City Pork (2/Brasserie) Chef's Table Review

Went Saturday night and had an absolute blast. Looking at the menu, I (and my similarly pretentious annoying foodie friend) were concerned that it was way too pedestrian, and that Ryan wasn't using this as an opportunity to really stretch his legs and do some creative stuff. We both agreed that if executed well we'd have an awesome meal, but maybe not on par with what we were expecting.

Our expectations and preconceived notions were quickly blown away with the first course.

I'll upload pictures once they're sent to me - one of the party took one of each dish, but I haven't received them yet.



So, on to the food!

Salmon Poke - The fish was unreal. Super tender, wonderfully flavored, and amazingly fresh. The "cannoli" was more of an extra crispy thick egg roll, but a great complement to the fish.

Smoked Tomato Basil Soup - As mentioned previously...one of those things that read on the menu VERY differently than what we actually got, in a very good way. Very, VERY smoky, rich (without any added cream that I could tell) soup. Smoked tomatoes, smoked gouda, and a Balsamic glaze drizzle for some sweetness. The smoked gouda cheese toast alongside was probably my single favorite bite out of the entire night.

Panzanella - Very simple, but delicious. The lettuce and vinegar were a great break from the richness of the first two dishes. Nothing world changing here, but perfectly slotted into the menu.

Pasta - Squid ink pasta, calamari, and shrimp. Just freaking wow. I've NEVER had calamari cooked this well. Incredibly tender, ZERO chewiness (even after I microwaved the leftovers for lunch today) and fantastic flavor. Nice white wine sauce, very refreshing.

Braciola - What wasn't mentioned on the menu was the rabbit heart stuffing, and what I cant adequately convey now is how incredibly fricking delicious it was. Tender, moist...just, yeah.

CAKE! - Honestly, by this point I was so drunk that I don't remember much about it, and I had two drunkies on either side of me stealing mine to be assholes. None of the leftovers from it made it with us. I'm sad, because I'm sure it was awesome.

So, the food was AWESOME. The very, very few negative things: portions too big (ok, yeah, not really a bad thing if you want leftovers, but you have to pace yourself), the wine pairings weren't explained (at previous Chef's tables, it was always stated what flavors in the wine to look for to pair with the dish), seating was kinda meh but fine (squeezed 8 people into 7 spots).

Those are very, very small things, and I need to provide that feedback to City Pork so hopefully they can focus on it in the future (mainly the pairings)

The wine was really good, though.



So, overall, I'm REALL glad we did it, and I can't wait to do it again. Our server and the front of the house managers were incredibly accommodating, and the after dinner cigar I smoked out on the patio was incredibly welcome.