It's a great story ... a simple story ... a blogworthy story ...

A buddy of mine from KU authors a blog with a gaggle of other food purists called Fork, Knife, and Shovel, or commonly known in Blogville as FK&S. I vividly remember the first time I stumbled upon this glorious site, and after multiple hours of reading every post, my stomach was knotted up with hunger pains. I bookmarked it. It is now in my regular rotation ... and should be in yours.

Flash forward to present day ... a guy living in NYC also contributes to FK&S ... and his handle is "Church". Although I've lived vicariously through his countless culinary adventures, I've never met the guy - don't even know what he looks like. However, this past weekend during my trip to NYC, I was baptized.

Church found a new can't miss joint called The Pony Bar and posted about it a month or so ago. I immediately put this cornucopia of American Craft Beer on my hit list for the NYC weekend. It truly was a religious experience. Enjoy ...

Turns out it was the "Maine Event" all weekend ... translation, let's celebrate the severely under appreciated state of Maine by serving ALL drafts from Maine, see board below.

And how about pairing this up with a specialty trio of menu items inspired by Maine culinary awesomeness ... we had two of everything!

#1 - Lobster Roll on brioche


#2 - Scallop sliders on potato buns with caramelized fennel lemon sauce


#3 - Fried oysters with remoulade tartar dipping sauce


This is Molly getting wicked good with the camera.






Pounding beers ... pounding beers ... pounding beers.


You know that feeling you get when you just owned a place? Here's what that looks like ...


And now for the denouement ...

My friend of a friend, Church? Yep, he was FREAKING THERE ... the entire time! Didn't realize it until e-mail chatter later that evening ... "Ships in the drunken night" ... well said.

It's a great story ... I heart Blogville!