NVM Review

By Warren Rojas

“This is our beer café. So, you have the best view in the house,” Cock & Bowl co-founder Jacquie Lopez asserts as she drapes herself alongside the fully stocked beverage cooler like a game show model.

Survey says: Beer me.

Every inch of the modest eatery has been devoted to beer appreciation, from walls plastered with vintage promotional posters to shelves piled high with branded glassware.

Although most employees appear willing and able to discuss their favorite pours, formal recommendations seem to flow almost exclusively from resident beer geek Allen Fournier—a Trappist-brewing sage stuck in a slacker’s body (standard uniform: Operation Ivy hoodie, Dickies’ slacks). The restaurant fields nearly five dozen craft brews ranging from familiar (Stella Artois, Orval) to far out (Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA Trippel, Corsendonk Pater), all categorized according to intensity (fruit, white, pale, amber, dark).

Food specials swing from croque monsieur to coq au vin, while seafood and sweets rule day-to-day dining.

Steamed mussels gather strength from a supporting cast of applewood-smoked bacon, wilted spinach, zesty red onions and splashy tomatoes. Chimay-braised short ribs ooze boozy splendor that puts plain gravy to shame. Homemade waffles delight beneath blankets of warm caramel and crunchy pecan brittle.