Hog's Apothecary

photo - Black Creek Builders

Hog's Apothecary, Temescal, Dinner
February 24, 2016

P&J:
Spicy Pork Cracklin's [sic]
Blue Butter Beets, butter lettuce, roasted beets, bacon, sieved egg, blue cheese dressing
Kick it Root Down, celery root soup, herb oil, croutons
Choke Toast, roasted artichoke salad with castelvetrano & preserved lemon, house ricotta, schmaltz fried egg


Notes:
I'm a little enamored with this place.  I've been here only a few times, two of them with Patrick.  The "New American Beer Hall", as they call it, keeps their primary focus on locally-crafted beers and food that goes great with them.  Admittedly, I'm (a little) less into the beer, but I find the food to be killer.  And for a pork/meat-centric menu, these guys know how to make a damn good salad.

The pork cracklins I'm a sucker for.  Who doesn't like fried pork skin?  Maybe Patrick, because I gobbled these up almost singlehandedly.  These aren't the lightest, most ethereal pork skins I've ever had, but still a great little snack to have with your beer while you're waiting on the eats and they're light - not oily or greasy in the slightest.

The Blue Butter Beets salad was HAY-MAZING (recurring inside joke, yay)!  Seriously,  I'm telling you, they have such well-prepared salads here.  Full leaves of tender butter lettuce were lightly but fully coated in a creamy, well-seasoned blue cheese dressing.  Then, the leaves were piled high and topped with crispy bacon lardons (little cross-cut strips of bacon), finely chopped egg white and yolk, and wedges of roasted baby beets.  It was a much-improved upon version of the "Wedge Salad" found on the menu of every self-respecting steak house in America.  I was hoping the blue cheese might be light enough in flavor that even a non-blue-cheese-lover (Patrick) could get into it, but sadly (for him) that was not the case.  I didn't mind taking one for the team, though.  The salad became mine.

The smooth celery root soup, garnished with creme fraiche, herb oil and adorable little croutons was good, but too thick and seemed a little heavy as a result.  Patrick is a soup-lover, and I think he was a little let down by this one.  I took another one for the team.  Someone had to eat those croutons, at least!

Finally, the Choke Toast made the world right again.  For me, anyway.  Except nothing was wrong with my world at the time, so I guess this one made my world better.  The artichokes and castelvetrano (olives - these bright lime-green, super meaty and juicy olives are among my faves) were roughly chopped, seasoned with a hint of preserved lemon and heaped on thick slices of toasted bread with a generous swath of sweet, fresh ricotta and topped with a beautifully fried egg.  And in case you missed the detail above, the egg was fried in schmaltz, a derivative of the Yiddish term for chicken fat, or another way of saying "Yes, please."*   This was such a beautiful thing.  We had the tough task of splitting one egg over two pieces of toast, but the proportions were just right (if not excessive - wait - I said JUST RIGHT!).  And in the spirit of the evening, the hardship fell upon me once again when Patrick insisted I use the crusty bread to mop up the egg yolk from the serving plate.  The things I will do for our relationship.

Bonus:  Our server's name was Jazzmine S.

*I once had fried rice at Mission Chinese in SF that was simply white rice, cilantro and peanuts fried in chicken fat.  It was hands-down some of the most amazing fried rice I've ever had, ever.  Since then, I've been obsessed with the idea of using chicken fat as a cooking medium, and when I see it on a menu, I say, "Yes, please."