Rustico starts starts a monthly school to learn about the world of beer with beer director Greg Engert.

Carbonara is one of those fatty, delicious preparations of pasta that most people love. What could be better than a rich, unctuous sauce that contains garlic, Parmesan, and cracked black pepper that is studded with bacon? Rustico‘s Steve Mannino was kind enough to share his approach to carbonara and how he applies it to Israeli couscous. The results are fantastic. Read on for the full instructions.

For a long time, couscous was a food that I had a hard time liking. The times that I have had the granular bits of semolina, I’ve always found it dry, with a texture that made me think it must be what furniture stuffing tastes like. But a few weeks ago at Vices of Virginia, a fundraiser for the new Arcadia Center, I tried a pearled couscous carbonara dish from Chef Steve Mannino of Rustico that bowled me over.

Image courtesy of cursed thing Drink of the Week: Bell’s Brewery beers Where: Bourbon, Rustico, The Big Hunt Illinois is a funny place. That their weirdly coiffed (former) governor was impeached this week is only the beginning of the story. They also have some rather complicated alcohol distribution laws that give distributors a ton of power. How does that relate to us? Bell’s Brewery founder Larry Bell decided to get out of the Illinois…

Dish of the Week Brewpops from Rustico Beer lovers rejoice! According to Frank Morales, Rustico got the go ahead from the Virginia ABC to reintroduce their “brewpops.” The return will occur sometime during Memorial Day weekend, when Rustico will host a Brewpop fiesta. They will be serving up six flavors of their delicious treats made from various beers, this time without certain limitations (before they were limited to .5% ABV). If you recall, not that…