A Look At Republic's Community Beer Dinner

by Steven Doyle photos by Melissa Alouf

There are times when you sit down to a meal that absolutely makes you grin. In this age where restaurants are popping up so quickly we hardly have a chance to sit back and explore what the chef is actually doing, but this is not the case at Republic which is situated in North Dallas at 12300 Inwood very near LBJ and across from Jesuit. Here you will find an exciting menu created by an excitable chef. A friend I dined with last night claims she can tell the mood of the chef based on the execution of the meal. If this is true then chef Ray Skradzinski was elated when he created a special menu to pair at this special dinner we enjoyed with a slew of Community beers.

The excitement of the evening was not only the fact that Skaradzinski was on point at the beer dinner, but that it was paired with Community Beer Co., and we were able to dine with the owner of Community, Kevin Carr and have each course of brews thoughtfully explained by Ashley Kelly, the Community sales associate who is extremely passionate about her beers.

You may know the good chef most recently from Idle Rye in Deep Ellum, and formerly doing amazing things at Five Sixty, the Wolfgang Puck restaurant downtown. He is now perched to do his own brand of cookery at this very laid back restaurant Republic, where by the way, you will find the Community owner Carr there so often that he has his own seats at the bar.

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If the dinner last night was proof of concept for Skaradzinski’s strengths you will be pleasantly fed when visiting Republic. By the way, Republic opened using a menu that chef Kent Rathbun created if this gives you another indication of what this restaurant is about.

All this to build up the fact we enjoyed an amazing dinner with curiously perfect beer pairings. Let’s quickly run through the beers which included Community’s Silly Gose. Silly Gose is an ancient style of German beer that is a wheat ale and brewed with sea salt and coriander. This version gives us a slightly sour take with tangerine peels and apricot puree. What an exciting beer! The tartness is cut slightly by the sea salt giving this beer a perfect leg up at any summer event, including a beer dinner.

We also enjoyed the Wit and Wild by Community which is their gold medal witbier aged five months in white burgundy casks that drinks almost like a wine more than a beer with hints of pineapple and mango, and slightly tart. As one who does not typically go for a tart beer, this was extremely drinkable and most enjoyable.

We finished the night with the Razzy Wit which is light and sessionable, kissed with raspberry and a wonderful ending to the night. Speaking of sessionable beers, I have explained to Carr I could drink 30 of his extremely powerful ABV IPA, the Mosaic, at one sitting. He scoffs but I will do this for him one day.

Let’s look at the dining portion of the evening:

Pressed Duck with a citrus herbed salad