Tastings at 28 Springs in Siloam Springs.

Lyndi Fultz

10 years ago

Have you ever been to a tasting event at a restaurant?

Have you ever wondered what goes on at a tasting?

Have you ever assumed that a tasting was just a sampling of the menu?

Yes, a tasting can be as simple as a menu sampling.

YET…

If you are lucky…

A tasting can be a memorable experience that exposes you to a deeper understanding of a particular genre of food, which is then perfectly pared for a multi-course experience. You go away from the event ready to come back for more and/or filled with the desire to continue learning as much as you can.

That, my friends, is the kind of tasting you want to go to.

28 Springs in Siloam Springs is dedicated to that type of full-bodied tasting experience.

This year is a special one for me as a brand ambassador for both 28 Springs and her sister restaurant, James at the Mill in Johnson. As a brand ambassador, that means as new items are added to the menu and tastings or other events are announced, I will get a sneak peak early so I can give you a heads-up.

Heads-up #1:

Hurry! Next Monday the 20^th from 6pm-8pm is a Belgium Beer Tasting at 28 Springs. This is a four course and beer pairing for $40 per person. Spaces are limited and there are only a few seats left. Call 479-524-2828 and make a reservation.

Heads-up #2:

Last chance! Next Tuesday the 21^st is the final night of the Belgium Beer Tasting event. Same time. Same number.

Heads-up #3:

Plan ahead! New tasting events occur monthly. Tastings are held on the second and fourth Monday/Tuesday each month and details about these events are posted on their website and facebook page.

To whet your appetite on what a tasting at 28 Spring is like, let me take you on a virtual tour on the current tasting, the Belgium Beer Tasting event.

Chef James was insistent on getting the bar and tasting tables in the lounge area just right. Whether your tasting spot is at the bar or at an adjoining table facing the bar, your focal point is that magnificent bar.

Casey manages the bar and is a walking encyclopedia of Belgium Beer knowledge. I personally have never met a Belgium beer that I haven’t loved and this tasting took it to the next level. Did you know that they have a Belgium beer on tap that is 16.2% alcohol volume? That is higher than wine folks. Serious stuff since the Belgium’s take their beer making very seriously. Casey took us through each course and explained exactly what we were drinking and why he picked that particular beer to go with each course.

The first course tasting was a Belgian endive filled with salmon mousse. I love this and wished I could have snagged other diners plates while they weren’t looking. This dish was a smoked wild Alaskan salmon with fresh dill, pickled lemon, and cumber and served with Dupont Posca Rustica Belguim beer.

Perhaps now is a good time to mention a very important point. For each tasting event, Chef James, Casey, and Chef Dorothy brainstorm the menu and come up with the perfect paring for the entire event. These tastings are their creative avenue and together they design the dishes they think best tell the tasting story. Chef Dorothy took us through each course and explained exactly what we were eating and why she picked that particular dish to go with the beer.

The second course was a steamed mussel in white wine, Belgium fries, and aioli with parsley. I personally do not eat mussels so I had to let that dish go. The fries were my happy place. Oh, that and the St. Bernardus Tripel Belgium Beer, my absolutely favorite beer of the night. Since the mussels were a miss with us, Dennis and I took the time to attack the pretzel bread with ground mustard butter. That pretzel bread, my friends, should have their own category on the food pyramid.

Seriously, I am not kidding.

Third course was served and courted me as an enticing stuffed beef scaloppini. Beef, pork and bacon sausage, flank steak, potato fondants, caramelized onioins, roasted Arkansas black apples, and mustard. All served with Oude Gueuze Tilquin A L’Ancienne Belgium beer. I personally do not eat pork, so I scraped out the pork inside and enjoyed the flank part of the beef. At this point the beer (don’t worry, it wasn’t a full glass of each) was making me really happy, so I was not too concerned with what we couldn’t eat. There were plenty of other tasty aspects the courses that kept me quite satisfied.

The last and final course was dessert in the form of chocolate tart and ice cream. Filled with askinoisie chocolate, yeasted rye crust, almond lace cookie, roasted cherry rye whiskey ice cream with Guiness cream anglaise and served with (yet some more!) Gouden Carolus Cuvee De Van De Kaiser Belgium Beer.

The two hour tasting event was timed perfectly enough that we could sample our drinks and savor our dinner pairings. Since I went on a Tuesday night, the Sons of Otis Malone band set up and began their soulful mix of light bluegrass mix with a tinge of Jason Mraz feel. Okay, I am not a music kind of gal so I may have that description all wrong. I would choose to go to a tasting on a Tuesday night over a Monday night just to hear them playing in the background.

The Belgium Beer Tasting event was a complete full-bodied tasting experience.

I hope you take the opportunity to try this or another tasting event at 28 Springs. I plan on going back soon with the family and just hanging out for a nice lunch or evening meal. Siloam Springs is about as far from my home in Bella Vista as Fayetteville is.

Thank you Northwest Arkansas, we found another gem in our backyard.