Thursday, August 17, 7:00 pm
Members $90, guests $120

When was the last time you were handed a leather-bound volume containing thousands of beer choices to pair with your tasting menu? Although it’s the world’s oldest and most popular alcoholic beverage, beer gets short shrift at most fine-dining restaurants. At the Beard House, we think it’s high time to celebrate this age-old beverage with its own dinner—one that features brews from some of the finest family-owned and -operated breweries in the world and, of course, the cuisine of one of New York’s up-and-coming chefs, Terrance Cave of HQ.

Cave grew up in upstate New York, spending a lot of time at his grandfather’s farm and restaurant, where his father was a cook. Watching his family use the farm’s harvest to create simple comfort foods for guests sparked his interest in cooking at an early age—inspiration that’s evident in his American menu at HQ. A graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education, he started his career at the acclaimed Blue Ribbon Brasserie, and became the sous-chef at Charlie Palmer’s Metrazur and chef de cuisine at Palmer’s Alva. Executive chef posts at Docks Oyster Bar and Seafood Grill and the Cub Room soon followed. With a solid foundation in American cuisine, Cave was ready to open his own place. In October 2005, he found a spot on Thompson Street and set about turning it into HQ, his very own culinary headquarters.

Since opening the restaurant, Cave has received rave reviews for his ever-changing seasonal menu. In his Virtual Gourmet newsletter John Mariani praised Cave’s dishes as “satisfying” and “homey yet refined.” New York Daily News’s Pascale Le Draoulec weighed in, writing, “The food at HQ is hip and a bit whimsical,” and singling out Cave’s “seductive starters.” But the New York Observer’s Moira Hodgson summed it up best when she described the food as “up-to-the-minute—without being over-the-top,” adding, “It’s sophisticated, but as accessible as bistro cooking can be.”