cia – Page 195 – Writing With My Mouth Full

The Spotted Pig

314 West 11th Street at Greenwich Street
212/620.0393
about $100 for two, with a few drinks, without tip
â™¥ â™¥ â™¥ â™¥

Updated, 2007: A second floor space has opened, but I still waited two and a half hours on a Saturday even after I put my name down at 6:45pm

It’s no surprise that one of my favorite chefs, Mario Batali, helped open The Spotted Pig in the West Village. One look at the menu and a wanna-be foodie like me would immediately appreciate the tongue and the kidney, two items that are almost always expected in a restaurant that calls itself a “gastro-pub.” The chargrilled burger with roquefort cheese and shoestring fries in garlic and rosemary is a must-try. Order it meat medium-rare and I can bet it will satisy the carnivore in you, even if you don’t like stinky cheese.

During my first visit, I ordered the ramps and they came wrapped in pancetta. It’s pretty steep at $14 but if you like ramps in the spring like I do, it’s an appetizer you can’t skip. I also had the rabbit cooked with fiddlehead ferns, a vegetable also only available in the spring. With two of my favorite vegetables on the same menu at the same night, I swore I would return.

When I finally did, I ordered the poached lamb’s tongue and the pan-fried veal kidney. The tongue was served with lentils and fava beans. The tarragon plus the sour cream gave the dish a little kick and they helped melt the tongue in my, well, tongue. Even though several pieces of the tongue were sliced, I could not help but notice that one was actually a whole piece. It looked like the lamb went Maaah and then the whoosh of the butcher’s knife just sliced it. It made for interesting photo anyway.

The veal kidney was a little too overwhelming. I understood that another strong ingredient was needed to bring out the offal taste of the kidneys, but I thought prosciutto and mustard sauce were too salty to complement them. The combination was so powerful that they were all competing in my mouth. And this is when the pub’s role comes in. The Spotted Pig has about one hundred different bottles of wine on their list, together with a few pale ales and stouts. Hand-pumped Old Speckled Hen comes in handy with all that offal.

Visit on a weeknight and expect to wait for an hour. Visit on a weekend and expect to wait for two hours. Everyone in New York City wants to be at the Pig.

Chubo

6 Clinton Street off Houston
212/674.6300
about $80 for two, with two drinks, without tip
â™¥
Update, 2007: The space is for sale

Chubo’s offerings are familiar but the combination of all of them makes the menu a little confused. The hamachi was served two ways: tartare and the other, glazed with teriyaki. They had foie gras but unfortunately in shumai form. Their steak sits on wasabi-truffle sauce. Our soft-shell crabs were excellent, but I was a bit surprised they came with duck. Perhaps the chef just wanted to offer a little bit of everything, or maybe he just couldn’t make up his mind about which cuisine to concentrate on.

Tabbouleh

I loved reading Diana Abu-Jaber’s The Language of Baklava. Not only did I read about how it was like to grow up with a Jordanian father and an American mother, I also learned how to cook some of her family’s dishes.

Ingredients:
1 cup of fine bulgur wheat, soaked in water for about an hour and drained
1 bunch of flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
2 medium cucumbers, peeled and diced
3 medium tomatoes, diced
juice of 1 small lemon
salt, pepper, olive oil

1. In a large bowl, mix everything together and let sit in the fridge for an hour or two to marinate.

Asparagus Soup

I love how rich the green of this soup is. If your guest is adamant about eating soup with meat, brown some bacon and chop to smaller pieces. Add the bacon at the same time you garnish the soup with the asparagus tips.

Ingredients:
vegetable stock
1 bunch of asparagus, chopped, reserving the tips
1 leek, white parts only, chopped
1 medium red onion, roughly chopped
half a bunch of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
half a stick of butter
grated lemon peel
salt, pepper

1. Melt butter in a large soup pot. SautÃ© garlic and onions. Add leeks and cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the asparagus stems, onion and parsley with salt and pepper. Add vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Then simmer until asparagus is tender, about 5 minutes.
2. PurÃ©e mixture using a blender, in batches if necessary. Return soup to pot and thin with more stock if desired.
3. In a separate pot, boil some water and cook asparagus tips for about 2 minutes with some salt. Use as garnish for soup.

Vegetable Stock

Vegetable stock? Even the biggest carnivore would want a simple soup without meat.

Ingredients:
leeks, greens only, roughly chopped
carrot, peeled and chopped
celery stalk, chopped
parsley branches
bay leaf
salt and olive oil

1. SautÃ© leeks in a stock pot with hot olive oil. Add and lightly brown the rest of the ingredients. Add enough water and bring to a boil.
2. Simmer under low fire for a couple of hours until stock is reduced to about half. Strain into containers. Let cool before freezing to store for future use.