Doing it Wrong

A while back BOTB raved about a new local establishment called Brasserie V. Well the Capital Times has caught up with us and finally got around to reviewing the place. Allow me to draw attention to one specific portion of the review:

"The restaurant is known for its selection of Belgian beers, but we started off with a couple of glasses of red wine, the rich Terrazas malbec ($6.50) from Argentina and the domestic 14 Hands cabernet sauvignon ($6). Both were decent, reasonably priced choices."

Whoa, whoa, WHOA!

First allow me to point out that the American Heritage Dictionary of the English language defines a brasserie as:

"n. A restaurant serving alcoholic beverages, especially beer, as well as food." (emphasis added)

And the Random House dictionary defines it as:

"noun - an unpretentious restaurant, tavern, or the like, that serves drinks, esp. beer, and simple or hearty food." (emphasis added)

The etomology of the word comes from French, brasser "to brew or to malt," and that from Old French, where a similar world, bracier, meant "brewery."

The idea that this is an establishment that focuses on beer is implicit in the name, and should go without saying; but, people are saying. Again, from the review:

"The restaurant is known for its selection of Belgian beers..."(emphasis added)

People in the community are noting that this is a place in which one should take note of the beers offered, especially of the Belgian variety, but yet:

we started off with a couple of glasses of red wine, the rich Terrazas malbec ($6.50) from Argentina and the domestic 14 Hands cabernet sauvignon ($6). (emphasis added)

So, you go to a place that is intrinsically a house of beer, a place that is known for having rare imported beer, and you order a glass of red wine? For god's sake, you don't go to a steak house and order the veggie plate! You don't go to the Waffle House and order fucking pancakes! You don't go to Red Lobster and order...well you don't go to Red Lobster at all.

I don't really care if you don't really care for beer, when you are a restaurant critic you can take your nose from viticulture's ass for 5 minutes and partake in other alcoholic beverages, every bit as nuanced, especially when the house is known for them. I think that people who are interested in actually going to Brasserie V might also be interested in sampling some of the wares that make this an interesting place to dine, and thus, might look for said information in the review.

Poor form.