Beets, Belford and beer dinner at Mangia

I had lunch at The Tap Room today. Good, fresh food alert here.

There is a beet salad on lunch special ($8) that deserves to be tasted while it's still on (Chef Andy White predicts a week or so, "as long as The Bottleworks has beets").

The salad comes out all stylized and vertical, marbled with a soft white cheese (I didn't pick Andy's brains for precise ingredients), drizzled with some yummy drizzly, and garnished with a pungent leafy foodstuff.

I asked Andy to take a picture of it for me so I could show off his presentation. He said he will do so. In the interim, I'll illustrate this brief tasting note with something equally delicious, two Kevin Belford sketches of a very special local model, dancer, person, mom.

My buddy Brett Underwood also emaileth of a Chef Andy White Schlafly Beer Dinner at Mangia Italiano, 3145 South Grand, at 7 p.m. Thursday Nov 20. That's one night before the 2008 Poetry Scores Art Invitational at Hoffman LaChance, but I'm sorely tempted to go.

Here's what tempts me.

Menu, with beer pairings:

Butternut Squash Soup

Hefeweizen Unfiltered Wheat Ale

Smoked trout and corn pancake

Pilsner

Elk medallion and pomegranate with wild rice

Bière de Garde

Duck confit and dried cherries

Winter ESB Ale

Apple tart

No. 15

Oatmeal chocolate chip cookie

Barrel Aged Imperial Stout

(Vegetarian options are available.)

The check, please: $50 per person

Reservations are required. Call (314)664-8585.