Hog Heaven

My friend Jack was in town on business this week. After his conference ended on Wednesday, we met up so I could show him around the West Village. I'd been dying to try the Spotted Pig, which always has a long wait. We played the early bird card, arriving around 6:30, so we easily got a table. (Considering the fact it's now dark by 5 p.m., I am shameless about early dinners.)

We started with Devils on Horseback; thanks to the recipe in New York magazine this week, I can tell you these are prunes (ahem, dried plums) stuffed with spiced pears and wrapped in bacon.

Next we split the crispy pig's ear salad with lemon caper dressing and the restaurant's famous sheep's milk ricotta gnudi with sage brown butter. Oh. My. God. The gnudi were amazing -- kind of a large version of gnocchi, but with a yummy cheese filling. Think gnocchi plus ravioli, mabe?

(I didn't take my camera, so these are just images I found online. Sorry to miss showing you the pig's ear salad -- tasty!) Thanks to Jack for being such a good sport and letting me do the ordering.

Our entree was a special of braised pork cheeks over toast with sauteed kale; there was a spicy sauce on top, chimichurri or something similar. A truly outstanding meal!

I forgot to mention we started with some cocktails. I had Satan's Whiskers (Plymouth Gin, Carpano Antica, Noilly Prat, Combier, Orange) and Jack had a New York Sour (Old Overholt Rye, Lemon, Simple Syrup, Syrah Float).

From there, we went to Monument Lane on my street, where we had an apple crisp for dessert. (I am going to see if I can become a regular at Monument Lane this winter...I sat at the bar one night recently and enjoyed their vegetable plate of grits, squash, greens and ricotta. Faithful readers will recall ML as the home of Quincy wine.)

Not bad for a Wednesday night! Oink, oink. ;-)