In The News
Blended Burger Contest – Vote for Keg & Kitchen
Keg & Kitchen invites you to try out this year’s James Beard Foundation “Blended Burger” Submission.
Our recipe is:
75% ground chuck
25% shiitake + cremini mushrooms
Caramelized rosemary onions
roasted jersey tomato
Sharp provolone
Crispy salami chips
Roasted long hot pepper spread
on toasted ciabatta
Keg & Kitchen is participating in the James Beard Foundation “Blended Burger Project”Vote for Keg & Kitchen between May 29-July 31 and enter to win 2 tickets to the 2018 Blended Burger event at the Historic James Beard House. CLICK HERE TO VOTE!
Come in a try for yourself, take a pic and post on facebook or instragram: ##BlendedBurgerProject
About the Contest:
For the past several years, chefs have faced increasing pressure to serve healthier and more sustainable meals that reduce calories and sodium and still taste delicious. Simultaneously achieving nutrition, sustainability, and flavor is a core value of America’s food system.
Broadly offered on American menus, the beef-and-mushroom-blended burger, otherwise known as “The Blend,” was conceived of and incubated by the Healthy Menus R&D Collaborative (HMC), an educational initiative of high-volume culinary leaders developed by the Culinary Institute of America in partnership with its founding member, the Mushroom Council. The Blend concept is an example the innovative and strategic culinary insights that are used to address the substantial health and environmental imperatives that face the foodservice industry. Read more about “The Blend” and “The Protein Flip” here.
Many have perceived this groundbreaking development as an opportunity to change the way Americans eat. This year marks the second annual Blended Burger Project™, in which chefs across the nation, including those who already menu some of the best burgers around, have the opportunity to work with the James Beard Foundation and show guests how great taste, better nutrition, and increased sustainability can come together to improve the quality of the food they eat.
Over the last seven years, through its Impact Programs, JBF has become more involved in the conversations around health and sustainability in our food system. These programs and initiatives include the annual JBF Food Conference, where JBF explores timely subjects with top researchers, food entrepreneurs, farmers, biologists, activists, chefs, and other professionals; the yearly Leadership Awards, which recognize visionaries creating a more healthful, sustainable, and safe food world; and the Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change, which provides a unique opportunity for civically and politically minded chefs to become more effective leaders for food-system change.
This year JBF is pleased to once again partner with the Mushroom Council to host the Blended Burger Project™, which encourages chefs to create a healthier, more sustainable, and tastier burger that can be enjoyed by consumers across the country, while also educating diners about the many benefits of The Blend and the future of food.
Summer’s coolest drinks are at SJ bars
What kind of drink says summer to you? Every year there seem to be new alcoholic concoctions, or variations on an old favorite, that become as hot as the golden orb that brings the heat. They represent summer in a glass. For summer 2016, what are our local bars and taverns serving up to help you cool down…
…Another cocktail that is making the rounds is the Moscow Mule, also vodka-based (hence the Moscow reference) with ginger beer and lime juice. Keg & Kitchen is serving a version using Tito’s Vodka and presenting the finished product in a copper mug. This summer will also be a peachy one at Keg & Kitchen, as a variety of peach-flavored drinks will be on the menu. Try a Peach Cider Martini with Circle M Peach Cider and Stoli Peach Vodka. Want more peachy goodness? Just wait until Peach Week at Keg & Kitchen, which is taking place July 24-30. A Peach Citra Pale Ale from Spellbound Brewing will be tapped July 29 at 3 p.m., and that will be just one a number of peach-themed beers featured that week. 90 Haddon Ave., Westmont. (856) 833-9800. www.kegnkitchen.com.
(Published in Courier Post, July 5, 2016 – http://www.courierpostonline.com/story/entertainment/2016/07/05/summers-coolest-drinks-are-at-sj-bars/86708734/)
Gift Cards Available for the Holidays
’Tis the Season for Giving, And a Little Getting.What a great deal for you, and any food or drink enthusiasts on your list!
Get a FREE $10 Gift Certificate for yourself with your purchase of a $50 Gift Card
or
Get a FREE $20 Gift Certificate for yourself with your purchase of a $100 Gift Card
Simply stop in to purchase or call for more information. Happy Holidays!
Restrictions apply, and free gift certificates must be used by March 31, 2016. Contact Keg & Kitchen with any questions,
Don’t Forget You Jammies: Keg & Kitchen Is Doing Breakfast-For-Dinner
Breakfast, it’s what’s for dinner at Westmont, New Jersey’s Keg & Kitchen’s Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout breakfast-dinner on August 10th. Reprising a pajama theme K&K’s owners rolled out during a KBS brunch a few years ago, patrons are invited to wear their jammies while they eat foie gras, fried chicken and French toast starting at 7pm.
Awesome.
Bartenders will be pouring plenty more Founders, too, including Dark Penance and Alpha Acid Test IPAs like Centennial, Double Trouble, and All Day. The bf and I will be there wearing our matching onesies and celebrating my birthday weekend so feel free to buy me a beer.
From Phillymag.com – http://goo.gl/wUW4A7
Eat this now: Cemita from Keg & Kitchen
Keg & Kitchen in Westmont has been steadily ramping up its food.
Helping drive this are the two chefs in Kevin and Janet Meeker’s kitchen:
Michael O’Meara, who has consulted with the Meekers for awhile, and Phil Manganaro, an alum of Il Pittore in Rittenhouse Square. The menu has gone more to the comfort-food side, with such dishes shepherd’s pie and chicken pot pie.
People are really going for the cemita.
It’s a sandwich akin to the Mexican Big Mac – tavern ham, guacamole, panela (also known as Oaxaca cheese), shaved red onion, chipotle mayo, lettuce and tomato, layered on a brioche-like round roll that the Meekers order from a bakery in Camden that Kevin won’t identify.
Thing feeds two, comes with fries, and sells for $14.
Your only decision is whether to get it topped with house-smoked beef brisket or fried chicken.
(posted on Philly.com – http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/the-insider/Eat-this-now-Cemita-from-Keg–Kitchen.html)
Beer gardens are popping up all over
Over the past few years, beer gardens have become popular places to cool off and many bars and restaurants in South Jersey and Philadelphia have added open-air establishments to occupy the rising number of beer lovers searching for quality craft beer and a fun environment to drink that quality craft beer.
Due to a high response and success of beer gardens in cities from New York to Nashville, some of the most popular venues in our area are hopping on the beer garden bandwagon.
This summer, Philadelphia alone will host at least a half dozen pop-up beer gardens from Independence Hall to Penn’s Landing.
One place people will be flocking to for a night out with good friends and even better beer is Longwood Gardens.
Marketing Communications Associate Abigail Palutis says German-style fare will be offered at the new Beer Hut, which was constructed from reclaimed wood from a giant sequoia. She also said a local brewery will be partnering to bring the public the newest addition to beer gardens in the Philadelphia area.
“We are also excited to be working with Victory Brewing Company, who will be brewing a Longwood Signature Beer using ingredients grown in our gardens,” she said.
Longwood Gardens’ beer garden will be open Wednesday through Saturday evenings, but you must be a “Nightscape” ticketholder to enjoy the fun.
Explaining the growing trend of beer gardens, Palutis says the region has many quality microbreweries and beer gardens are a great way for people to get together in public to experience what the region has to offer in terms of fun, excitement and quality craft beer.
She asks, “What better type of garden is there in the world?”
“A good beer garden offers a compelling mix of ambiance, great food and great beverages,” she explained. “It should also be a relaxing outdoor oasis to enjoy with friends and family.”
“So far, it’s been fabulous,” said Keg & Kitchen owner Kevin Meeker.
Meeker envisioned something different for his beer garden. So he created a huge 16-foot table where everyone sits and drinks together, not such a popular idea for introverts, but one that forces people to make new friends.
“Our beer garden was designed with the old-style drinking areas in Ireland and England in mind, where people would drink together, out of giant liters of beer while sitting at a communal table,” Meeker said. “In fact, just the other day we had an Eagles fan chatting across from a Giants fan. They were laughing and having fun by the end of the night.”
Meeker says the natural progression of society composed of people who want to meet new people and experience new things is the reason for the rise of beer gardens in the Philadelphia/South Jersey area.
“People spend all day in front of the computer or on their phone, they eventually want to have a fun night out and socialize,” he said. “Ten years ago, they wouldn’t want to sit with new people and share a table, but now, they will sit with whoever and share a cold one.”
One beer garden already has left its mark in South Jersey, opening last April.
Formerly known as Top Dog, Craft House and Beer Garden in Cherry Hill is on the road to celebrating its second successful summer thanks partly to its outdoor beer garden that offers 35 different drafts and over 200 craft beers.
Craft House Manager Bruce Waugh has been in the bar business for 35 years. He said the beer garden trend in the area is due to variety of craft beers available.
“People don’t drink to get smashed anymore,” he said. “Now, they go to beer gardens to socialize and enjoy the art and craft of the variety of drinks available.”
Waugh says Craft House offers three separate bars: one for brandy, one for bourbon and a cigar bar where people can light up a stogie and sip on a variety of craft beer.
“We have really created a cool culture here. Beer, wine and other beverages are appealing to everyone.”
Waugh says learning about the history of beer is one of the things people appeal to most about beer gardens.
He says as the sales of beer continue to skyrocket, so will the number of beer gardens.
(Published in Courier Post – http://www.courierpostonline.com/story/life/2015/05/20/beer-gardens-popping/27584525/)
