday Night Brewing Duck and Blood Orange Salad

Since I love seafood so much, I got super excited when I saw the third course on the menu: a fish stew. The Serrano Eye Patch Bouillabaisse featured monkfish, clams, snapper, and fresh rock shrimp, seasoned wonderfully with pineapple, saffron, and serrano aioli. The matching beer, of course, was Monday Night Brewing’s Serrano Eye Patch Ale (an Indian Pale Ale).

Chef Nick Walker Cobb Galleria Centre Monday Night BrewingChef Nick Walker Cobb Galleria Centre Monday Night Brewing Serrano Eye Patch Bouillabaisse

The fourth course a was sweet palate cleanser of sorts, switching gears to a Borsch Pear Sorbet with dried lemon and a honey kissed pear, washed down with the Gun Show, a Belgian-Style Golden Ale.

Chef Nick Walker Cobb Galleria Centre Monday Night Brewing Borsch Pear Sorbet

Challenging flavor profiles yet again, Chef Nick served up some amazing Vanilla Braised Wagyu Beef Cheeks—a dish that makes you feel like a high-profile food critic. Completing this plate were trumpets, Carolina rice grits, heirloom carrot, wilted greens, and cocoa. This dish was certainly a funky Southern twist on the traditional Japanese beef, and I loved every bite of it! We had a Scotch Ale called Drafty Kilt with this one.

Chef Nick Walker Cobb Galleria Centre Monday Night Brewing Vanilla Braised Wagyu Beef Cheeks

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end… And when our final dish eventually arrived, I was not disappointed! My sweet tooth had a treat with the Hazelnut Cigar featuring smoked dark chocolate, malted sweet cream, caramel, and hazelnut powder. YUM. And the beer pairing couldn’t have been more perfect: the Toasted Hazelnut Imperial Stout.

Chef Nick Walker Cobb Galleria Centre Monday Night Brewing Hazelnut Cigar

I was beyond satisfied with this generous and innovative 6-course meal prepared by Chef Nick and his team. I absolutely love getting to experience freshly imagined flavors and learn how to better pair alcohols with meals. It’s truly the 5-star treatment! I want to send the most sincere thanks to Chef Nick and Cobb Galleria Centre for making my belly happy as well as a thank you to the Atlanta Food & Lifestyle Bloggers Society for the invite.

Chef Nick Walker Cobb Galleria Centre Monday Night Brewing

Nikka Shae The Undercover Socialite

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13 Comments

  • Reply Robin Rue June 20, 2017 at 5:23 am

    That is my kind of restaurant! The food you have pictured here all looks amazing.

  • Reply Rose June 20, 2017 at 6:53 am

    Now this would be my jam, what a way to enjoy delicious meals! Looks like you guys had a blast.

  • Reply Alli Smith June 20, 2017 at 7:34 am

    The crab fritter with the spicy banana puree looks so delicious! All of the food looks scrumptious and the plating of the food is perfect. Yum!

  • Reply Christy Maurer June 20, 2017 at 9:30 am

    That is just so cool how the food went along with the beer flavor! That dessert is hilarious and I’ll bet it was tasty!

  • Reply Sarah Bailey June 20, 2017 at 12:04 pm

    Now this sounds like the most perfect place to grab a bite to eat! The food looks delicious, especially the Vanilla Braised Wagyu Beef Cheeks that sounds so intriguing.

  • Reply Miranda (Anosa) June 20, 2017 at 2:04 pm

    This chef’s event sounds like one for the books, I love the idea of pairing beer and food. I just read another article earlier about this new pairing of beer and food instead of the usual wine pairings.

  • Reply blm03 June 20, 2017 at 3:54 pm

    This is my kind of event! The food is beautiful and the beers aren’t so bad themselves. I love the stoli desert. Genius!

  • Reply Pam Wattenbarger June 20, 2017 at 6:40 pm

    This sounds like an awesome chef’s event. That duck and blood orange salad with frisée sounds so good! It all looks tasty though.

  • Reply Rika (@thedealmatch) June 21, 2017 at 3:40 am

    The foods look so good! I love Bouillabaisse or any seafood dishes!

  • Reply Jaime Nicole June 21, 2017 at 6:45 am

    First of all, the food looks amazing! But there really isn’t anything more fun than sitting at a chef’s table – for a foodie like me at least!

  • Reply Rebecca Swenor June 21, 2017 at 7:33 am

    Monday Night Brewing sounds like a great place to dine. These foods all look delicious. I don’t like shell fish so I would love to try the Vanilla Braised Wagyu Beef Cheeks which sounds amazing. Thanks for sharing your amazing experience.

  • Reply LaShawn Wiltz June 22, 2017 at 12:12 pm

    That crab fritter looks great. We might have to drive on over there for date night!

  • Reply Terri Ramsey Beavers June 22, 2017 at 4:55 pm

    Oh my goodness, I would enjoy this restaurant. The Vanilla Braised Wagyu Beef Cheeks looks absolutely amazing, as do all of the selections.

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