“Mondays are the only night when beers are 1/2 off, and he does a fried chicken that is pret-ty damn tasty…Tue- Sun…full price beers, and no fried chicken.” Gev Kazanchyan’s e-mail left little doubt which night to hold our group dinner. Hours after Gev mentioned that he’d bring rare bottles of Thomas Hardy’s Ole Ale, and that Boneyard Bistro chef-owner Aaron Robins would prepare a “ploughman’s platter,” our table for 10 was set, including Mattatouille, e*star LA and SamKimSamKim.

On Monday nights, every one of Robins’ 165 beers are half-off, meaning we were able to score a prized 375-ml bottle of Russian River Temptation for only $11. The blonde ale lived up to its name, aged in French oak chardonnay barrels for 17 months until tantalizingly sour.

We also landed an $11 bottle of Russian River Supplication. Despite the name, Vinnie Cilurzo’s beer was far from submissive, aged for 14 months in Pinot Noir wine barrels with cherries, which gave the sour brown ale a pink hue and tart flavor.

People devoured the oversized beer-battered onion rings and “Caprese” with goat cheese, but my favorite starter involved thin-skinned Pulled Pork Dumplings ($11) bathed in BBQ buerre blanc and plated with crunchy minced cole slaw.

It was a little incongruous to order Thai-Spiced Crispy Calamari ($12) at a restaurant that specializes in BBQ, but Chef Robins pulled it off, pairing the lightly battered cross-sections of squid with a crunchy peanut-green papaya salad and lashings of spicy ginger-lemongrass gastrique.

Fried Mac n’ Cheese ($6) sounded heavy as hell, but it was still worth ordering the crisp-crusted triangles that oozed sharp cheese.

Monday-only fried chicken lived up to the hype, featuring well-seasoned batter that didn’t overpower the juicy bird.

Gev thought it was important for us to try “The O.M.G.” ($21), Robins’ signature burger, so we split two burgers that Robins cut into quarters. The ingredients were stacked so high that the burgers had to be speared with oversized toothpicks to tame the beer-battered onion rings, chipotle aioli, BBQ sauce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, Nueske applewood-smoked bacon and cheddar cheese. The burger was pretty over the top and probably deserving of more attention on a separate visit. On this night, the burger got lost in the meaty shuffle.

We split an awe-inspiring meat-only variation on the Mega Platter, a heaping $250 plate of food designed to feed 10 people that Robins loaded with pulled pork, pork sausage, baby back ribs, St. Louis-style pork ribs, Flintstones-esque beef ribs and beef brisket, all slow-smoked over hickory, plus a whole chicken grilled over red oak. Just the sight of the platter nearly induced cardiac arrest. This was a serious plate of food highlighted by the smoky pink-edged pork ribs and the melting brisket with a nice outer char and a smoke ring that would pass muster in Texas. The sausage could have had more snap, and the pulled pork wasn’t crusty enough, but the overall effect was positive.

Robins brought us three different 750-ml bottles throughout the course of the meal, including Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye, a bitter but not overwhelming IPA with a malty finish.

Allagash Hugh Malone offered the opposite dynamic, since it was a malty beer with a hoppy finish.

Avery Maharaja is a killer double IPA that I’ve had many times. There were so many plates and bottles that it was pretty much sensory overload, but I made sure to try everything.

One of Gev’s selling points was the promise of Stilton on the aforementioned ploughman’s platter. The funky, blue-veined cheese was practically made to pair with old English ales.

Gev had been hoarding a rare 2006 bottle of Thomas Hardy’s Ale – “the rareset ale in Britain.” The ale was first brewed in 1968 to honor the 40th anniversary of the British author’s death. Hardy’s was aged in oak sherry casks for nine months and had distinct caramel notes. As if this wasn’t great enough, Robins broke out a bottle of the 2004 Thomas Hardy’s Ale, which had less carbonation and a more subtle, molasses-like finish. We traded tasting notes and the word “fig” came up. That seemed like an apt description.

For dessert, Robins delivered intensely rich dark chocolate cakes featuring a reduction made with Jack Daniel’s and Coca-Cola.

Brewdog Paradox was a lush beer brewed in 1970 Glen Grant Scotch casks that was great on its own and accented the Jack Daniel’s in our dessert.

This was a memorable meal featuring some flavorful dishes, terrific beer pairings and great company. Monday night at the Boneyard could easily go into heavy rotation.

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1. cna training, July 20, 2010:

   nice post. thanks.

This entry is filed under Barbecue, California, Los Angeles, San Fernando Valley, Southern, Southern California.