Spotting Pigs in Greenwich Village

I love the business lunch. I like the whole idea of a hot snack, mid-day filled with some marketing talk, some good yucks and an Arnold Palmer or two. (I rarely sip the vine, hops or fermented potatoes during a business lunch, just a personal policy) Because I lunch often, it feels right to cover the action, when possible, with a quick little video snack. Depress clutch. Pull stick into second. Release clutch.

Lately, I have been overwhelmed by restaurant reviews. For a town hit hard by the recession, there sure are a load of new restaurants opening across this metropolis. A month ago I decided to hone my sources down to three websites. From these three I would work my way through their recommendations and keep my mind temporarily uncluttered. My favorite. Immaculate Infatuation. Chris and Andrew give ya the straight dope. They break the joint down in a non-foodie way, tell ya what to get, what not to get and if you should bother going to the restaurant at all. Of course, I have yet to dine with either of these music industry moonlighters, so I can’t trust them just yet. But, I like their tone and site design so I figured I would put one of their reviews to MY test.

The Spotted Pig is the now famous gastro-pub that….ahhh, blah, blah. blah…we don’t do reviews like this here. Just read it over at Immaculate. I had a suckling pig (various parts mixed together) over braccoli rabe. A bit salty but the swine was delightful. Elliott had a Cubano sandwich. The bread was crispy-crunchy but fresh as hell. Inside a unique pickle mixture added a bit of spice. We deduced that the pickles were cut with pickled jalapenos. Nice touch. As you saw above, we started the whole thing with their deviled eggs dripped with good olive oil. The make shift AP’s from the bar were not half bad for not having lemonade in house. All in it was delicious and an unexpectedly quiet afternoon in this west village hot spot. Bottom line is, lunch can not be used as the judge for whether this restaurant makes the cut or not. Almost everything mentioned in any dinner review of “The Pig” was not on the menu, so I could not get a true test. I guess I’ll just have to go back. Stay tuned.

Spotted Pig The
314 West 11th Street
New York, NY 10014-2369
(212) 620-0393
www.thespottedpig.com