Come for the beer, stay for the food

Just as European wines are made to be enjoyed with food, rather than sipped alone, the current tsunami of European-style microbrews features drinks often best quaffed alongside a well-crafted meal. Pangaea Bier Cafe, which opened in 2008 across the street from Gunther’s Ice Cream Shop in Curtis Park, recently stepped up its food game to satisfy that need.

Owner Rob Archie installed a new kitchen and new chef just in time for February’s Sacramento Beer Week celebration. Chef Robb “Rossi” Venditti arrived with plenty of kitchen cred, most recently slinging the pans at Formoli’s Bistro, and before that at Mulvaney’s B&L.

Since then, he’s ramped up the menu to include an ever-changing rotation of seasonal, slightly upscale pub food. For weekday happy hour, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., diners can get great deals on snacks. We tried four items, each priced between $5 and $7, with plentiful proportions.

The menu says Buffalo, but the wings aren’t just slathered in Frank’s hot sauce. They’re deeply flavorful fried morsels with a thick glaze of goodness. The mac ’n’ cheese is creamy, with a bit of beer in the sauce and a crunchy topping of breadcrumbs.

The flatbread, which changes daily, is made in-house and can be customized for children and other picky eaters. Ours had a slightly spicy red sauce and cheese. The bread itself was crunchy on the edge, but lacked a strong flavor of its own. Still, it’s a good size for a starter.

The sliders are gorgeous little mouthfuls with Tillamook cheddar and house-made pickles. They leave you wanting more, which is exactly what you get with the main-course cheeseburger.

Rated on the Burger Junkies website as a burger that “lived up to its good looks,” we found Pangaea’s to be one of the best we’ve had in ages. Made from a custom blend of brisket and chuck, this is a juicy, toothsome patty that holds together, yet bursts with flavor. The locally made brioche bun bears up well, and the house pickles and cheddar simply gild the lily. The shoestring fries are good, but don’t even touch them until you’ve tried the burger.

Other menu items are equally tasty. Mediterranean-spiced lamb meatballs are served as three large portions on a bed of white polenta and the same spicy red sauce that’s on the flatbread. The polenta tasted rich with cheese and butter—a good foil for the acidic sauce.

A pork piccata was an unusual offering, but arrived juicy and wisely accompanied by capers, lemon sauce, potatoes and baby artichokes.

We also tried the sausage sampler, since all the links are made in-house. Three varieties are freshly grilled and served with mustard, pickled veg and aioli. It goes well with any number of the rotating beers on tap.

At lunch one day, we tried the hot buttered pretzel, which is a behemoth. It was the least favorite of our dishes, with a hint of fake butter in the glaze. The chewy texture is perfect, though, and the mustard alongside is classic. The cheese sauce tends more toward Velveeta than rarebit, which would be even better.

However, an eggplant-Parmesan sandwich was well-executed with feta, pesto and arugula layered on the roll. The muffaletta is a fair version of that New Orleans tradition, but with a softer focaccia rather than the usual Italian roll. The mustard-laced potato salad alongside, though, is worth the price alone.

Venditti plans to start weekend brunches this month. He also promises seasonal additions like peaches with scallops and pork belly, and plenty of drought-tolerant cactus dishes. With Pangaea’s new kitchen and Gunther’s just across the street, there’s now even more reason to visit Franklin Boulevard and never leave.