Community Beer Dinner at Uchi

Uchi Dallas partnered with Community Beer Co. to host a beer-pairing dinner on Sunday, July 9.

Yeah. Sushi + beer = who doesn't love that?

The beer dinner featured 6 courses, including two desserts, and each came paired with a complementary Community beer. Many courses incorporated hops, barley, and other ingredients the team at Uchi got from the guys at Community.

The Dallas-based microbrewery owners were in attendance, sharing their passion for premium classic and seasonal craft beers.

Keep track of Uchi's events page on Facebook to sign up for their next pairing dinner. Nothing scheduled yet, but stay tuned and I'll keep you posted.

Scroll down for completely random musings + photos of each course!

Can we just talk about how cute it is when you walk into Uchi? I adore all of the texture and wood and random assortment of artifacts. And I really love the natural light in the lobby.

Which brings me to the predicament of most food writers when dining at night: the lighting. While daytimes are a breeze when perfectly poised in front of a window or on a patio, evenings or rainy days can be a bit more difficult for me (I use an iPhone 7 Plus, which is AWEEEESOME in daylight).  For evening events, I sometimes leave feeling sad I couldn't accurately capture the dishes and drinks served. Case in point: photos below. So dim. But I still wanted to share with you all the delicious pairings from our evening at Uchi with Community Beer Co. Scroll through to see all of the well-curated courses.

To begin, two beer-based cocktails!

We then moved to the private dining area to settle in for the long haul. 

The beer served with the first course was my favorite. Community's Witbier is light and minimally hoppy, with pleasant notes of orange peel. There's a reason this beer has won multiple awards around the globe. 

They paired the refreshing Witbier with chilled squash soup made with whipped beer, and a duck pastrami nigiri. 

Then came my favorite bite of the night, the Salmon Onigiri. This bite was packed with so many complex layers of flavor. I let it dance on my palate for a few seconds, to truly enjoy all of the rich flavors of the Onigiri.

Next up, a beerwan mushi, with shitake and bacon. This course was coupled with the Mosaic IPA.

Was NOT expecting to be served bread and butter at Uchi, like ever, but it was cool to see how they integrated the dish with the featured beer. The bread was served with cultured butter, hop salt, and paired with Community's Public Ale.

Have I mentioned I love me some mussels? :) I was happy to see this bowl of "Pepperoni P.E.I's" arrive at the table, like a marriage of my chidhood, where I survived on pepperoni rounds, to my adulthood, where I now fancy a more varied menu, mussels included. The mussels were swimming in a tasty beer-based (noticing a theme yet) broth along with corn, fennel, and shishito peppers.

At this point in meals, I'm full. Just in time for the "main course". I know. I've tried to talk to my stomach about this many times, but it just cannot understand lengthy meals (#speedeater). But alas, here came the Wagyu Ribeye Tataki, perched in a porter ponzu sauce, to be washed down with the Vanilla Ascension Coffee Porter, made using a special coffee blend that Ascension made just for Community.

We've nearly made it, right? Wait, there's 2 desserts. First Passionflora pops, made with the new Passionflora IPA, which also accompanied the course in a glass.

For second dessert we had a Community Porridge, rich with coconut and marscapone, paired with the Oaked Mosaic IPA.

The Uchi Dallas team came out to tell us about each course. The coolest thing about these private dinners is that you get to try items that can't be found on their regular menu. One night only, folks!

The owner of Community and his team also told us about each beer, highlighting the flavors and highlights as we sipped. 

Make plans to attend the next special dining event you find. They're fun opportunities to enjoy pairings, try something new, and meet other food loving humans like yourself. Cheers!

Uchi Dallas

2817 Maple Ave

Dallas, TX

Community Beer Co. 

1530 Inspiration Drive

Dallas, TX

*My meal at Uchi was complimentary, but as always, all opinions remain my own.