Start planning for your hair-of-the-dog New Year’s Day
Over the years, we’ve made many suggestions for New Year’s Day breakfast spots (and particular dishes, like menudo) guaranteed to neutralize the toxic effects of the previous night’s drunken debacle. The long-standing theory that curing the ill effects of alcohol with more booze – often called “Hair of the Dog” – is an ancient tradition.
The very term “hair of the dog” dates back, at the very least, to the 17th century when a Scottish tradition of curing a dog’s bite by placing a few hairs of the very canine that bit someone into the wound would ward off infection. Using the Latin term similia similibus curantur (like cures like) as an inspiration, it was believed that a glass of the same alcoholic beverage taken within 24 hours of the first drink would soothe those jangled nerves and rumbling stomach.
No dogs are necessary next Wednesday, January 1, at the Foundry in Westport, 424 Westport Road, when McCoy’s chef Keith Hewitt oversees the saloon’s five-course New Year’s Day brunch. The brunch, priced at $40 per person, starts at noon.
Michael Peterson, the corporate chef for the Wkc Restaurant Group (which operates McCoy’s Public House, the Beer Kitchen and other venues) gives all the credit for next week’s brunch to Hewitt. “I’m going to be at the brunch myself,” Peterson says, “but only as a customer.”
The event will begin with a reception featuring “beermosas,” made with orange juice and McCoy’s bright lager and a citrus oyster shooter, followed by a smoked salmon frittata with creme fraiche and Prairie ale, then a second course of a pork belly Monte Cristo slider drizzled with maple syrup and sided with Boulevard Bourbon Barrel Quad. The final three courses of the meal will be a corned-beef hash Benedict with Cambridge Red God; fried chicken and waffles served as a duet with Odell Cutthroat Porter; and for the finale, freshly fried beignets with Founders breakfast stout.
Peterson says the event has room for 25 more guests; reservations can be made by calling 816-960-0866.
And where do you go, Fast Pitch readers, to indulge in a little “Hair o’ the Dog” action on New Year’s Day?
