Come into Basil T’s Brewery and Italian Grill on Sundays to enjoy the new Italian tapas for just $6! Football games will be even more enjoyable when you are dining on any of the four exquisite flavors from NJ’s best Italian restaurant. Their famous Wings Diavlo, Meatball Panino, Seasonal Ravioli, and Sausage Giambotta are fantastic Tapas that pair perfectly with our famous pumpkin ale!

End the weekend on a high note with our Sunday specials at Basil T’s Brewery and Italian Grill. When you visit NJ’s best Italian restaurant, you’ll find tapas and pumpkin ale in a relaxing and enjoyable atmosphere!

Best Italian Restaurant In NJ Has Unbeatable Sunday Specials And Pumpkin Ale

Just because the weekend is over doesn’t mean you have to be stuck with a case of the Mondays. Basil T’s Brewery and Italian Grill is offering even more specials on Monday nights! While the amazing pumpkin ale is still available, these specials include a hearty burger. For just $15, you will dine on a juicy Angus beef burger, spectacular French fries, and a beverage of your choice, including the pumpkin ale. Why go anywhere else but NJ’s best Italian restaurant to melt away your Monday blues!

No matter when you are dining at Basil T’s Brewery and Italian Grill, be sure to check out their Mug Club. The best Italian restaurant in NJ features six handcrafted beers, including the amazing pumpkin ale seasonal brew, in different sizes and combinations. Five brews are always on tap and there is a new favorite for everyone to discover. Rosie’s Tale Waggin’ Pale Ale, Ms. Lucy’s Weimaraner Wheat, Basil’s Rocket Red Ale, Maxwell’s Dry Stout, and our seasonal brew will tempt beer drinkers everywhere.

No matter the occasion, come to Basil T’s Brewery and Italian Grill for unbeatable specials, brews, and food. Take advantage of $6 tapas every Sunday and $15 burger and drink meals on Monday! The dishes at NJ’s best Italian restaurant pair perfectly with our pumpkin ale. Eat, drink and enjoy fall at fabulous prices at Basil T’s Brewery and Italian Grill! For more information about Basil T’s Brewery and Italian Grill, NJ’s best Italian restaurant, please call (732) 842-5990 or visit http://www.basilt.com/ today!

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Basil T’s Brewery and Italian Grill is offering delicious, new Italian Tapas for only $6 during Sunday football games! The best Italian restaurant in NJ is proud to offer this great Sunday football special during all NFL games. There are four flavors to choose from that will excite anyone’s taste buds! Their famous Wings Diavlo, Meatball Panino, Seasonal Ravioli, and Sausage Giambotta are fantastic Tapas everyone will fall in love with.

Find 12 large, flat screen TVs at Basil T’s Brewery and Italian Grill to watch every NFL Sunday game while you enjoy the $6 Tapas specials. A great addition to the Tapas is one of Basil T’s freshly made microbrews. Make NJ’s best Italian restaurant your favorite hot spot for Sunday football!

NJ’s Best Italian Restaurant Has Amazing Sunday Football Specials

While you are enjoying the Sunday football specials at Basil T’s Brewery and Italian Grill, be sure to check out their Mug Club! The best Italian restaurant in NJ features six handcrafted beers, including a seasonal offer, in different sizes and combinations! Five brews are always on tap and there is a new favorite for everyone to discover. Rosie’s Tale Waggin’ Pale Ale, Ms. Lucy’s Weimaraner Wheat, Basil’s Rocket Red Ale, Maxwell’s Dry Stout, and a seasonal Scottish Ale will tempt beer drinkers everywhere!

These exquisite brews are offered by the Pint, Mug, Growler, or Basil’s Sampler. The Basil T’s sampler includes 5 oz. of all five of NJ’s best Italian restaurant’s classic, hand-crafted brews, plus a seasonal offering! You get 30 oz. of Basil T’s finest beers for just $8.95! This offer is an ideal way to sample all the great beers Basil T offers while watching your favorite NFL team play and enjoying $6 Tapas.

If you already have a favorite brew from NJ’s best Italian restaurant, why not purchase the Original Basil T’s Growler. For $24, you will get a 2-liter German-style glass bottle that can be refilled with your favorite brew. After your initial purchase, you will pay just $12 for refills every time you come back to Basil T’s Brewery and Italian Grill! It won’t matter if you want to try all of Basil T’s brews or bring your favorite home, NJ’s best Italian restaurant has the perfect solution for you!

Be sure to join Basil T’s Brewery and Italian Grill every Sunday for great NFL football specials! Try their famous Wings Diavlo, Meatball Panino, Seasonal Ravioli, or Sausage Giambotta Italian Tapas for only $6 each! Pair your delicious Tapas with a fresh microbrew to complete the meal. NJ’s best Italian restaurant has the food and drinks you want while watching your favorite NFL team play their Sunday games!

For more information about Basil T’s Brewery and Italian Grill, NJ’s best Italian restaurant, please call (732) 842-5990 or visit http://www.basilt.com/ today!

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Homemade pasta is like a fluffy white cloud: light, soft, tender and delicious. Good pasta makes the sauce come to life and if done correctly, forms a beautiful harmony like a great Beatles tune. About 10 years ago during a visit to Italy, I stopped at the Bottene factory in Vincenza then at Molino Caputo in Napoli. After seeing the facilities with my own eyes, I knew I could make homemade pasta, gnocchi and ravioli with the same ingredients and machines used in Italy.

I was told by all the pundits it could not be done but I would prove them wrong and succeed in making the best homemade pasta, ravioli and gnocchi in New Jersey, and possibly the entire East coast.

Pasta has been made by hand “fatto a mano” for many, many centuries with one simple recipe: flour, water, salt, and eggs if desired. But its simplicity has inherent complexities. What type of flour? Why that flour? How much water? Eggs or no eggs? Then comes the choice of machine, of which there are plenty to choose from, but only a few that process the dough with hand-like movements.

So I am going to reveal some of my own research to help pasta lovers around the world.

1. Use Caputo flour. I use Caputo “00” pasta fresca e gnocchi flour mixed with Caputo semolina flour. Based on your water, mixer, etc. you will have to judge what’s best for you. Caputo has many flours, with different millings and protein contents.
2. The machine: clearly doing it by hand with grandma’s Imperia hand crank machine is the preferred method, but when you are making pasta for busy restaurants you need something automatic. I love the Bottene machines (we own 6) because they are made very well and priced very fairly, but maybe not so well priced right now with the euro at 1.48 at the time of this writing. Bottene machines are work horses and they have a 100 different dies. The magic here is the dies (the piece that the pasta extrudes from) are all brass, a very soft metal that dings and dents and gives the pasta its identity, and more importantly makes the pasta rough so the sauce sticks to it, yummy. Buy Bottene the machines, they are worth every penny.
3. Always use sea salt.
4. Don’t be shy, an egg or two makes great pasta better.
5. Leave the dough wet, it is hard to handle and work with but makes lighter pasta.
6. When making gnocchi use impastata ricotta. It is drier than regular ricotta, so you need less flour, and use less flour for lighter gnocchi. My trick: use 1 egg per 3 pounds of cheese. Please only use Caputo gnocchi flour.

The sauce choices are unlimited: pesto, pomodoro, puttanesca, bolognese, marina, alfredo, carbonara, norma …. Sit down and decide to do it right! Bring some wholesome goodness to your family and friends. Make some homemade pasta with your favorite sauce, open a bottle of wine and float up to pasta heaven.

www.bottene.net

www.molinocaputo.it

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We will be serving St. Josephs Pasta all week

Saint Josephs Day March 19, 2010

A note from Victor Rallo Jr.

My Father loved this day and would always cook a feast for family and friends. I grew up eating pasta con sarde and the traditional sfinge on St. Josephs day. After my father passed away in 2002 I promised to keep the tradition alive, please join us and enjoy this special occasion.

Customs of the Day

St. Joseph’s Day is a big Feast for Italians because in the Middle Ages, God, through St. Joseph’s intercessions, saved the Sicilians from a very serious drought. So in his honor, the custom is for all to wear red, in the same way that green is worn on St. Patrick’s Day.

Today, after Mass (at least in parishes with large Italian populations), a big altar (“la tavola di San Giuse” or “St. Joseph’s Table”) is laden with food contributed by everyone (note that all these St. Joseph celebrations might take place on the nearest, most convenient weekend). Different Italian regions celebrate this day differently, but all involve special meatless foods: minestrone, pasta with breadcrumbs (the breadcrumbs symbolize the sawdust that would have covered St. Joseph’s floor), seafood, Sfinge di San Giuseppe, and, always, fava beans, which are considered “lucky” because during the drought, the fava thrived while other crops failed (recipes below).

The table — which is always blessed by a priest — will be in three tiers, symbolizing the Most Holy Trinity. The top tier will hold a statue of St. Joseph surrounded by flowers and greenery. The other tiers might hold, in addition to the food: flowers (especially lilies); candles; figurines and symbolic breads and pastries shaped like a monstrance, chalices, fishes, doves, baskets, St. Joseph’s staff, lilies, the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts, carpentry tools, etc.; 12 fishes symbolizing the 12 Apostles; wine symbolizing the miracle at Cana; pineapple symbolizing hospitality; lemons for “luck”; bread and wine (symbolizing the Last Supper); and pictures of the dead. There will also be a basket in which the faithful place prayer petitions.

The cry “Viva la tavola di San Giuse!” begins the feasting and is heard throughout the day. When the eating is done, the St. Joseph’s altar is smashed, and then three children dressed as the Holy Family will knock on three doors, asking for shelter. They will be refused at the first two, and welcomed at the third, in memory of the Holy Family’s seeking of hospitality just before Christ was born. This re-enactment is called “Tupa Tupa,” meaning “Knock Knock.”

The day ends with each participant taking home a bag that might be filled with bread, fruit, pastries, cookies, a medal of St. Joseph, a Holy Card and/or a blessed fava bean. Keep your “lucky bean,” and let it remind you to pray to St. Joseph. (The Litany of St. Joseph would be most appropriate today! You can download the Litany, in Microsoft Word .doc format, in English and in Latin).

Recipes:

Pasta di San Giuseppe (pasta with breadcrumbs that symbolize sawdust)

Bucatini or Perciatelli pasta

Sauce:
2 TBSP olive oil
5 cloves garlic, chopped
pinch of red pepper flakes
2 cups chopped fresh fennel
2 cups crushed tomatoes
2 TBSP tomato paste
1 TBSP chopped fresh basil
4 cans of drained, skinless, boneless sardines

Heat oil in large pot, and saute in it the garlic and pepper flakes. Add the fennel, tomatoes, paste, and basil. Cover and let simmer 30 minutes ’til fennel is tender. Add the sardines and simmer a few more minutes.

Topping:
1 TBSP olive oil
1 cup fine homemade breadcrumbs

Heat oil, and add crumbs and heat until golden brown. Pour sauce over the pasta, then sprinkle with the breadcrumbs.
Traditional St. Josephs Reading

Sermon 2, On St Joseph
By St. Bernardine of Siena

This is the general rule that applies to all individual graces given to a rational creature. Whenever divine grace selects someone to receive a particular grace, or some especially favoured position, all the gifts for his state are given to that person, and. enrich him abundantly.

This is especially true of that holy man Joseph, the supposed father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and true husband of the queen of the world and of the angels. He was chosen by the eternal Father to be the faithful foster-parent and guardian of the most precious treasures of God, his Son and his spouse. This was the task which he so faithfully carried out. For this, the Lord said to him, “Good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord.”

A comparison can be made between Joseph and the whole Church of Christ. Joseph was the specially chosen man through whom and under whom Christ entered the world fittingly and in an appropriate way. So, if the whole Church is in the debt of the Virgin Mary, since, through her, it was able to receive the Christ, surely after her, it also owes to Joseph special thanks and veneration.

For he it is who marks the closing of the old testament. In him the dignity of the prophets and patriarchs achieves its promised fulfilment. Moreover; he alone possessed in the flesh what God in his goodness promised to them over and again.

It is beyond doubt that Christ did not deny to Joseph in heaven that intimacy, respect, and high honour which he showed to him as to a father during his own human life, but rather completed and perfected it. Justifiably the words of the Lord should be applied to him, “Enter into the joy of your Lord.” Although it is the joy of eternal happiness that comes into the heart of man, the Lord prefers to say to him “enter into joy”. The mystical implication is that this joy is not just inside man, but surrounds him everywhere and absorbs him, as if he were plunged in an infinite abyss.

Therefore be mindful of us, blessed Joseph, and intercede for us with Him Whom men thought to be your Son. Win for us the favour of the most Blessed Virgin your spouse, the mother of Him Who lives and reigns with the Holy Spirit through ages unending. Amen.

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April 1-10

3 Course Pre-Fixe Dinner $30.10

ANTIPASTI & INSALATE

Caesar: fresh romaine, traditional Caesar dressing shaved Reggiano, foccaccia toast

Escarola: crisp escarole, granny smith apples, candied walnuts and shaved provolone

Peperoni: Bufala mozzarella and house roasted peppers with extra virgin olive oil, fresh basil & ciabatta toast

Cozze: fresh black shell mussels, garlic, white wine, ceci beans, Italian parsley

Calamari: golden fried calamari, with homemade marinara sauce

PIATTI DEL GIORNO

Rigatoni Melanzane: House made rigatoni, crispy Parmigiana coated eggplant, filetto di pomodoro and fresh mozzarella

Frutti di Mare: House made chitarra pasta, mussels, clams, calamari, pomodoro fresco, basil &

extra virgin olive oil

Malfadine Bolognese : Northern Italian meat sauce with veal, beef and pork over house made ruffled papardelle and finshed with mascarpone cheese

Scarpariello – Bell and Evans Frenched chicken breast, Italian sausage, hot peppers, capers, olive oil and red wine vinegar, served over rapini flowers and fingerling potatoes

Pollo Francese – Tender chicken cutlet, white wine, capers and lemon with creamy

spinach risotto and lemon gremolata

Sogliola Milanese – Fresh hand cut filet of sole, breaded and pan fried in extra virgin olive oil, arugula and red onion salad, beefsteak tomato and grilled lemon

Salmone – Grilled King Salmon filet, with sautéed fresh Swiss chard and golden and red beet salad

Saltimbocca – Pork tenderloin pounded thin with Prosciutto di Parma, fresh sage, sauté escarole, and crispy fingerling potato

Costata di Manzo – Slow roasted beef short rib, with root vegetables and Chianti wine, sweet potato puree and brussel sprouts with pancetta

DOLCI

Cannoli– Miniature chocolate and traditional cannoli filled with homemade cannoli cream

Panna Cotta– Vanilla Italian custard, with fresh berries

Tiramisu – The classic “pick me up” espresso mascarpone custard with lady fingers, milk chocolate and fresh cream

No substitutions
Gratuity added to parties of 6 or more
Menu Subject to Change Without Notice

Served Until 7pm on Saturday

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Hello sports fans. Our Burger Night is taking a quick break on the bench so we can bring you some great specials for the start of Football Season!

Monday Night Football Specials

$10 Pizza Napoletana
$8 Calamari Fritti
$8 Wings Diavlo
$8 Meatball Sliders
$8 Mesculino Salad
$8 Rigatoni Pomodoro

$3 pints of our micro-brewed beer

These specials are good until the Monday night football game is over, or until our kitchen closes

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New Jersey Monthly’s 27th Annual Readers’ Choice Restaurant Poll awards the brews of the Red Bank brewery and Italian restaurant as the winner in the Best Beer and Best Pub categories in Central Jersey.

Inside Jersey’s Best of N.J. Restaurants feature listed Basil T’s as the winner for Best Brew Pub in New Jersey.

Basil T’s continues to impress critics and guests with its fresh Italian meals and homemade beer.  The 24-year-old restaurant has become a local favorite and one of the best restaurants and bars in Red Bank.  The Red Bank microbrewery features a minimum of six hand crafted ales each season.

All of the beers are brewed by Gretchen Schmidhausler, who is only the second Head Brewer in Basil T’s history.  She has been brewing beers for over 14 years and is a graduate of the American Brewers Guild’s Craftbrewers Apprenticeship Program, in Woodland, CA.

Basil T’s was recently featured in Draft Magazine’s Online Exclusive: Top 10 Beers Brewed by Women, honoring Basil T’s brewer Gretchen Schmidhausler.

Gretchen and Basil T’s have also received recognition for The Original Basil T’s Maxwell’s Dry Stout:

• Gold Medal Winner, 2006 Great American Beer Festival (GABF), “Classic Dry Irish Stout”
• Bronze Medal, 2003 GABF, “Coffee Flavored Beer”
• Gold Medal, 2002 GABF, “Coffee Flavored Beer”

The next time you’re looking for an evening out, Basil T’s will not disappoint you.  Plan an evening in Red Bank to enjoy a fresh, authentic Italian meal and a refreshing, cold, award-winning beer at one of the finest restaurants and microbreweries in New Jersey.

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During her stay in Bavaria, one of the world’s true beer meccas, Gretchen visited Wurstkuchl, a tavern situated along the Danube River . Wurstkuchl (pictured, right) has roots that date back to the 12th century when the location provided slow-simmered meals for stonemasons, dockers and crane workers.

Though now geared largely toward visitors, Wurstkuchl serves much the same purpose it did hundreds of years ago: providing its patrons with delicious food and drink.

While there Gretchen enjoyed Bavarian wheat beers, dark and golden lagers, and Rauch (smoked) beers. The tastes and aromas will serve as inspiration for future beers brewed at the Red Bank bar Basil T’s.

Never satisfied with producing anything less than the best, Gretchen is always looking for ways to improve an already award-winning selection of beers at Basil Ts.

Visit the Basil T’s website to view its world-class authentic Italian menu and to learn more about its six, handcrafted beers: http://www.basilt.com/

Learn More About One of the Top New Jersey Bars

Stay current on all the latest news, including Gretchen’s adventures in the brewing world, here and at: http://www.basilts.net

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If you walk into the kitchen of our Italian restaurant in NJ, you won’t see any bags of pasta, but you might spot bags of flour. That’s because we make all our pasta, from scratch, in house.  We make the dough, we cut the rigatoni, we ruffle the pappardelle. Doing this adds a unique freshness and authentic taste to all of our pasta dishes we serve at our NJ restaurant.

Walk around a little more, and you’ll see tomatoes. Lots and lots of tomatoes. Here in the Garden State, we take advantage of the abundance and freshness of our state vegetable, the Jersey Tomato. We purchase all our tomatoes from local farms whenever they are in season and are proud to say that Jersey tomatoes make some of the best Pomodoro sauce around. All our tomatoes are ripened in our NJ restaurant for the juiciest, most flavorful taste possible. Many places will use tomatoes as soon as they receive them, but we know you can’t rush perfection.

Jersey tomatoes aren’t the only seasonal ingredients we include in our menu. We carefully select every element of every dish, and compliment our menu with items like dandelion greens, broccoli rabe, ramps, wild mushrooms, fava beans, watermelons, cantaloupe, apples during their peak of freshness and seasonality. We also only use fresh, never frozen hand-cuts of seasonal fish, and avoid farm raised seafood products as we believe the quality and taste are sacrificed.

After you’ve had the homemade pasta topped with the homemade sauce, you’ll probably want to wash it all down with, you guessed it, our homemade beer. (Our gold medal, award winning, homemade beer to be precise.) With five deliciously distinct styles and our many seasonal brews, there’s a beer for every taste and a Sampler if you’d rather taste every beer from our Red Bank brewery.

Last but certainly not least, is dessert (if you’ve managed to save room for it) made by our own pastry chef. Our house made pastries are inspired by authentically Italian recipes from places like Attanasio Pastry Shop in Naples, birthplace of the Sfogliatella. Basil T’s owner Victor Rallo wanted to make sure our recipe was authentic as possible, so he dropped in on the kitchen of Attanasio on his last trip to Naples.

At Basil T’s, we have a passion for everything we serve. Our approach to dining embraces the entire spectrum of fresh and homemade in order to bring that passion to you. That’s why when we say fresh and homemade, we mean Fresh and Homemade!

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